Sailing Ibiza and Formentera was never a route to complete and a checklist to prove it. During May and June 2023, we lived aboard Folie A2 for two months, made several circuits of the island and moved from bay to bay. Sometimes we stayed because everything worked. Sometimes a swell forecast gave us a good reason to leave.
This dated logbook is part of the experience behind today’s Aurelia Blue sailing experiences. Longer stories from Sarah and Christian continue through Aurelia Blue Publishing.
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That freedom is one of Ibiza’s great strengths as a sailing ground. The island is compact. When the wind changes or an anchorage becomes uncomfortable, a more sheltered coast is not necessarily days away. Aboard Folie A2, we could reach the other side of the island within a day. That does not replace careful weather planning, but it gives a crew options.
Ibiza was never one neat lap for us. It was two months of small decisions: stay, move, or return to a bay that felt right again.
Sailing Ibiza and Formentera without a fixed itinerary
There was no single start and finish to our route. We sailed around the island more than once, revisited familiar places and chose the next stop according to wind, swell and what we wanted from the day.
Our confirmed stops included Port de las Caletas, Cala de Sant Vicent, Cala Punta Grossa, Cala del Lleó, Cala de Portinatx, Cala Xarraca, Caló d’Es Porcs, Xamena and Cala Albarca around the north and north-east. We also anchored at Cala Llonga and Cala Roja on the eastern side and at Embarcaderos Cala Tarida in the west. Around Sant Antoni, we used both Coves Blanques and the Club Nàutic Sant Antoni de Portmany.
This is not a route to copy without checking the conditions for yourself. Shelter and comfort depend on wind, swell, season and the boat. The list shows how we used Ibiza: not as a one-off circumnavigation, but as a compact cruising ground in which we could keep moving for weeks.
Portinatx: small, sheltered and easy to love
Cala de Portinatx is the anchorage we remember first. It is small and exceptionally well protected, with water so blue that photographs can look exaggerated until you are actually anchored there.
For us, it also had the right balance between peace on the water and life ashore. There were welcoming little restaurants without the bay losing its relaxed character. After nights when swell had made us think carefully about the next move, Portinatx was somewhere we could stop thinking about the forecast for a while. We could take the dinghy ashore, have dinner and return to a quiet boat.
When people ask for our favourite bay in Ibiza, this is the answer.
When swell matters more than the plan
Not every night was calm. We dealt with swell, shifting wind and anchorages that were no longer as comfortable as they had looked earlier. We did not try to defend an itinerary against the conditions. If swell was expected, we moved in time to a better-protected side of the island.
Ibiza makes that kind of decision unusually manageable. The distances are modest, and changing coast does not have to ruin the entire cruise. A planned multi-day stop sometimes became a few hours. A bay chosen as an alternative sometimes became one of the places we remember best.
That was an important lesson from these two months: flexibility is not the absence of a plan. Around Ibiza, it is part of a good one.
Eivissa: one night, €460 and an exhausted credit card
We spent most of our time at anchor and returned to Sant Antoni more than once. A night at Marina Ibiza in Eivissa showed how sharply the cost can change when an anchorage is exchanged for a berth.
In June 2023, we paid €460 for one night with Folie A2. The quoted rate for July would have been €640. These were not universal marina prices; they were the figures for our yacht at that time.
The berth did put Eivissa directly on our doorstep. We walked up into Dalt Vila, through the streets of the fortified old town and towards the Catedral d’Eivissa. Inside the historic walls, small shops, boutiques and restaurants make it very easy to spend longer — and more — than intended.
Chris’s sister embraced the shopping opportunities with enthusiasm. Added to the marina bill, the excursion eventually proved too much for the credit card. It gave up. Ibiza had won the day.
Dalt Vila was still far more than an expensive trip ashore. Around the cathedral, in the small restaurants and behind unassuming doors, the island feels historic, cosmopolitan and a long way from the simplified idea that Ibiza is only beaches and nightclubs.
A dated price snapshot, not a promise
The numbers continued to rise. For the 2026 high season, a Marina Ibiza newsletter quoted us €820 per night for Folie A2. Sant Antoni was considerably less expensive for our boat in 2026, at roughly €250 per night, although it still felt like an Ibiza price.
Every figure here is tied to a year on purpose. Marina rates change with season, yacht size, availability and operator. These numbers record our experience; they are not a permanent price list.
Formentera: more beach, fewer distractions
Formentera felt different. Its long sandy beaches and clear water were extraordinary, but we found much less infrastructure. The big DJs, extensive shopping and hotels such as Ushuaïa belong to the Ibiza side of the experience.
That contrast was precisely what made Formentera work for us. After lively Eivissa, the island felt stripped back: beach, water and fewer reasons to schedule the day. Seen from a boat, Formentera did not need to compete with Ibiza. It added a quieter, more open dimension to the same two-month journey.
The people made the island memorable
Chris’s brother and his family joined us. That turned the trip into more than a sailing story. It was shared life in a limited space: leaving together, anchoring, eating, going ashore and deciding whether the next bay really needed to happen that same day.
At a hippie market, we met several German vendors who had lived on Ibiza since the island’s hippie era. Their stories suited a place where very different ideas of a good life still exist side by side.
Food gave Chris an immediate way into local conversations. He exchanged ideas with chefs in small restaurants, particularly away from the busiest areas, and was invited to look behind the scenes in several kitchens. One boat owner later hired him to cook at a finca outside town. We also attended an interview for seasonal work at the Six Senses hotel.
Those encounters cannot be added to an itinerary. They happen when you stay long enough, ask questions and stop treating every day as a race to the next attraction.
PEOPLE BEHIND THE STORY
Chris spent four decades behind the stove and remained curious. His story explains why a restaurant visit can quickly turn into a conversation with the kitchen.
What remained after two months
Ibiza was not always calm, inexpensive or comfortable. What it gave us was room to make good decisions. When one coast became unsettled, we could move. When we loved a place, we could return. When life ashore became too loud, another quiet bay was within reach.
Portinatx remained our favourite. Formentera gave us the long beaches. Eivissa delivered history, small restaurants, a determined shopping expedition and a marina bill we have never forgotten. Between them were the ordinary days when Folie A2 was not transport but home.
This voyage now belongs to the Folie A2 archive. Life aboard continues as Aurelia Blue — still built around small groups, time in quiet anchorages and the people and stories that cannot be scheduled.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES