L: It is ony right that V writes about the transit to Ibiza pretty much from where my last blog left off. It is fair to say that I got the lucky watches - she didn't. More to come from V!! Our offshore passages all do seem to have an element of "epic" about them!!

We did, however, make it to Ibiza safely and it has been a memorable stop over. I confess that I even felt a little sad as we departed this afternoon. An island with a load of character, a real sense of community and really stunning scenery. Our time has mostly been spent catching up with friends, chasing our tails with boat issues and catching upon some rest. The overnight from Ibiza was tiring!

But we have also had time to explore. We hired a car for a day and seen the sites beyond Sant Antonio (where we are moored) - historic churches, eaten copious quantities of cured meats and completed a home made treasure hunt around the truly stunning Old Ibiza town.  Unfortunately, we were only able to see from afar Es Vedrá which was to continue our exploration of the Odyssey. One of the most magnetic spots on earth, attractor of mystics and allegedly the island of the Sirens where Odysseus tied himself to his mast to listen to their call. We did pass by on departure but the crew of Canopus were obviously of no interest to the Sirens!

As I type this, we are heading from Ibiza to the mainland, the wind is broadly behind us blowing a Force 4-6 and we are in a relatively large rolling sea. Not the conditions you can either put anything down in or look away from the horizon for too long. All on board are feeling the effects of seasickness to varying degrees. V is on her off watch, S has migrated to her bunk, J is reading next to me in the cockpit and O is trying to sleep on a beanbag at my feet (I think dreaming of green fields and pheasants!). It is an uncomfortable experience - one that gives the core a constant work out whilst making you feel slightly dizzy and queasy!

An impromptu meet-up with friends we have met a couple of times in the UK was a real highlight of the visit. Ben, Kavita and Xavier have been travelling for over a year now on Dancing Dodo. A wonderful opportunity for the kids to get together and a number of days of proper playtime was lovely to see - even if one of those days was marred by the parents having extremely thick heads from the evening before. We had a fantastic time with them. Huge thanks to them all for their local knowledge, all the ferrying around, the hosting of us on board (including too much wine) and for helping with the childcare. Only downside was seeing their lovely (new!) boat with all of her space. I couldn’t find their defects list blackboard either - everything on board seemed to work!

We spent the first 2 nights in the Marina in Saint Antonio exploring our battery problems and avoiding a forecast weather system that was due to move through. On day 2 we moved to anchor in the bay around the corner to join Dodo. At first it felt incredibly tight as everyone crammed in and dropped their anchors to avoid the Poseidon sea grass (a rib comes to check every morning  with the threat of a 1500 Euro fine if you have disturbed it). However, we quickly found a community that were a mixture of charter boats, cruisers and long term live aboard’s. Each keeping a close eye on one another’s boats in case of any mishaps - of which we did see a couple! It has been a lovely few days and one that reminds you of the power of camaraderie irrespective of background, long term goals or national identity.

Canopus’ list of defects is, I am afraid, growing. This period at sea is proving to be a necessary shakedown and I am glad we are finding things out now rather than in the mid-Atlantic.

In previous blogs we have highlighted batteries that are not charging, hatches that are leaking, hot water heater that is bypassed, a holding tank that is emitting a bad odour and a mystery loss of water. Well I am afraid all of those are still present and were added to in-period with a dinghy that fell apart and had to be replaced and an issue with the way that we deploy our hydro generator (not so much a defect but more of a teething problem).

It is all about having a plan and we do have one(ish). We will spend a week or so in Gibraltar as part of our management of 90 days in 180 and will spend time there rectifying defects and sorting the last few items required before the trans Atlantic. So hatch lids are ordered, Calorifier will be soon and we will manage the boat until then.

Batteries are a  slightly bigger issue. We have been on a steep learning curve about battery types, charger compatability, absorption frequencies and discharge curves. However, we have found a supplier, just need to find a way of providing a delivery address in the Mar Menor for when we get there. We will have to replace these before we set off on our next voyage.

The crew are doing well - the kids all the better for having had some time with friends and OB has taken to boat life like a duck to water. I think it is fair to say that he is not enjoying this evening, but otherwise he is living the life of Riley - sea swimming, constantly with his family, lots of new smells and the odd bit of paddle boarding. It also turns out he shares our dislike of jet skis. In fact, he seems to be chief Health and safety officer - anything dangerous at sea seems to spark a round of barking to tell the humans off!

J’s recent post seems to have gone down well so he promises another soon.

We are heading now for the mainland and hope to hold up in the Mar Menor for a few days before then continuing down towards Gibraltar. Our trans-Atlantic. starts in just over 2 months so time is ticking by quickly!

We now have a horrible combination of wave direction and wind so I had better go and sail the boat before Skipper gets up wondering what is going on! I can now, however, see the lights of the mainland to starboard (the brights lights of Benidorm!) so we are over halfway.

Speak when we get to the mainland.

Adios!

L