Cala Yondal Ibiza

Cala Salines   

Lunchtime on Sunday 13 August saw us back anchored off Ibiza in Cala Salines almost in exactly the same spot we’d left the previous evening. We’d left Cala Sahona on Formentera at 1035 and had a pleasant sail north in a nice 10kt wind a little forward of the beam. The sailing had been reasonably fast, the sea flat and the sun had shone. What more could you want? Once we’d anchored, it was all go. Charlotte wanted to visit Ibiza city, plus we wanted to check on connections to the airport, so the priority was to get the dinghy inflated. As soon as it was, Nicky and Charlotte set off for the small village at the corner of the anchorage: Charlotte to get a bus into Ibiza and Nicky to scout for some fresh fruit and transport details.

Cala Salines beach   

I was left on board, not because we were concerned about the anchor dragging, but because it was my turn to grease the toilet pumps; oh the joys of yacht ownership!

Cala Salines beach   

Nicky and Charlotte made their way ashore initially trying by the commercial quay but, with no exit there, they left the dinghy pulled up on the beach, with the anchor dug into the sand for extra security. It turns out that Cala Sahona is very well served with buses in high season (15 May to 15 Oct); one leaves every 30 minutes direct to Ibiza city and one change from that bus would have Charlotte at the airport in under an hour. Charlotte jumped on one to get to Ibiza city and reported back later that the bus route crosses the salt pans, after which Cala Salines is named. The salt pans were established in Roman times and still export over 100,000 tonnes of ‘red’ salt every year via the quay in the corner of the anchorage. Whilst ashore, Nicky also asked about taxis to the airport but the helpful lady she spoke to, without saying that the taxi service was unreliable, emphasised that ‘you can always rely on the buses being there’ and said that that is how she would prefer to get to the airport. We now had a confirmed option for getting Charlotte to the airport on Tuesday.

We weren’t quite sure how long Charlotte was going to spend in Ibiza city and were surprised when she called up in the early evening for a lift back to BV. That worked well for us because it gave us the opportunity to have a look at another bay 5 miles further west.

Cala Yondal is described by one entry in our Cruising Association notes as being a large bay, with beautiful turquoise waters which absolutely THE place to be seen. We didn’t exactly feel that we needed to be seen but we did feel the need to see the beautiful turquoise waters.

(right) If you can’t find a pink flamingo, get a rubber duck instead! 

Predictably, when we arrived the bay was absolutely heaving, partly with some swell making its way in but mostly with what seemed to be hundreds of yachts of all shapes and sizes (but many very large) and the ‘chopping up’ effect of their many tenders and toys whizzing around the anchorage. Working on the principle that a large proportion would leave before nightfall and then, surely, it would become quieter, we muscled into a not-quite-BV-sized gap near the eastern cliff and then breathed a sigh of relief as one or 2 of the boats around us packed up for the day and went home.

It wasn’t a quiet night. The swell kept making its presence known, not badly but just enough, and the parade of toys turned into a parade of tenders and water taxis as night fell and people decided to go ashore to eat or visit the Blue Marlin nightclub. Charlotte checked out the club’s Instagram page and informed us that people had been clubbing hard there for the past 5 hours, which was something of a relief as we had rather wondered if the fairly subtle ‘boom, boom, boom, ta-da boom, boom, boom’ was going to get louder as the evening progressed. From Charlotte’s report it seemed not and, indeed, that was the case, though throwing out time resulted in some loud parties on a couple of yachts close by. However, we enjoyed our sundowners and dinner and the sunset was very pretty too. So, all in all, whilst the ‘lovely turquoise waters’ weren’t that great and we probably wouldn’t go back (at least not in high season), we all agreed that there are far worse places to spend an evening.

Cala Yondal, Ibiza, Spain