Sangria by the Sea

Wow, we have been in Spain for 5 weeks now, and yet, we are still not sailing the deep blue waters of Yemaya. What we are doing is enjoying Sangria in it's many splendored ways... by the sea, just not on the sea...here, there, and everywhere. It is not the watered down version we thought it was. At least here in the southern part of Spain it is a serious drink comprised of wine, whiskey, brandy, cointreau, and various other liquors mixed in. And it is seriously great tasting and great for us as we "be with what is". And "what is"... is that Ecstasea has been having some major work done. We had commissioned to have her Raymarine (radar, charts, etc.) upgraded when we arrived, but were not anticipating the bow thruster breaking. Soooo, as i said, we are indulging on sangria in it's many various forms.

Ecstasea had loving attention and care in the small port of Aquadulce (sweet water) for the winter. We picked her up there and sailed just 3 hours down the coast to the port of Almerimar for the work to be done. We have great guys to attend to her needs and still we are reminded that "boat" is a four letter word! Why is it that we forget that repairs almost always are more challenging and take more time than ever expected??? And we know that we have been here with the Brits too long as Richard is calling everyone "mate" and saying things like "tickety boo" -- and i am cussing even more like a sailor and saying "bloody hell"  to everything!

The second day that we were in port awaiting her work to begin,  we witnessed one of the all time biggest drug busts here in Almerimar. The pictures below attest to the quantity that was taken from a sailing vessel along with the two disheartened men aboard it. It was quite the excitement for a while!!!

This is the boat behind the official Aduanas boat...

You can see the drugs being unloaded with a crane...

There's tons of drugs of some kind, neatly packaged....

Okay, enough of that...

So Ecstasea had to be hauled out of the water again for the bow thruster repair. And there is nothing quite so wrong as living on a boat out of the water. So we took ourselves on  a road trip to do a little sightseeing. What we didn't anticipate was a nasty cold-flu crud that we picked up somewhere along the way. But we made the most of it by doing just a little touristy sightseeing each day with lots of sleep and rest otherwise.
We first went to Seville as we had heard how beautiful it was. It has the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. It was first a mosque in 1184 and then consecrated as a Cathedral in 1248. It was truly impressive and houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

Altar of gold...

Tomb of Christopher Columbus...

What we enjoyed even more was the Real Alcazar of Seville. It is similar to the Alhambra in Granada  in that it was built during the times that the Moors, Christians and Jews all lived in harmony in this area. The royal palace was built by Moorish Muslim kings. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. The current royal family still uses the upper levels today when they come to Seville. It was built during the 11th-16th centuries.
It's right in the heart of the city and is stunning in it's architecture and gardens.

Seville is truly a beautiful city and worthy of much exploration. Unfortunately we did not do her justice but enjoyed what we did see. We began our love affair with sangria and tapas here and did do that great justice!!! Look at the size of those sangrias -- an no, i did not drink both of them -- one was for the Captain...

Moving on we arrived in the little mountain town of Ronda. It's claim to fame is the oldest bull ring in the world. The first bull fight took place in 1785. It was impressive and we could learn all about it's history with the tour and museum without having to witness a bull fight.

Richard and the bull...

Inside the bull ring...

And this is where the bullfighter could get away from the bull if need be. Chicken....

The bridge and gorge of the town of Ronda is stunning and is the symbol of the city. The bridge was completed in 1793 and it is 360 feet down to the bottom of the ravine.

Yeah, that's a lot of pictures of the bridge, but it was mighty impressive, it took us back in time with it's wonder.


And this is the beautiful valley down below...

Ernest Hemingway went to Ronda every year during his life and his ashes are buried here.

Growing weary of hotels and travel, we decided to come back to Almerimar and check on Ecstasea and her progress. All was going well, just going slowly as the parts took time to arrive, etc. So we rented a little apartment close to the boatyard and continued to wait. Aaaahhhh, patience!!!
And while we waited we continued to explore the world of sangria at every little restaurant in the area. Now the good news is this: tapas are free with drinks and since we were well into mucho sangria, we ate a lot for free.
And finally Ecstasea was dunked back in the water just a few days ago and we are home once again. We are home in our own bed that rocks us gently to sleep every night.

We don't expect anyone to feel sorry for us as we can't even begin to feel sorry for ourselves. Life is a grand mystery and adventure no matter where we are. Once again, life aboard a moving vessel is one of our greatest teachers and we are thankful. This "down time" has offered us the opportunity to dig a little deeper and find the peace and joy regardless of the circumstances. We have had time to explore the conversation in our minds that says "it shouldn't be this way". And of course, we know it should be this way, because "it is"...
And of course, as long as the Captain and first Mate are together, all is as it should be, all is well, all is perfect.

