I fly down to Madrid and take the speed train to Cartagena. Turns out to be a good way to come down. As I come to the boat, it is covered in dust and I have some serious work to clean it up and wax. I check the engines and the worst is the shells and weed that has fouled the propellers and sail drive.

On Wednesday, my friend Stefan turns up and we go to the supermarket to buy food for the trip. We have decided to leave later that day and either stay in a marina or at anchor as the wind is pretty settled. As we leave in light winds, we start tacking as the wind but soon decide to start motor. After a while one motor runs hot and soon after the other one. Having no option, we stop the motors and continue sailing, which slows us down radically. We try with the motors occasionally but they get too hot and we can tell that although they get cooling water – it is not enough. We have a nice fair weather so apart from the nagging feeling of having an upcoming repair to do we enjoy our sail.

The wind turns slowly and keeps us in tack in slow wind, and as we go around Cabo de Palos where we expect to get better angle, the wind turns against us again. It turns into a very slow sail along the coast and we decide to night sail in order to reach Torrevieja that is the nearest larger marina where we could get hold of a mechanic. After a nice night sail, we finally reach the Salinas marina at five in the morning and tuck in.

Next morning we step into the Oscar Volvo Penta Service and at first they said that they neet the boat on land in order to ensure that the water inlet channels on the drive is completely clean and that I could just as well clean the hull meanwhile. The problem with this was that the boat should not be ready until next Wednesday, which more or less should ruin our plans. But contining is not an option but as Oscar and Simon later show up on the boat we decide to give it a try as the boat is in water on the condition that I do the diving and cleaning. Simon turns out to be not only very skilled but also fun and good teacher. He explains his plan and shows me how I should clean the sail drives thoroughly and then he starts doing his magic flushing the sea water system with acid solution and taking both water pumps out for maintenance. This takes a full day but at the end of the day, the motors are running perfect and does not overheat.

Stefan and I celebrate the fixed engines and have a very nice evening at the area around our marina.

The next day we go north towards Alicante to pick up Magnus who should land in the evening. We manage to get a spot in the city marina right next to the harbour walk and we had just cleaned the boat as Magnus shows up. Perfect timing! Quick showers and then we go up, explore Alicante, and visit a nice restaurant in the old town.

The next morning we leave for Calpe that we have planned as last stop before Ibiza. There is no wind but with the motors in good condition, we steam north. We have great weather and as it very hot, we occasionally stop for a swimming pause. We arrive to Calpe and put the boat right under the mighty Calpe rock and then head for the town for some sights and a good meal in the old town.

Stefan had during the day felt an upcoming sore throat and it had worsened during the night so he decide to go back to his apartment before it got even worse. Sad to leave him on the quay, we continue northeast in good wind towards Ibiza. This is not a long crossing but it is nice to lose sight of land and have a 360 horizon again. We have a good sail and start thinking on the different options to stay the night as we arrive. As it is fair weather, we decide to anchor up in Cala Tarida on the west coast of Ibiza. We have a very nice sunset accompanying us to our dinner. Feels good to be in the Baleares!

Next morning we start sailing down but the wind lets us down so we decide to motor, as we should pick up Patrik in Ibiza town in the afternoon. We arrive just in time and manage to find each other. There is no space in the town so we heard north to Santa Eulalia, which turns out to be a nice small town on the east coast of Ibiza. Here we stay the night and enjoy the nice beach promenade and a very good meal in the town.

The next morning, it is time for next crossing over to Palma. Again, a very undramatic crossing with not so much wind but a number of swimming stops as we as crew are overheating. We find our spot in the Real Club Nautico Palma in the middle of the city, and after the normal check-in procedure and showers, we head for the town.

I never been to Palma and it turns out to be a very beautiful “real” town with a lot of nice restaurants and a nice old city. We stroll around the city and have a great meal at the Paloma restaurant in old town and some drinks at the fortress bar afterwards.

The next day, it is Magnus turn to leave, as he needs to go home and work. As it is a very hot day, I and Patrik decide to go out from the town and anchor up in Las Isletas outside town. This turns out to be a nice little bay and we swim, talk and have a very lazy day with a nice dinner in the boat before going back into town where Patrik left to go back to his house.

After cleaning the boat, I spend a very nice afternoon with my friend Kirsti. My plan was to meet her and my friend Christer but sadly, it turns out that he was seriously ill and at the hospital. Sad circumstance but the afternoon slides away with both serious topics and some good laughs.

After a quick shower Jan and Lisbeth arrives to Melody. This is really funny since we met each other at San Sebastian after we saw on social media that we were in the same city. Same thing this time, Jan post a picture from Palma as we are coming into town. We go for a dinner and some drinks and share memories and laughs.

The Friday is spent on sightseeing and provisioning of food as Birgitta and Jessica will arrive this evening.