31st July / 1st August 2005 - Cala Saona (Formentera)
Posted at 3:13 PM, Monday, August 1, 2005
Woke at 0530 yesterday and not because of any anchoring issues.
It was me burnt bum.
We closed the eastern coast of Formentera off Pta de la Creu by 1830 hours as planned yesterday, but decided with further NE / E winds forecasted, to sail Swagman around the bottom of the island and aim for Cala Saona, half way up the western coast and giving us the comfort of protection by the shore on our east and south.
Sailing around there in the early evening, we found the southern cliffs of Formentera to be impressively fragile sandy coloured stone, alternating with harder grey rock - dropping straight down into deep clear waters. Some stunning patches of aquamarine where the sea and cliffs meet over a sandy bottom. We sailed really close in, with engine ticking over to maintain 7+ knots with the sails up.
The trip round to Saona took only an additional 90 minutes.
As we rounded the bottom of the island and began to go north up the coast, the wind filled in stronger and we wooshed along on a tight reach making close to 9 knots – aiming to get to the anchorage before the sun went down - and no need for the engine to help either.
Cala Saona is only just a notch in the western coast - just above Pta Rasa. The cliffs from the south right up to that point are highish – I guess between 70 to 100 metres – but they turn inward at Pta Rasa, beginning to loose their height as they angle in almost due east / west direction down to the beach which we think, makes this cala so popular. You can see why below.
The beach is around 300 metres wide and 600 metres deep – of pure white sand. The cliffs either side have dropped to only 10 metres or so high, but they frame up the bay nicely and do give anchored boats good protection if wind is anywhere from the north east through to the south east. Suits us well as those are the winds forecasted for the next few days.
From the beach the coast again turns north and one can easily see the cliffs begin to disappear completely up towards the top of the island and Puerto de Savina and the small islands which straddle the passages twix Ibiza and Formentera.
Anyway, the beach bars ashore looked enticing as we rattled chain down into 8 metres of what looked to be Bombay Sapphire Gin. Really clear - lots of little blue / black / white fishes darting around - lovely stuff.
We threw the dingy over the side as we’d sailed over with it upside down on the coach-roof, hooked up the outboard, had a quick dive off the back to wash down with salt water shampoo to clean up the sticky bits, threw on some clean clothes - and in we went to sample the place.
The beach itself is buoyed off for swimmers but a narrow boat channel is marked to the northern most side for dinghies and pedalos etc. There was still some swell rolling in from the SW’lies over past few days breaking, but the beach edge was steep and I was able to gun it and dump us high and dry beyond the surf line. Did not even get our feet wet. Next time I will take advantage of some fishermans 'caves' carved close to shore. Each have their small fishing craft under cover - but the wooden 'rails' they have for launching and retrieval would fit the Zodiac perfectly - making it easy to land and even easier to get the boat back out.
All very pretty - with three restaurants / bars right on the beach and a white hotel block at the back of the beach. We scouted them all for a feed and I think we made the right choice in choosing one at beach level on the north side - had no name. Only an open café but Sue claimed the Sea Bass was the best she’d ever tasted, and my entrecote was large enough to feed three people. The service was excellent – so it’s highly recommended if you ever visit Saona yourself.
On the journey over we had attempted to raise the good ship Spectra but no joy either with the mobile number we had, nor on the VHF. Later in the evening we secured GPRS cover and picked up an email from them asking where we were! Seems they got bored and left for
Spent our first full day here in a pretty lazy way. Weather in the morning was overcast and we had a few drops of rain but it cleared by lunchtime.
So it was walks on the cliff tops, laze on the beach (lots of au natural here), and nice music and wine, watching the sun go down over the western horizon. We plan to hire scooters later and explore the island further.
Apart from me burnt bum, now had two uneventful nights. The bottoms soft sand so everything sets well even when gusts do blow over the cliff tops. We are in 8 metres of water about 300 metres off the beach and 100 metres off the southern cliffs. The bay's got a further 20 or so other boats parked up overnight, and more arrive for day visits. Even so - it is not crowded.
The winds stayed basically as forecast from north east – and they say it will stay there for some days to come - which if we stay - is a good one.
Cheers
JOHN