Now the only question is where do we sail off to--where is that perfect cove to anchor in and just "be"? And actually, there is another important question--can we make really good sangria to sustain our savage lust for it??????????? Another new exploration..........

Our Winter in the Desert

We were woken this morning at 6:00 am by something running on our roof. So we snuck upstairs and looked out the window to see our little bobcat friend scampering, running and playing with himself and his imaginary friends. He often comes meandering in the backyard and even onto the patio where he casually walks and looks in the glass doors. But this is the first time we saw him playing on the roof. And he ran wildly and playfully back and forth for a good 15 minutes till he wore himself out. What a wonderful way to wake up!!!

Sitting on our roof...

Tired of playing and walking away down our driveway...

So as we are once again getting ready to leave our desert home for the sea, we are reflecting upon our winter here. It was a busy wonderful time of a few travels and visits from family and friends. We had several trips to California to visit friends and we flew back to Charleston to surprise Richard's mom on her 95th birthday in March.
We had another fun trip to Las Vegas in January where we saw Santana perform:

We went to beautiful Sedona over New Years for a spiritual retreat. Here's my handsome husband with the red rocks behind him...

But most of all, we relished our time here in our desert home. We live in such a rich environment of wildlife and they entertain us all the time. From the bobcats, to the javelina, to the hawk and cardinals and the occasional ducks dropping into our swimming pool. Yeah, i just swing in the hammock and take it all in:

Here are the ducks walking around the pool...

And the hawk comes to visit often. Here he is on the edge of the pool looking all around...

But best of all are the many cardinals in our backyard. We have a special cardinal feeder and it certainly attracts them. We have several generations feeding now. We call the majestic red males Jamie and the females Claire. (You have to read the Outlander book series to find out why).
Jamie sits on top of the lemon tree and serenades me every morning while i drink my coffee in the hammock.

And here he is in all of his beauty ... (Claire is really shy and doesn't like her picture taken)

We also had a beautiful springtime of flowers on the cactus...

The gardenia full of flowers on the patio. The smell was intoxicating...

And a new plant we bought called an Addenium with new blooms...

Our lemon tree and orange tree gave us more fruit than we could eat, so we were happy to share. And our little orchard now has 2 grapefruit trees, a dwarf peach, a blood orange, and 3 lime trees. Between the lime trees and our mint we had wonderful mojitos all winter long.
Yes, life is sweet here in our desert home and we are so thankful for the abundance it blesses us with. So reflecting on the winter time here we say "Thank you" ....

We also had a lot of meditation time with a new teacher, Bentinho Massarro. He offers a free online course called Trinfinity Academy. Check him out if you're interested. So as always with life, many insights and learnings to expand and grow into. Aaahhh...

And now it is time to leave the desert and reunite with Ecstasea on the sea. And yes, we are ready and excited for all of the new places and experiences that our ocean home will bring to us.

And with that we say is "YES"!!!!

End of Season in Ibiza

We spent the last few weeks of the season here on the island of Ibiza, Espalmador, and Formentera.
And we actually spent our last full moon on a mooring ball down on the little island of Espalmador. It's always been one of our favorite places and always a good refuge in stormy weather. And since this was a full moon and lunar eclipse, we wanted to just relax and enjoy Mother Moon in all of her glory. We had read that the eclipse could be seen in Europe so we were all excited to spend the whole night gazing up.
Just before She was to rise...

And here She comes...

Now apparently, the eclipse wasn't visible in all of Europe, because we were up all night with Her and She did not eclipse but just radiated Her moonbeams across the water straight to us. Have you ever noticed that moon light comes straight to you, no matter where you are?

Sailing around Ibiza, the water was so silky smooth that the Captain just had to go forward meditate...

Then anchored off the spit of Formentera, we saw the huge yacht called Prince Abdulaziz. It was the largest privately owned vessel in the world for 20 years. It belongs to the King of Saudia Arabia. And when he recently died, his son inherited it. Several times we heard the call to prayer (it is a very distinct sound and it certainly gets your attention),  and saw people hustle to the top deck for the Islamic prayer time. The rest of the time, they were busy with jet skis and all kinds of water toys...

We also had seen Steve jobs yacht, Venus, in the harbor in Palma before we left. He died a few months before it was finished and so his wife owns it now...

