Cala Salines Ibiza

As pleasant as it was, Cala Boix was just an overnight stop on passage for us and so at 9am on Saturday 12 August we upped anchor and continued south down the east side of Ibiza. We still didn’t know where Charlotte was going to fly home from. Depending upon the weather it would either be mainland Spain or Ibiza. Our aspiration was to get to mainland Spain with her and so we were heading for some bays on the south side of Ibiza.

Passing Ibiza City. Ancient Moorish castle (Left)    

About two thirds of the way down the east side of the island we passed Ibiza city. Famous for its all-night clubbing scene, it also has an ancient Moorish castle and a fortified old hill town known as D’Alt Villa. Our pilot book warns that the harbour is expensive and that berths are hard to come by in high season. Further research of our Cruising Association notes picked up a comment that a 53ft yacht had recently been charged €560 for one night in a marina there [Ed: yes, you read that correctly, €560 for a 53ft yacht for one night!!! I have tried to make it a policy to ask the price when arriving at a marina and now I will definitely make sure I do!]. Unsurprisingly, we decided not to visit Ibiza harbour but instead to try to book some of the ‘Posidonia buoys’ in the marine reserves.

The AIS picture of Freu Grande – a busy little place!   

Our route took us down to the southeast corner of Ibiza and through the Freu Grande a relatively narrow but fairly deep passage through the shallows and rocks between Ibiza and Formentera. The picture above gives some idea of just how busy this bit of Ibiza is [Ed: each of the black triangles is a vessel of some sort with a ‘squawking’ AIS transponder, and there were plenty of other vessels without AIS too, which can’t be seen on the picture above] and, it would appear, every man and his dog were also heading for the same Freu Grande passage that we were.

Approaching the Freu Grande passage   

With a minimum depth of 10m right in the middle of the channel the Freu Grande is the deepest of the passages through the shallows to the southeast of Ibiza. In something akin to a scene from ‘whacky racers’ we joined a mad frenzy of ferries, motor cruisers and yachts all blasting along at top speed through this narrow bit of sea. As you would expect the sea was very cut up and we started to wonder if the wakes would affect the anchorage we had chosen just around the corner off the beach in Enseñada de la Canal.

Cala Salines, Enseñada de la Canal   

At this anchorage, known as Cala Salines on the marine reserve website, there is a protected area and yachts are normally expected to moor to one of the laid buoys and pay a fee. Our attempts to book a buoy, however, turned out to be fruitless; they were all booked up in every bay we checked. However, you can anchor in Cala Salines provided that you keep clear of the Posidonia seagrass. So, that is what we did. We did get told off by a grumpy warden when we swung and our chain started to touch the corner of a Posidonia bed but fortunately by that time, the Dutch yacht ahead of the large motoryacht seen in the pictures above had moved and so we only had to reposition a short distance away to have 360 degree swinging over sand.

Cala Salines beach   

Cala Salines has clear turquoise water to swim in and by the early afternoon the clouds had cleared to provide good sunbathing weather. But as well as lazing around we also started looking in earnest at the medium range wind/weather forecasts and flight options for Charlotte’s returning home. We also noted that from minimarket and tavernas at the corner of the anchorage there is a good bus service into Ibiza city.

The conclusion of our research was that the best option was for Charlotte to fly home from Ibiza on Tuesday and that we would be able to get her to the airport from Cala Salines if we needed to. Nicky had also found an anchorage further south on Formentera that looked worth visiting. Charlotte was keen to see another island before the end of her holiday and also visit Ibiza City and so we hatched a plan to move to Formentera and then return to Cala Salines in the morning.

Cala Salines, Mallorca, Spain