Exploring Spain

We celebrated the 4th of July by going to the California Burger Bar in Palma, Mallorca. Since we are the only ones celebrating it, we felt it was only appropriate to have a good old fashioned all-american meal. And it was sooo good...

And on our way out of Palma, we saw the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in the harbor. We honor and applaud all that they do for our wonderful planet...

Since we are an non-European Union vessel, we have to leave the EU in order to not pay the 21% tax on EcstaSea. We used to leave the EU every 2 years and went to Tunisia twice in the years that we were here before. The regulations have now changed and it is every 18 months. Although since we are here only 5-6 months every summer, it translates into needing to leave every year. So we are on our way to Morocco to take care of this regulation. And on our way we decided to explore the coast of Spain for possible ports to leave EcstaSea for the winter months that we are in Tucson. Since we have spent most of our time on the islands in the Med, and especially the Spanish Balearic islands, this will be a fun adventure of exploring the coast of Spain. And our first port was the city of Valencia.

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and has a long, complicated and turbulent history with a Greek settlement followed by the Romans in 139 BC. Everyone we talked to has always loved Valencia and now we see why. It is a vibrant beautiful city and we enjoyed it immensely. The food was great with lots of tapas and good sangria...

The beautiful cathedrals...

The Plaza of the Virgins with some he-man surrounded by virgins????

Another church...

The Mercado...

The Bullring...

We remind ourselves that all who wander are not lost, and so we wander, and came into the beautiful Plaza of the Virgins one evening. And it was a happening place. There were a group of dancers in the middle of the plaza dancing the jitterbug (and doing it quite well) to some old time big band music. We watched and were envious of their talent and lack of inhibitions as they danced the night away. And then there was a fire-dancer entertaining us all...

Along with their historic old town, there are also very modern and upscale buildings of art and cinema. We enjoyed an evening of going to this area as well as taking in an Imax theater showing of the galaxies and heavens. This is the Imax theater looking like a big eye...

Notice the structures in the background--they are various modern museums...

And in this same area we saw an activity that made us laugh uncontrollably--kids were put in a bubble on the water and tried to stand up. It resembled hamsters on a wheel and was much harder than it looked. There were a few brave young adults who tried and were no better at it than the kids. Our only regret was that we didn't try it ourselves...

And this is the same area at night with the moon in the background. Magical...

We were in Valencia for a week and really had a great time--even dancing at the disco on the beach till late into the night.

Then we moved on down the coast to the little town of Denia.  It dates back from the Greeks in 600BC.  And as we approached, many sea-puppies (dolphins) came to play and welcome us to Denia.

The ancient castle sits high on the hill...

And Mother Moon came into her fullness while we were there. Walking along the sea wall to celebrate her fullness we saw this Buddha statue all lit up...

Then we saw the moon peeking out from the clouds...

And then the Buddha gazing up and celebrating the Mother Moon in her glory...

As we moved farther south down the coast we came to Cartagena. It has a long and rich history dating back to 243 BC when it became the enter of Carthaginian influence in Europe. We wandered into the town square the first night we were there to encounter a music festival happening all week.
Town square...

Ruins of an old theater...

We also toured a Roman Amphitheater dating back to the 1st century BC. It held up to 6ooo spectators and is still amazingly intact...

And the handsome Captain standing next to the pillars on the stage of the theater...

It was a wonderful visit back into ancient history in Cartagena and we enjoyed it so much.

Although we didn't enjoy their version of nachos--Yuck!!!

Moving on down the coast we stopped in the small port of Aguadulce. The marina is back-dropped with a big mountain...

It is small, but sweet with a nice beach. It reminds us of Santa Eulalia, one of our favorite ports in Ibiza...

The last night we were there, we heard fireworks and looked up to see a boat come into the harbor all decorated and full of merry makers...

There was a statue of someone (we thought Mary but don't know) on the bow and it was a big deal...

We love the way the Spanish are always celebrating "something", as we always look for any reason to celebrate Life.

And perhaps we are truly becoming European as we had this big, scrumptious rib dinner at 10:00 at night...
What were we thinking???

We found a few new possibilities for berthing EcstaSea for the winter along the coast. It will be interesting to see what all of this exploration evolves into...

Now it is time to head south across the Mediterranean to Morocco. A new country and a new adventure for us!!!

Festival of San Juan 2016

This is the 3rd time that we have been to the Festival of San Juan in Palma, Mallorca. It is held mid June around Summer Solstice and really is more of a pagan celebration than a Christian celebration of St John. It is a racuous night of devils, fireworks and debauchery. The theme is to dance with the devil in the midst of the fires and then to go and wash your sins away in the ocean at midnight. It is absolutely crazy and not for the faint of heart.