Cala Characca on the north side of Ibizza has become our favorite cove on the island. It has also become a place of refuge when we have needed shelter. We tried twice this season to go to Bineris cove for the Sunday night hippies drumming of the sun down. But both times have been run out by big winds and storms. And so we return to the safety of Characca...

And we always seem to get into Ibiza City for a year end celebration. The Captain has a favorite bar with the best Tropical fruit Sangria...

And it's fun to sit on the high wall in the old town and reflect about the summer here on EcstaSea.
It's become somewhat of a tradition for us...

And now it's time to bring it all to a close. We are sailing to the southern coast of Spain to the sweet little town of Agua Dulce, which means "Sweet Water" in Spanish. We will leave EcstaSea there for the winter and return to our desert home in Tucson.
It's been a great summer with a lot of variety and many learnings. We have much to take with us and grow from. And so once again, we feel deep appreciation for this life on the water and all that it teaches us. And so it continues, always...

The Hazy, Lazy Days of Summer

After our trek along the Spanish coast and Morocco, we were ready to just laze the days away in the lovely coves and beaches along Mallorca, Ibizza and Formentera. And we did just that...
Enjoying leisure, lazy, easy days and nights of just "being"!!!
Lots of sleeping, swimming, reading, loving, laughing, meditating, eating, and drinking in the pure delight of nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to be.

So we offer snapshots of our life during these quiet, tranquil times that living on EcstaSea delivers to us...

Just the beauty of one of our favorite coves--Cala Egos...

And of course, another sunset in which to give thanks to Brother Sun for another day of living and loving...

An underwater cave to explore while snorkeling...

And the underwater flora and fauna in crystal clear water...

A little kayaking once in a while...

Some attempts at snorkel selfies along the beach at Rapida or Es Trenc...

After swimming to shore...

And what a beautiful shore it is...

We're getting better at these selfies...

And the Captain playing Chef with some creative cooking...

And voila!!! A fritatta...

And even our successful attempt at lasagne...

And new dining experiences in Palma. This big building used to be the stockyards and now houses a large number of individual eateries offering various specialties...

And a new, wonderful Italian restaurant in old town Palma...

And another selfie in front of the magnificent Cathedral in Palma...

And one of our favorite things to do on the island of Ibizza is to go to the Hippy Market. These are "our people"! Besides all of the selling of unique clothing and jewelry, there is always great entertainment, such as this group of musicians...

We continue to relish our anchor out days here on the island of Ibizza as the season comes to a close. It is fall equinox and the sun sets and rises at about 8:00 now. The weather is cooling and the Europeans on holiday have all gone home and it is quiet here. And we are reminded that as the song says:

To every time (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And to every purpose under heaven.

Morocco

As we crossed the Mediterranean to Morocco we decided to take it in a little at a time and gradually acclimate to the new country. So we first went into the Spanish port of Melilla in Morocco. The old city of Melilla was built around 1497 and now the new cities main business activity centers around the ferry terminal and duty free shopping for mainland Spaniards and Moroccans. Other than a walk around the old town, we found nothing of much interest. Although it helped us begin to get used to the Islamic women's coverings of head and body.

 Old wall around Melilla old town.

Old cobblestone streets winding through old town.

Okay, now is the time to reveal a dirty little secret of ours: whenever we are in a foreign country for long and are tired of the local cuisine--we light up like little children when we see a McDonalds. Now before you pass judgement, if you are honest, you must admit that a Big Mac is damn good!!! It is somewhat of a comfort food because it is familiar, but honestly, we really love it once in a while.
So we got really excited when we saw this McDonalds in Melilla and it was the most modern two story one ever. And yes, we enjoyed it thoroughly... Now you know and we hope you don't think less of us. But if you do, oh well...

Moving on east along the coast towards Algeria, we moved to the Moroccan port of Saidia. This is where we can get our EU issue taken care of as we are now out of the European Union and legal with the authorities once again.
And this is where we get to practice "letting go" of our judgements and stories. We had some issues when we went to Tunisia twice in the past to get out of the EU. There we were shook down for alcohol and needed to bribe the officials just to get our papers and passports back. So with that story in our heads we headed into Morocco not knowing how it might be. But the wise Captain began a mantra of "Bring them love" and as always, intention won out and we had no problems whatsoever.

