Crossing to Mallorca

We spent almost a week on the north coast of Sardinia in a port in the little town of Castelsardo as we waited for the mistral winds to subside. We made the most of it by going into town and climbing up to the castle (hence the name of Castelsardo). This picture is looking down at the marina from the top of the castle.

And finally we had a good weather window to cross from Sardinia to the Spanish island of Mallorca. Sunsets are always phenomenal, and the very best on the open sea...

We crossed on new moon, which means "no moon" and no light to detract from the millions of stars and planets in the sky.Two nights of twinkling magic all around us. The milky way rose out of the ocean, crossed the sky, and then sank back into the ocean on the other side. Scorpio was in the southern sky as the big dipper was in the northern sky. Shooting stars all around us....
Because we had such calm seas and wind the stars actually reflected in the water and it appeared as if we were surrounded by twinkling lights above and below and all around us. It made the sleepless night shifts truly worth it !!!

But at last we arrived in our favorite town of Palma, Mallorca. We love the "aliveness" of Palma with it's exuberant energy, music and great food. And since we needed to have some work done on EcstaSea, we made the most of our time here. Evening walks in old town....

Since we have spent much time here in Palma and have posted many pictures on the blog before, and if you want to see some, go to the older posts of July 14, 2011, June 2011, and July 2009.
One of our favorite places is the Diner. Yes, it is an old fashioned American Diner, complete with greasy food and pictures of James Dean and Elvis on the walls. When you've had enough of expensive European cuisine and hunger for some good ole American food, this is the place to go. And we did....

Well, it has finally gotten hot here in the Med. It has been an unusually coolish summer so far with more than normal winds. And now we are sweltering in the hot humid weather and are heading out to anchor around the island in the beautiful, crystal clear water coves that we remember. We aspire to swim and lazily watch the waves roll on by. Sweet summer days have finally arrived.....

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

We continued up the beautiful and rugged east coast of Sardinia, anchoring in crystal clear water along the way

This summer more than any other we have been blessed with so many "sea puppies" (dolphins). There have been more, up to 12-14 at a time to come and play with us along the bow. And they have stayed longer than ever before. We are always so thrilled as we giggle and holler like children, applauding them as they show off for us, that we forget to take any pictures to show you. They jump out of the water, then roll over on their sides to look up at us to make sure we are appreciating them. Playful Sea Puppies we thank you !!!

For Full Moon we anchored in a cove facing east so that we were able to celebrate her rising right out of the water in all of her fullness. She rose pink, then golden, then brilliantly white in all of her glory.














We continued north up the coast to what is called Costa
Smeralda, a very rich and exclusive part of the coast. It was developed by the Aga Khan and the harmonious blend of architecture with the awesome landscape is said to be unique in the world. It is also the coast where the "rich and famous" come to play.

The Hotel Cala di Volpe in the picture below was featured in one of the James Bond movies and the presidential suite is said to go for $32,000 per night.  

So of course we just had to anchor in this gorgeous area and watch the BIG SUPER YACHTS come and go. This time of year they all come over from Rome and the mainland to show off their new floating toys worth millions of dollars. All of the beautiful people arrive and rock stars like Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart along with royalty come to play. It is quite entertaining !!!

In fact some of you might remember a TV series years ago called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" hosted by Robin Leach. Well, it's kinda like that for us as we sit all day in the cockpit and watch the Big Boys with their toys, and staff bringing them their cocktails on their verandas.

The yacht named "Dilbar" is one of the largest in the world and came in and anchored for days in our cove. It has a staff of 48  and a helicopter on board. Note the helicopter in the pictures and notice as it took off. It was very entertaining for us for days.

Also during the day a party boat called "Guilty" comes into our anchorage just to amuse us.

Next comes the scantily clad bikini babes on the boat "Billionaire" to invite us to come to the "who knows where" club to party.

On the 4th of July, we vaguely remembered what day it was and then promptly forgot---until we were woken up late with loud big bangs. As we quickly scrambled out of bed and on to the deck we were pleasantly surprised by a fantastic fireworks display off of the hill in our cove. Since we never see any other Americans over here, we could only conclude that it was all for us and our Independence Day and how "Special" we are....

This picture represents another big day for us. We called it "RWS". Not for "Richard Woodrow Stone" but for "Richard Went Swimming". The Captain finally made his debut in the water on July 6th when the water finally got warm enough for his beautiful body !!!

We have now moved on to the north coast of Sardinia where we are trapped like rats awaiting a weather window to sail on to the Spanish island of Mallorca. "Trapped like rats" because there has been a Big Blow (Mistral wind) for days and days here and we are unable to move. But this too shall pass and we really have nothing to complain about. We have each other here on EcstaSea....what more is there ?


 Robin Leach used to end his show of "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with this signature phrase: "Caviar Wishes and Champagne Dreams". We don't want caviar and champagne, we just want our own wishes and dreams, don't you????

Sicily to Sardinia

Italians have an unusual communication style. Maybe it's the language, the culture or the DNA. Whatever. Willow and I were at a sidewalk cafe having coffee, and this guy was on his hands free cell phone. He wasn't exactly having what you'd call a "conversation" with someone, because a conversation usually involves the other person also speaking. So we'll call it an energized, animated, demonstrative, arm-waving, tooth-chipping monologue! This went on for over 30 minutes, as he pulled his suitcase back and forth. Someone got an earful!


                                                             
                                             


  













Everyone is always curious about what we eat on the boat. Well, like my Daddy used to say "Even the President isn't eating this well!" This evening anchored out we made lasagne, garlic bread and a big salad. And of course, as always a great bottle of vino.

As we left Siracusa, Sicily we headed north towards the Straits of Messina (where the boot of Italy kicks the island of Sicily) and we saw this big tanker run aground. What is it with the Italian Captains ?

Farther north is Mt Etna--the volcano spewing smoke as the Captain looks on...

After we came through the Straits of Messina on the north coast of Sicily we saw these very odd boats. They are sword fishing boats where the mast and bowsprit are longer than the boat itself. The Captain and fish spotters are in a chair at the top of the mast, looking for swordfish that sleep near the surface. When a fis is spotted a man at the end of the bowsprit harpoons it. Not exactly "fishing", is it?

Off the northern coast of Sicily are the Aeolian Islands. They are a group of islands mostly volcanic in origin. We anchored off of Isola Vulcano  and watched and smelled the volcanic gasses all night. It was a beautiful island and a great send off for our passage across to Sardinia.






We had a 32 hour passage from Sicily to Sardinia. The first 24 were gentle, calm and uneventful but the last 8 hours the wind and waves were on our nose and pounded us pretty good. Once again we are reminded of how quickly things can change on the sea. When your life is so intimately connected to the wind and sea it is a great lesson in the constantly changing transitory nature of life. That in itself tends to keep us more rooted in the present moment and unattached to the next one. It reminds us not to take anything for granted and to seize and cherish every moment.

We dropped anchor on the southeast corner of Sardinia in one of our favorite bays. Just inland of the shore there is a small lagoon where the pink flamingos come every year to build their nests. We caught them at sunset so they don't look very pink.








We are spending numerous days here where the water is the bluest turquoise we have ever seen any where here in the Med. It is finally warm enough and this is the first dip into Yemaya this summer. Now the lazy, hazy days of summer begin !!!

Arrivederci for now....