All Aboard – Guest post
before we head back to Denia to drop our guests off on the Spanish mainland this post was written by one of our guests
All Aboard – written by Lisanne
7 people on one boat. That could be the beginning of a funny joke or a complete disaster. I’m happy to say it’s neither of it. Sister Lisanne, husband Maus and their baby girl arrived in the harbour of Denia on June 12 after 4 days in a car. Ofcourse, the only thing you really want after a long trip is a long hot shower. Well, welcome aboard: that ain’t gonna happen! Joline, Rene and the girls proudly showed us around. We got a quick guide to the do’s and don’ts of life on board. For example: pump 30 times to flush the toilet. I secretly suspect that 3 times is more than enough but they’re just messing with us by making us pump 30 times. This way a visit to the loo is looking a bit like a work out, and, honestly, that’s about the only workout we do all day. 🙂
After some serious grocery shopping we started to sail to Ibiza on Wednesday evening. None of us had been there before. Joline and Rene asked whether we would like to help on the night watch? Yes, sure, that would be cool. We packed some warm clothing and had visions of gliding over smooth water, watching the stars, seeing glow in the dark jellyfish and having a midnight swim with dolphins. Well that didn’t quite go as planned… we got really seasick, and couldn’t do anything anymore. Game over. All we did with those warm clothing was throwing up on them. At first, I silently begged Rene to turn around, back to the harbour, sorry, but this is not for us, yes, i’ll just sleep in the car for 2 weeks. After these initial thoughts I was convinced Joline and Rene are absolutely bonkers for wanting to do this for 3-4 years, they must be crazy, no normal person would do this for fun. Why don’t just go to Ponypark Slagharen, that’s great too.
Thank goodness babies don’t suffer seasickness. Our little girl was doing just fine. Auntie Joline had to change her diaper and put her to sleep because mom and dad were game over. Maus spent the night outside, Lisanne spent the night in their cabin, and even got a few hours of sleep, which helped very much. On Thursday morning we arrived in Cala Tarida. The clear turquoise water was beautiful but there was quite a lot of swell, so it took us some more time to adjust. After a day or two things got really better and we could even start to enjoy being on a ship. Lisanne particularly enjoys feeding the fish with left-overs, accompanied by Robin who’s trying to catch them and Rene who’s making sure we don’t thrown anything overboard that’s still eatable.
That brings me to sustainability. It is something I find very important in my everyday life and staying on the Blue Pearl has shown me how much water, gas, electricity, plastic, etcetera we use! I am really happy to see that we use sea water to rinse the dishes and flush the toilets, and even use it as drinking water since Rene started using the water maker! it turns seawater to fresh drinkable water, about 22 liters per hour, and is powered by the solar panels. What an incredible invention. Hot water comes from the black warm-up bag of water that we lay in the sun, and almost all the electricity comes from the solar panels and wind generator. I am really happy to see how this all contributes to a sustainable environment, at least on Blue Pearl, and it really made me think we can improve some things at home too.
After Cala Tarida we set sail to Cala Bassa, and after a few days we went to the upper north side of the island, to Cala Pontinatx. On our way there we spotted dolphins, and that is a good thing, because Lisanne was not going home without seeing dolphins. In Cala Pontinatx we met up with a lovely couple and their great daughter, that Joline en Rene met in Almerimar. The girls played hours and hours with their friend and had a blast going to the beach together. Joline and Lisanne went SUP-ping for the first time, and the boys had fun with the motorboat (or as they put it: “It’s really important to practice in case it’s needed.”)
On Thursday June 21st we arrived in Cala Binnaras, the most beautiful cala of all, with impressive rocks on both sides and a little beach without the typical Ibiza-party-noise that accompanied us most evenings. Joline and Lisanne have been snorkeling, spotting many beautiful fish. On this beautiful midsummernight we took the little boat to the beach to see and hear the people drumming on the beach until the sun sets. Luckily, this cala also has the best view for sunsets and the clear sky allowed us to see the red sun sink into the sea. What a lovely way to end the longest day of the year!
