Lemon haired bucket dunkers

Burkey came for a second visit and he got in the water this time.

 We had an ace sail from Es Grau to the serene harbour of Addaya. 

Addaya is a lovely quiet, mainly British, holiday home village . The anchorage was a bit crowded and we had to re anchor a few times coz the wind kept changing. We're getting used to anchoring with 10 metres of chain and putting the fenders out for anything that goes bump in the night.

And then Burkey was gone. Mike, 2 days is not long enough.

Before leaving Addaya we had a long walk up the estuary.

Then we set off back to Mahon to pick up my wonderful daughter and start the best week ever!!!!!! 

(Linda, please note the copious amounts of sun cream in all the photos.)

The fun began as soon as she arrived. 2 out of 10 for my dive with bent legs.

She climbed the mast to replace a broken shackle. (See the flag Mandy put up for our Scottish guest)

She moved the anchor when it was stuck under a rock. (And managed to video it).

She cleaned the hull.

She cleaned the orange dust of the boat during a downpour.

Nikki and Mandy manually winched up the anchor many times as the windlass is playing up.

Mandy and Nikki make a very competent crew. They even took the bins out with the paddle board.

They make a great team, I'd defo go across oceans with these two.

We sailed from Menorca to Mallorca and had a brilliant downwind sail with our Jib poled out, The heavens opened and for once we were very happy to see the rain, it cleaned the sails and removed all the orange dust from the boat. 

Then did a magical slow overnighter to Ibiza. Nikki's first overnighter. A great sunset out at sea, no land, nothing better.

The stars where the best yet. Scorpio dominated the southern sky next to the milky way, the galaxies central bulge was very clear. You could see the milky way reflected in the sea. Also we saw loads of meteors, some really bright. Besides the sky the sea was glowing with a bioluminescent trails behind the boat. What I haven't seen before was bioluminescent jellyfish, there must have been 60 a minute. Big bright blobs shooting out from behind the boat. Spookey. Couldn't catch any of it on camera. Just before dawn the moon rose and gave us a great display of earthshine.

We arrived at an amazing anchorage in Ibiza, Punta Grossa and had a great snorkel into some caves. Mandy is defo getting the hang of duck diving. Before she knows it she'll be diving with me on the wrecks of the Chuuk atoll. 

Got the hammock out which we have had for 20 years and never used.

The next morning after quite a rolley night we changed anchorages and went ashore for the first time for a pina colada on the beach in Cala Xucla.

So what are Lemon haired bucket dunkers.... Well every day the girls would squish fresh lemons on their hair and at the end of the day dunk their heads in a bucket of fresh water.

On Saturday we sailed on to San Antonio to drop Nikki off to catch her flight home early Sunday morning. Had a walk around, lots of young people glammed up for all nighters. Very British.

Found a great place to eat, Rita's. Good food, good service and really friendly staff. Oh yes, and the best Margarita in the Balearics.

Then she had to go, so sad but she will be back, hopefully for our Atlantic crossing in January.

As soon as Nik left we also left the Balearics and headed to Valencia to leave the boat and come home for Dan and Nina's wedding. It's a long 17 hours of hand steering without an autopilot but we were cheered up a few times by visiting dolphins.

Back to UK for the first time in a year for me. Feels a bit weird.