Formentera

Trip Start Apr 04, 2008
1
31
108
Trip End Jul 03, 2009


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Flag of Spain and Canary Islands  , Balearic Islands,
Thursday, August 14, 2008

I remember being on Sydney harbour on my dad's yacht for the Australian Bi Centennial celebrations and being amazed at the number of boats on the harbour and how we could all squeeze in to watch the events. Well here on Formentera, an area of the Ballearics which is one of the most famous with its powdery white sand and clear blue water and a relatively small stretch of beach there were 3 times the number of boats than the harbour. Boats everywhere, small speed boats, big speed boats, small yachts, large yachts, jet skis, jet boats, runabouts, mega yachts, ocean liners and other craft we couldn't even put a name to. If it floated it was there!

There seems to be a Spanish Marine Law that for every 10 foot of boat there must be 1 to 2 stunning bikini clad women, draped in a "modelesque" style pose on the boat. That's the other thing we've noticed here, how many beautiful women there are and there not your nipped and tucked, stick thin with super sized silicone implant types either Is it a warship ?
Is it a warship ?
 . Simply Stunning! And as I mentioned they all hanging off these boats in various states of undress, poor Tom doesn't know where to look. It's a bit much for a 16 year old but he's already decided he needs to come back in a few years time with mates not Mum and Dad. I'm slightly disappointed as there does not seem to be the same ratio of good looking men, where are all the Antonio Banderas and Ricky Martin look alikes. We have to be fair now!

Now while this may all seem very exciting and exotic, as you can see from the photos there is not much aquatic life here in the med, it's a little on the boring side for snorkelling which is why the boys took to taking silly photos of themselves. I can think of a dozen anchorages in Australia which have clearer water and whiter sand with an abundance of fish (back beach on Great Keppel Island, Whitehaven and Percy Island to name a few) but having said that here is all about the exciting aquatic life above the water line.

You can just sit back on your boat (and everyone does) and watch it all go by, its hours and hours of free entertainment. Somehow it almost feels like sitting at a big intersection just waiting for an accident to happen, watching 70ft boats squeezing into a space that should really accommodate a 20ft as jet skis zoom in and out missing boats by inches. Although it's not the calmest of anchorages it's definitely the most interesting. It seems like the place to be seen if you're a rich European...
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