Leaving...

Since we had already said our "goodbyes" to all of our friends in Palma, we were ready to sail away from the island of Mallorca. We love Mallorca and have always considered it our home in the Mediterranean, so it was hard to say "so long"...

It was a cloudy, dreary day which actually seemed appropriate.
This is the last time we will sail from port in Ecstasea and see the Cathedral in the heart of the city:

And as we sailed on to Ibiza, we were rewarded once again with a fantastic, beyond words, gorgeous sunset over the ocean:

It doesn't get any better than this:

Sail away with me...

And I am forever trying to capture the color and essence of the sea as she changes throughout our sail. And obviously, pictures can never capture it, but here goes:

You had to have been there...

Thank you Yemaya for your ever changing, yet changeless beauty and oneness!

France

We decided to leave Ecstasea in port in Palma and fly to Barcelona. From there we rented a car and drove to Toulouse, France. Toulouse is in the south west corner of France and home to a dear friend that we just couldn't leave the Med without seeing.
Magali (who I've known for 20 + years since she attended college in the States), her partner Philippe, and daughter Penelope welcomed us warmly into their lovely home. Toulouse is a wonderful city and we really enjoyed sightseeing there for several days with Penelope. We enjoyed just walking around, getting the feel of the city, and of course, having a Starbucks. We also went into the Capitole building which is the heart of the city and the symbol seat of power, and also an impressive museum.

Penney (Penelope), the Captain and me outside the museum:

Penney is a natural model and trying to teach me to vamp it up on the stairway:

And we finished off the day with cocktails on a rooftop bar:

Back home again, Magali cooked duck for us...a first for me and I have to admit that it was very good!
The next day after Magali and Philippe finished their work week, we all drove several hours north into the country to Lerm. Magali's parents have a 200 year old country home there. First of all, we have to say that we haven't seen another countryside in all of Europe that is as beautiful as the French country. There are so many castles scattered through the countryside and they are kept up well, often with families still living in them.
This was just one of the castles along the way...

And us, in the driveway leading to this castle...

And Magali, Philippe, and Penney...

Michel and Christine, Magali's parents welcomed us with open arms into their wonderful country home...
                                                    Front side of the house:

And backside of the house:

Since we were in the Bordeaux wine region, we took an afternoon and drove to the small town of St Emillion for some wine tasting. A quaint little town completely surrounded by miles and miles of vineyards. We had a lovely lunch and a fun afternoon of tasting various wines of the area.

Stone streets up and down thru town:

Winery and vineyard outside of St Emillion:

Vineyards as far as you can see:

Then back home to Michel and Christine and great food and drink with them in the evenings on the back patio. I had heard many times that the French have a great liquor that acts as a digestive so that you can continue to eat the delicious cuisine. And Michel introduced it to us one evening. It is called Armagnac:

Michel introducing Armagnac:

And encouraging me to smell it and taste it...I did, and it was delicious and did the trick!

What an honor it was for us to get to know this wonderful family and to be so welcomed into their home. We didn't feel like tourists in France, but part of the family!!!

Now it was time to leave our French family and drive further north to the city of Bordeaux. Once again we were enthralled with the beauty of the countryside. Vineyards, castles, and such lushness everywhere you looked. In Bordeaux we did the usual tourist activities of sightseeing, eating fantastic food and drinking exceptional wine.

This is one of the original gates into the city:

The Captain along the riverfront in front of an old sailboat:

This is a mirror water pond in the heart of the city that mists up and surrounds you with fog every 30 minutes--fun:

So after "Too Much Fun" in France, it was time to head back to Palma, Mallorca and reconnect with Ecstasea. Thank you to our fabulous friends and to France itself for the wonderful hospitality!!!

Changes

To everything there is a time...
And it is time for a change in our lives--a BIG change!
We have had 13 magnificent years living on EcstaSea in the summers and we have loved every moment of it. And yet, we feel it is time for a change--a new chapter in our lives. We have explored all of the Mediterranean and also had 2 seasons in the Caribbean, and quite frankly, it has lost a lot of it's juiciness for us. It has lost its newness, its adventure and even its romance. We began to feel this last summer, and it's definitely a truth for us this summer.

About 12 years ago when we were anchored out off of the Italian island of Ischia, we met another American couple on their boat. And they told us that they were "done" and sailing their last summer now. So we asked them how do you know when you are done? And they said "Oh you will know"... Well, we understand now and know we are "done"! It is time to let go of this lifestyle and embrace something new. What will the "new" thing be? We don't yet know but are excited to explore and see.

Soooo, we have put EcstaSea up for sale. And have spent the rest of our time here in the Med seeing and saying "Goodbye" to all of our dear friends here. We have made lifelong friends that we will miss but know that they will always be a part of our lives. And we want to share some pictures of them with everyone.


 Dominique and his fiancé' Jane....
 We have known and loved Dominique since we met him in Sardinia, Italy the second year we were in the Med. He is Italian and English, so we found his language skills most helpful. Besides helping us with the boat and the Italian officials, we also stayed at his B&B for the 8 years that we left Esea in Alghero, Sardinia for the winter. We became fast friends with him and his Dad, Tony. And he has recently moved to Ireland and lives there with Jane. We had a great catch up time with them when we were in Ireland at the first of the summer...

Susie, who has become dear to us as the best waitress and friend in one of our favorite restaurants in Palma, Mallorca. The restaurant is named "Wineing" and we always enjoy the food and wine, as well as Susie...

