agility @ sea

Several people have asked if we are effected by the Catalonia independence issues. We haven’t noticed much. People aren’t talking about it (not to us), there are some Catalonian flags out, and one day last week there were a lot of heavily armed police and security guards around. I was running errands and was surprised to see armed security people in El Corte Ingles (Spanish version of Nordstrom) and then noticed there were police everywhere. I sent Tim a text and he mentioned that they were probably prepared for riots because some type of political event was going on. That reassured me because for awhile I felt a little paranoid – perhaps they were all after me! Oddly, 16 years ago there seemed to be more rumblings than now and we heard more about the Catalan issues. I’ll update if anything changes for us.
Agility was back in the water Friday at 5:00 p.m. Unfortunately, the starboard engine didn’t want to start, but we were able to corral an unenthused mechanic and great electrician as they were exiting the yard, figured out the problem, and the mechanic took Tim to his shop where Tim was able to get a replacement part that he installed. We went to anchor outside of town, made dinner, settled in for the night, and were then approached by the port police (strobe lights flashing and all) who very kindly told us we must move. It’s always such a relief when people don’t scream and go berserk. We only had to motor for about 20 minutes, but anchoring in the dark is never fun and if the anchor hits any seagrass here, it’s big trouble. All ended up fine.
I’m pleased we spent more time than we had planned in Mallorca. I had a blast running around Palma, exploring, looking at the architecture, got some bike rides in, lots of shopping, great meals, saw a couple of movies, and even live music. It was a ton of fun.
Leaving Palma, we had a 10 hour run to Ibiza, another quiet night, and a short sail yesterday to a lovely quiet anchorage where a fabulous restaurant was hidden behind some rocks. It’s behind the bottom right of the photo I posted. It was the final day of the season so we headed in for a grilled fish dinner that may be our last in the Mediterranean. We will miss those lovely lemony whole fish.
Today we are sailing slowly to Formentera where we’ll hang out for a day or two. In a strange twist of events, I’m the one pushing to move on. Mentally I have put the Med behind us and I am anxious to get to the Canaries where we can begin preparations for the Atlantic crossing. It will be the longest passage I’ve made, but is supposed to be a relatively easy one. It’s referred to as a milk run. Plus I’ve heard the Canaries are quite nice and I’d like to have a little time there.