Days 118-150

September 28th – October 29th

Ibiza, Formentera, Valencia, La Manga, UK

After spending the night in a very peaceful anchorage, we set sail for Formentera. We’d heard lots of great things about the island but were completely blown away by how absolutely stunning the beaches were and how clear the water was. I would say it ranked in our top 3 places of the whole trip.

Over the next few days we hooked up with the family we’d met on the NW coast of Ibiza, messed around on the beaches, surfed the paddle board, had some delicious dinner on their boat, the kids enjoyed some minecraft action, enjoyed some amazing cocktails (which almost bankrupt us) at a brilliant bar called Tiberon and then headed back to Ibiza town to meet my brother and sister-in-law, the gorgeous Si and Ames.

We also managed to bump into a very old friend, Jeppe, who happened to be there on business which was a lovely little surprise treat.

Si and Ames are such chilled company and were up for doing anything so we explored Ibiza old town and spent a day soaking up the Ibiza vibes at the Jockey Club before heading back down to Formentera.

We pretty much spent the next few days hanging out on the beach, swimming (avoiding the jellyfish), paddle boarding, drinking (more) cocktails and loving every minute of their company.

On the day Si and Amy had to leave (which came around much too quickly), we had a quick turn around as my sister, Sally and my nephew, Arthur arrived that evening for some more family fun and games!

Understandably Sal was a bit nervous about having Arthur on the boat but he very quickly got into the swing of things, listened to Captain Matt’s boat rules and was soon running the ship like a salty old sea dog.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s so lovely for us to share this trip with our family and friends and we loved every minute with Sal, Arthur, Si and Amy. It’s always hard to say goodbye and the kids get upset every time but at least it’s not too long before we’ll see them back in Blighty.

When Sal left, we only had another 4 days before we were due to head to Valencia so we made the most of Ibiza and met up with our boat friends again and made some more unforgettable memories.

Even the mummies were feeling brave…

Sunset Ashram was our final night in Ibiza and it didn’t disappoint. What a stunning setting, great company, cool vibe and very tasty cocktails!

We made some great friends during the last part of our trip who I really hope we’ll keep in touch with and who knows, maybe we’ll even end up joining them on another sailing adventure in a few years time.

We set sail very early on Saturday morning and made the last leg of our journey to Valencia marina. This was our final destination in the boat for this trip and I found it pretty emotional. It was our decision to finish here and it was definitely the right one but it still felt sad to think that this was our last sail this year.

We were met by a welcoming party as we approached the marina and saw Dad and Sash on the dock as we reached Valencia on Saturday 14th October. We’d made it! Safe and sound! I felt proud and relieved but also sad that it was coming to an end.

The sailing part was over but our trip continued as we explored Valencia, a city we’d never been to but had a bit of everything for everyone. We hired bikes, visited the BioPark, old town, Aquarium, beach and packed the boat up ready for winter.

We aren’t planning on coming back until April so there was a long list of jobs (mainly for Matt to complete) to make the boat safe and secure over the winter. It’s a popular marina due to how protected it is and we’d found someone to look after it whilst we’re not there so we feel confident that our little home is in safe hands whilst we’re back in the UK.

Mia turned 9 on October 21st and we were lucky enough to have some extra special visitors from Devon to help her celebrate! Some of our besties arrived who we’d missed terribly so we were over the moon to see these gorgeous faces.

Leaving the boat on Tuesday 22nd October was a wet and windy affair. We had a lot to do and the weather was terrible and if we’d had to jump on a plane home that evening, it truly would have been miserable but some of our best friends from Devon were holidaying down the coast in La Manga which we’d decided to gatecrash so we said goodbye to the boat and set off to see some more friendly faces.

What a fantastic week we had hanging out and catching up with friends from home which was the perfect ending to a truly phenomenal trip.

We flew home last night and were met by our lovely Pappy, a home cooked spag Bol and bottle of red, thanks to Mum (the perfect homecoming). I wasn’t sure how we’d feel but actually, we were more excited than anything to be going back to see our family, friends and of course Pepper and George.

I think because we haven’t ruled out a similar trip in the future, I don’t feel like this is the end of our adventures but for now, it’s back to life in Devon and first things first, picking up gorgeous George!!!