Now to practice the process of "letting go" of our judgements around the whole women's covering issue. I (willow) probably feel it a little more as I have birthed into a female earth suit, and so am connected more intimately into the feminine mass consciousness. But Richard feels it too and we both know the need to allow each person (male or female) to walk their own path. So we gravitate between knowing "this" and being angry at the patriarchal religions that seem to enforce it. And we are talking about all patriarchal religions (Christianity included) and institutions. It seems that any action that denies the sacred feminine also denies the sacred masculine and therefore everyone suffers.
And...who are we to know what is best for anyone else??? It is a full time job to just know ourselves and live according to what we feel is best for us. Who are we to judge anyone or anything outside of ourselves? And with that said, it's a process and practice of one moment at a time of "letting go" of the judgement and stories in our heads and smiling into love.

In a recent Deepak Chopra and Oprah meditation, they reminded us that "we are not in the world but the world is in us". And so it is all an inside job. How we affect the world we live in for better or worse is how we take care of and evolve our own inner world. For us, that's what it is all about...
And thankfully, we remember that once in a while.

This time of year it is extremely hot in Morocco and so we decided not to take the time to explore inland. And we were getting tired of ports and wanted to get back to the islands to anchor out and swim. The port of Saidia was built to attract more of the yachting community and is clean and nice. But unfortunately, not many boats are coming. In fact, with the terrorists climate now in Europe, it is doubtful that it will ever take off. We have found it different this year in all of Europe as there is more security and police force in every city. And for now, that is how it is...

The night we were in port there was a little fair/festival of sorts near the marina. It was designed to represent the various regions of Morocco and so we got a little culture right there. We walked around and saw different native costumes and food. It was great fun and we were so appreciative to have the experience since we were not going to spend more time sightseeing.

There were some camels to be ridden, but we decided to wait and someday ride them in the desert like real tourists...

And a mama camel and baby...

And a man with his monkey doing tricks for money...

And a fire dancer to entertain the crowds...

And so the next morning we headed out for the Spanish island of Mallorca. We have a sense that Mallorca is our "home" here in the Med, and we were ready to go home. Our first night out at sea was somewhat of a challenge as we had shipping lanes of big freighters to cross on our way back. We also had a few squalls and wind producing rolly turbulent waves. And early morning at sunrise i (willow) was on watch while the Captain slept few hours. Now Richard and i usually experience magic moments at the same time on EcstaSea, but this morning i was all alone when this special moment appeared. The sun was peeking through the clouds and haze on the horizon. And as i watched another day dawning, sea puppies (dolphins) came from all directions to play. There must have been 20-30 of them and they jumped and played at the bow and all around the boat.
These are the moments that make the rough times okay. No, that is an understatement: these are the moments that are magical--that make it all worth it--the moments on the sea that we live for!
And i knew without a doubt that the puppies came to remind me that in this moment, this sunrise, this brand new day...to feel the pure joy of aliveness! To remember to play along the journey. In this very moment...play. To stop and quiet enough to feel the exuberant, playful, light-hearted aliveness of this very moment.   YES.
And of course, the benevolent universe didn't leave the Captain out. As the day continued on we saw a sea turtle float by on the surface of the sea. This is the first turtle we have ever seen in all of our years in the Med. And on open water with no land in sight, it is hard to see one lone turtle swim by without looking at just the right time in the right place. Then more sea puppies came to play with us. We then got to talking about how we have never seen a whale in the Med as there are not many. And we began to gaze out at sea on the lookout for them. And of course (why should we be surprised?), within an hour we saw the blow of a whale. As we watched, there continued to be more blows by maybe 2 whales. So we slowed Esea up and  came closer to them. We watched in awe as we would see their backs as they swam on the surface and when they had enough of entertaining us, one gave us quite a show with his tail as he dived deep and swam away. We recognized this as a great gift
and feel so blessed today. Once again...  YES.

On our second night at sea off the coast of Ibiza, the wind and waves came fast and furious and we knew we couldn't continue on to Mallorca. But as it was 1:00 in the morning and very dark ( it was close to new moon), we didn't know the coves well enough to anchor. So for 5 hours we motored very slowly along the coast beneath the cliffs until daylight, where we could see what we were doing. Fortunately we found a great anchorage out of the wind and waves. We dropped anchor and went to bed at 8:00am pretty exhausted. And once again remembered the variable, ever-changing nature of life itself as demonstrated on the sea. This is an ongoing theme that we need to be reminded of and remember non-attachment. As anything that we become attached to, changes. We can't fight it--we can't control it so we must learn to flow and be as flexible and changeable as Mother nature is. Great learnings and we are so fortunate to have the sea as our teacher. Even when in the moment we don't always appreciate the teacher or teaching.

So after a great day of rest, we sailed on the next day to home---Mallorca. We need the comfort and down time that home offers and we also need the non-home time to stretch our comfort zone and create expansion. It's all a balancing act, isn't it?
And so it goes for now...