Family on board – Sailing from Spain to Madeira

Traveling for more than one year on a sailing boat? What sounds like a dream to most people became reality for my friends Nico and Theresa with their baby »Joni«. I had the honor to travel with them and another friend for almost a month, sailing from southern Spain to Morocco and later to Madeira. 

Our home for the next 4 weeks: A Beneteau First 36.7

After meeting up in a marina close to Malaga (Spain), we made the boat ready for our first crossing. Across the teal waters of the Mediterranean Sea, we headed towards Morocco. With a short stop at Ceuta, an autonomous city of Spain located on the northern coast of Africa, we arrived in Tangier (Morocco) a day later.

The most important job on the boat: Entertaining the smallest passenger

Checking the weather and navigation tool to find the best time to leave the harbor

For us, it was the first time being in Morocco. Despite being just a few nautical miles away from Europe, the cultural differences are huge. Here, we felt like diving directly into the array culture. Morocco has a rich cultural heritage that reflects both Arab and Berber influences. We spent the days strolling across the city, with its winding alleys and busy markets. We had a lot of coffee, sweet mint tea, and, of course, »Tajin« the traditional steamed dishes. 

After almost a week, it was time for us to move on. For the crossing to Madeira, we had to cover 550 nm (about 1000 km). The wind seemed rather low, but enough to travel at a comfortable speed. For 3.5 days, there were only the five of us, the boat, and the ocean. The sun set and rose again and again while we were living according to our watch schedule. 

Enjoying the end of the first day on board with a beautiful sunset

Care work

Elegant accompaniment: Once in a while, these beautiful animals were following us

Then we finally arrived at Madeira, or better, at Porto Santo, its sister island. Before heading over to the main island, we stayed there a few days and got used to life on land again.
Madeira really surprised me. The strong contrast between arid, rocky cliffs and lush green forests was just insane. We traveled to the famous »Fanal« with its rustic trees in the foggy weather. We watched the sunrise at the very northern peak of the island, close to our anchor spot. We went snorkeling in the crystal-clear water next to our boat. We hike up the typical »Levadas«, artificial streams built to move water for agriculture.

Sunrise close to Miradouro de São Lourenço

Cave on Porto Santo

The days flew by, and when I had to fly back home, I was feeling like I could have stayed here for weeks. One thing I know for sure: I will come back. But will I get there by sailing? Probably, this was a unique experience.

Hiking up the »Levada«

Rock climbing in Mallorca

Mallorca is without doubt one of the most popular holiday destinations. Unfortunately the image of the island has suffered from mass tourism in the past decades. This distracts from the beautiful and down to earth parts of the island, the great outdoors and epic climbing areas you can find on Mallorca. It’s fair to say I was pleasantly surprised visiting Mallorca for the first time ever.

We were lucky to stay with friends of Theresa and other climbers who are also into climbing. Thus, we had great company for the week.

La Creveta

On the first day we went to ‘La Creveta’ a spot in the very northern part of the island, close to the city of Port de Pollença. The approach includes a lot of scrambling and it’s a bit tricky to find your way around the big boulders. But when you finally get to the wall it’s totally worth it. You have a great view on the city and in the afternoon you'll get some sun at the wall.

Cala Romantica

This is one of the scenic spots right at the sea on the east coast. You’ll be belaying right next to the cliff and the sun will burn you all day. The rock is quite sharp since the routes a pretty new but at the same time the bolts are also quite new and trustworthy.

Mont Port

The spot is located close to Port Andratx in the south-eastern part of Mallorca. This spot is famous for the ‘panorama route’, a beautiful route which is by the way great for taking pictures of the climber (in this case me).

Santanyí

On our last day just before heading towards the airport we went to an awesome spot close to Santanyí. From the parking lot next to a lighthouse you walk down a few steps and find a lot of well-bolted routes. Not far away you can also visit the iconic Es Pontàs where Chris Sharma climbed the famous deep water solo route ‘King Line’.