The pictures can't even begin to catch the outrageousness of it all, and the video footage we got can't be downloaded on the blog. There are a couple of good Youtube videos that are fun to watch:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n-L8jDAC4

www.dailymotion.com/video/x4if82f


The devils are emerging from the tunnel in the midst of the fire to begin chasing people in the crowds with fire torches and fireworks:

The fireworks are everywhere, all around you and above raining down on your head. It's wise to wear a hat or scarf to keep your hair from catching on fire:

Thousands of people gathered here for the festival:

Just one of the devils with his torch that you can dance with or run from:

A devil with his fire-spewing dragon as it gets ready to chase through the crowd:

Fire-spewing dragon with a very HOT breath:

Red hot breath and fire from his wings:

Another dragon to scare me again:

As the night comes to a close we are standing by the fire, exhausted but laughing. And once again, we decided to keep our sins and not wash them off in the ocean. Actually if we tried to dip in the ocean we would probably drown as we are so spent from too much fun:

In the blog entry dated June 2013, we have another good description of the Festival with more pictures. Every year that we can make it here for the Festival we enjoy it even more. And this year did not disappoint!!!

This and That around Mallorca

Caught enjoying the romantic evening on the steps outside of the 17th century Cathedral in Palma....

Our first Full Moon in Palma in front of the pool and fountain near the Cathedral....

Finally after all of these years in Palma, we visited the inside of the Cathedral....

A little sightseeing to 17th century Belver Castle outside of Palma....

The view of Palma and the harbor from the castle...

 Having fun with the street artist who is blowing big bubbles to play in, and you all know how much i love bubbles....

We found a new favorite Mexican restaurant with a super fun waiter named Zero. And yes, it really is good Mexican food with fantastic margaritas....

After 8 years we decided it was time to visit once again the small island of Cabrera off of the southeast corner of Mallorca. This castle dates back to the 14th century and was built as a defense against pirates...

This is the view from the castle looking down into the protected anchorage....

And this is EcstaSea as seen from the castle...

And this is us in the sunshine and breeze on top of the castle. 

It's been fun to revisit some of the old places that we haven't seen for years and enjoy their magic once again. To look again with renewed curiosity and awe and remember how blessed we are to be here!!!

Back on our Ocean Home

Where does time go? How did it get to be June already? Questions that we do not have answers for, but ponder... as here we are back on our ocean home EcstaSea in the Mediterranean, and it is mid June already. EcstaSea wintered on the island of Sardinia, Italy, where we arrived in mid May.

The old walled city of Alghero, Sardinia...

After getting her in the water and all ready, we anchored in a beautiful cove to get our sea legs back...

This is another look at Capo Cassia on our way out of Sardinia...

Then we had an easeful 2 night passage to the Spanish island of Mallorca. We stopped on the southeast corner to anchor and rest and once again get a feel for living on the ocean. The first night was splendid and calm, gracing us with a gorgeous sunset...

The Captain resting...


Then as always, Yemaya (the ocean) and Vayu (the wind) reminded us of the ever-changing, transient nature of life and kicked up quite a storm the next night. We woke at 2;00 am to the pounding wind and waves and knew we had to leave the anchorage because now we were on a lee shore. So after a stressful night of motoring and trying to find a safe anchorage to rest, we surrendered and motored into port in Palma. There is a good reason that many a poem and song refer to the safe harbor or port as a refuge in the storm--it is!!!
We find it somewhat amusing that every year that we come to live on the ocean, we have to relearn the "way it is". Living on land, we become somewhat comfortable or complacent and forget that everything is in constant change and motion, whether we feel (or notice) it or not. It is the way of Life and nowhere is it more apparent than on the constant moving waves of the ocean. And as always, we are thankful for the reminder and the learning that ocean living brings to us. Thank you Yemaya and Vayu.

We are happy to be back in the Med after our 2 seasons in the Caribbean. And especially happy to be back on Mallorca as it has always been a special place for us. Perhaps because this is where we started this ocean adventure 8 years ago. We are having fun as we reacquaint ourselves with the friends we have made here, with the special little coves we love to anchor in, and with the lively city of Palma. Also the great food and wine!!!
And we always have projects to start and finish while we are in port.
But after a few days, we are always ready to head back out to a quiet, calm anchorage to just "be"...

This is Cala Egos and we have spent many times here in the past processing and working on just that:
our "egos". So here we are again to examine and check in with ourselves...

And the Captain actually got into the cold water to swim before his usual debut in July:

We brought an inflatable kayak with us this year, thinking it might be good exercise for us and a fun way to explore some of the anchorages. Here it is inflated on the foredeck with Richard sitting in it and NOT getting much exercise!  no really, we did put it in the water and we both paddled around--really!

So for now we are in and out of Palma (in port and out to anchorages), finding the balance between work (projects) and play. Life is a fine balance and we are once again exploring it with all of it's infinite possibilities.
We are here, we are now, and we are happy.

The ocean refuses no river.....