Linn at her shop called "Tree Of Life". She is someone we always want to see when we arrive in Palma, Mallorca. We love her, her store with it's unique hippy chic clothes and her husband Christian (who owns 3 of the best restaurants in Palma)...

Julia, another dear friend who has a wonderful clothing store in Andratx, Mallorca. We always look forward to seeing her every summer...

Mariusz in Palma, Mallorca has also been a part of our lives for many years. Besides being a dear friend, he was also part of our crew that crossed the Atlantic with us in 2013.

Xavier (Chavi), with his easy smile who is special in our lives. He also helped us cross the Atlantic with Ecstasea in 2013...

And his wonderful family...wife, Lorena and son, Adrian. All three of them are like family to us and we cherish our continued friendship and connection...

Sussi...
We met Sussie the first year we were in the Med in Palma, Mallorca and she has been a part of our lives every since. She is too much fun and makes sure we have too much fun also! She takes us dancing, to the best new restaurants and keeps us in touch with all of the events on the island. We are always excited to hear of all of the new adventures in her life. This summer we went to see the movie Woodstock with her in the park at the cathedral...

Thank you Sussi for all of the years of fun connection!
And here we are having an Indian meal with her and her son...

Ulli and her husband, Giorgio. I met Ulli in 2003 when I walked the Camino de Santiago, and we became lifelong friends on that very long walk. She and Giorgio came to Mallorca to see us in 2016 but unfortunately our plans to visit this summer fell through. We're so sorry that we didn't get to say "goodbye", but it is never truly "goodbye" anyway...

We also didn't get to see dear Catherine and Pascal this summer. They are our favorite French friends and producers of Imax movies. Thank you for all of the fun, meaningful times together...

So many memories with so many special friends in our lives here in the Mediterranean. And so many more that we haven't even mentioned here. We are ever thankful for the way each of them embraced us and how they have contributed to our lives in many significant ways.

With deep appreciation to each of you...Thank you!!!

Where's the Anchor?

On the south east coast of Mallorca is one of our favorite anchorages, called La Rapita or The Trench. So we decided to sail on over there for a few days and chill out before leaving Mallorca.
It was a windy day but a great stick of the anchor so we just relaxed in the sunshine.
And a few hours later as we were napping, we heard a big bang and jumped up to check it out.
Everything looked fine but we soon noticed that we seemed to be drifting on our anchor.
And hell Yes, we were drifting so I (willow) went to the foredeck and began to pull up the anchor.

AND....
Where the hell is the anchor, because it is not on the end of the chain!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully we were anchored in only about 13 feet of water, so we began trying to figure out how to retrieve it. Several helpful men in their own boats in the anchorage jumped right in to help us. So I just drove Esea slowly around in the anchorage and the guys figured out how to dive on the anchor,
how to pull it out of the sand, and how to hoist it to the surface and on to EcstaSea.
The bolt connecting the anchor to the chain had broken--something almost unheard of!

So being unable to anchor, we headed back to Palma and port to get it fixed. Oh well, so much for a quiet few days at anchor...

The anchor on the foredeck...And yes, this is where it should never be...

The Captain fixing the bolt and reconnecting the anchor to the chain...

Just another new experience living on the sea!!!

REALLY???

You know how you never really appreciate or miss something until you don't have it? Well, that is how we are feeling about our paddle board that was stolen a  couple of weeks ago. Now we really want to use it, but can't...obviously.
So we are really conscious of all of the people around us using and enjoying their paddle boards. And when we saw this guy paddle by us in a cove, all we could say was "REALLY"???

And yes, he really is sans suit and au naturale'...

And he was having too much fun!!!

Sailing Away at Last!

We arrived back on EcstaSea after our trip to Scotland and Ireland just in time for another full moon.
This was our third full moon here in the harbor at Aguadulce. And what a treat as it was also a partial lunar eclipse.

As she rose over the masts in the harbor...

Just starting to eclipse...

At her maximum eclipse...

The first mate meditating and celebrating Mother Moon on the foredeck of EcstaSea...

Now EcstaSea was getting antsy to sail, as were we, but still the wind and waves (which govern our lives here) were not allowing us to leave the harbor. So we stayed put for another week. And FINALLY we sailed away for the first time this summer on July 26th.
We had an easeful overnight sail to the Balearic Island of Formentera. And since big winds were coming we were fortunate to grab a mooring ball in our favorite little island of Espalmador. And here we rested for a few days, getting our sea legs back under us.
Then we moved up to the island of Ibiza where we had to keep moving around the island as the wind and waves were changing everyday. Thankfully we know the island well and the best coves to hide out in.
One of our favorite places is Cala Tarida...

Last year we had bought our paddle board, Itiwit. Here's the Captain paddling around before someone stole her from the boat while we were here in Cala Tarida...

We left her in the water connected to the boat so it was easy for someone to come and cut the cord. We heard that 2 other paddle boards were stolen the same night. It is the first time in 13 years that we have ever had anything stolen. So we can only believe that someone needed her more than us.

Another favorite cala is on the north side of Ibiza, Cala Charracca...

So we spent several days before crossing over to the island of Mallorca.

The Captain growing a beard. How handsome he is! Although it didn't last long before he shaved it off...

This is cala Egos on Mallorca, which is one of our favorite coves to anchor out in...

And it was here in Palma, Mallorca that we once again celebrated full moon in August. How do the months go by so quickly?

Full Moon at the Cathedral in Palma...

Don't miss the full moon in the background...

We count our time in accordance with the monthly cycles of Full Moon. We stop, gaze up into the Light and see where we are "NOW",  and intend where we are going. Thank you Mother Moon for your gift of fullness to light our way...