Grazie Sardinia y Sicilia

This is the Temple Concorde, the most intact of the ruins. Very nice to see at night. I'm making this update in the marina manager's office in San Leone, so gotta go for now. Today we sail to the south eastern tip of Sicily. Tomorrow we make the sail to Greece and the Greek islands. Ciao for now.

From San Leone, we rode up to the hill top town of Agrigiente and the Valley of the Temples. A spectacular set of ruins built by the Greeks around 500 BC. It's the largest set of Greek ruins outside of Athens. We did this tour at night - spectacular!

After sailing through LAtin America and the Caribbean, I never would have guessed that Sardinia and Sicily would be without internet - bongiorno! So we've got an abbreviated update for you and it will have to do until we land in Greece. We should be there by August 5 (or so). Caglieri, Sardinia was interesting, but Sicily is spectacular. We visited the south coast towns of Marsala, Sciacca and San Leone. We took some side tours as well. Here's Jenee in a mountain village north of Sciacca. It's only about 1100 years old.

Buenas Dias Menorca !

Can't get enough of this place!

Isn't Jenee smashing!

We came back the next day for more.

We head back to our anchorage after a great dinner.

Everywhere.

Small streets.

Staircase to the top and ready for a tour - high speed as my battery is low.

Welcome to the beautiful town of Puerto de Ciudedella on the west coast of Menorca

Cala Colabra - Magnifico!

Mallorca in the rear view mirror. Next up is Menorca, last of the Spanish Baleares Islands. Here's a sneak preview - I'm writing from Menorca - neat island, more to follow. Hasta luego.

The next morning we head out.

We did find this little anchorage, Cala Murta. It came with wild goats.

We sailed out of the cala to round the eastern most tip of Mallorca. Always a blast to roud a point of land - big waves, big wind, new shorts. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

Jungle in the water. Jungle Jim on land.

Here's that beach we couldn't land on.

There are tunnels through the mountain to connect one beach to the other - let's go!

Another view.

Now this is a private anchorage.

This is the side of my head - it's kinda of a national landmark - it's big enough.

We tried to land on this beach, but the waves were too big. Remember this shot as we'll come from the other side later on.

We sailed into an anchorage called Cala Colabra, Menorca. It is situated amongst the highest peaks on the the island. The weather was rough so we were the only boat - still breathtaking.

Puerto Soller, Mallorca

Themountains surround us. By the way the weather was perfect. Sunny, dry and comfortable - 72 ish. As mentioned the weather turned heavy in the middle of the night, so we picked up anchor the next morning to head further east.

Quite stunning.

This is St. Bartholemew's Catholic Church. Time to check on the holy water. See the staimed glass circular windows on the top? We'll see them from inside.

We journied into Soller Town, about 2 miles inland. Ity turns out the major towns on these islands developed in land because they got tired of getting raided by pirates. Garrrr.

Always a pleasure to walk the waterfront of these towns.

We arrived Puerto Soller to find a turn of the century rail system - from San Francisco!

Lunch time on Jungle took us by some pretty cliffs.

Some beatiful vistas on the way to Puerto Soller. Our route was on the northwest coast - very rugged and steep. Less development.

But let's not worry about the weather now. It's time for dinner!

We sailed into San Telmo, Mallorca in calm seas, but the weather turned on us later.

Ahhh! The Baleares Islands - a Spanish Paradise

We found a very pretty anchorage with very little development - our preference. Unfortunately there is a reason! The anchorage was rougfh and we rocked all night until we decided to pull anchor (at 3AM) and head for the next island - Mallorca. We love sailing.

We sailed along the northwest coast - beautiful scenery.

And we're off to Ibiza, the next island in the chain.

Katie was not impressed.

Here is the snubber line, topside properly tied off. When we got up the next morning, we noticed there were boats anchored much closer to us than the night before. Where did they come from? When we went to pull the anchor up, the snubber line was gone! Obviously stolen! Then I realized (cause I'm wicked smaht) the anchor chain was way-way out, ergo closer to the other boats! When we pulled the chain in, lo and behold, there was the snubber line sitting on the bottom of the harbor - close to the anchor. Somebody didn't do a very good job of tying off the line. If I ever find that guy ....

OK, here's a "dumbass story" for you. This is the anchor chain and a line attached to it called a snubber line. The rope line keeps pressure off the chain and the windlass - the electrical crank that pulls the anchor up.

Here's the hole we had to drop into to get into the cave.

Look at this little dumpling matching Jenée's pose! The cool thing is that this is actually a cave that we climbed down into. It's the southern most point of the Baleares Islands, looking into the Med.

But I might be. (blog readers now reaching for a bag).

Sorry folks, Jenée is not totally into the Spanish gig.

Oh, I forgot to mention, nudity on Spanish beaches is no problem. This may be Hector "Macho" Camacho - just a guess. Did I mention I'm thinking of trimming my toenails with a rock? I'll let you know how it goes. Looking at that dude, I'm guessing the water is chilly.

Cool little beach - just a few rocks to navigate.

OK, I'm over it. We rented a motor scooter and rode around the island. We ended up on this little beach on the southeast side- called Mitjorn.

We anchored in Formentera and dinghied into this beach. I had to walk the dinghy in the last 200 yards. Jenée has been on strike since she towed the boat in the Bahamas! This blog sucks!

Dead calm anyone? This is what it looks like. We're in the midst of a 3 day sail from Morocco to the Spanish Baleares Islands: Formentera, Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca.

Let's visit Morocco! Salaam!

After my gig, I was reminded that the hat doubles as a tip jar - Shukran! (thanks)

You haven't lived until you've played in a Moroccan band baby! I'm playing lead on Stairway to the Casbah. Nailed it.

Rashid set us up for a private lunch at a Moroccan wedding house. Here we pose as husband and wife - wait, that's us.

Can't go to an old town market without a visit to the chicken shop. Off with the head!

This lady is a Berber - an original native - also called Beduoan and they typically live in the hill country. Very shy.

This is a silk shop and a local specialty. We saw clothes being made on hand looms - don't see that every day.

This is a 700 year old tannery that operates the same way today as it did in the 14th century. A little smelly, but wild to see.

The prices were great we bought over 3 pounds of olives for less than 2 Euro - $3 US!

Shops are fit in everywhere of every size. Passed down from generation to generation.

This street is one person wide - we got stuck.

We'd walk down these narrow streets and end up in these courtyards - quite a maze. The inhabitants are Arab, Jewish and Christian. Each has their own section and have been doing fine since 1307 AD.

The streets narrowed down, very cool.

Here's our guide Rashid walking us through the old town (Medina). He was great to have along. This is one of the eight doors into the walled city of Tetouan - 2 square miles in size.

The craftsman at work. He shaped a little heart for Jenee out of a sea shell.

I've never been a big fan of these ornate, middle eastern style tables. Getting the chance to see them made was very impressive. All by hand, no glue on the white shell inlays.

One of our reasons for coming is to visit the 700+ year old city of Tetouan. (Tet-wan) This is a grave yard of Jews, Christians (Catholics) and Arabs. We were told it is the only one in the world. See, we can all get along - only they're dead.

Nice beach and community on the water.

We strolled around town and found it to be a pretty place - a little pricey, but nice.

At least everything calmed down by the time we reached Marina Smir. This is an Arab playground and a relatively new area.

Could have been worse. We met these fellow Yanks on board Koinonia in Ceuta. They headed out at the same time directly for the Baleares Islands (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca) only a 3 day 250 mile sail - fair winds boys!

So, we consult the weather for our short, two hour sail from Ceuta to Marina Smir in Morocco. The weather looks perfect with light winds for the run south. We get out of the harbor and holy moly - it's blowing snot!