If you are planning to spend your summer holidays in the Balearic Islands, you are – without any doubt – a sea lover. And this is just the first reason why you should consider hiring a boat in Ibiza and change your holiday plans: a boat trip instead of a “static” sojourn in a single place.
The second reason is that Ibiza is located in a pivotal position inside the Mediterranean Area: on the western sector of the sea, pretty close to the Strait of Gibraltar. This means that departing from there allows a boat to reach the central and eastern Mediterranean area (Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, and so on) as well as the Atlantic Ocean shores, more or less in the same amount of time.
The third (but it’s not the last one: many others could be listed) reason is the extreme ease with which anyone, as of today, can hire a boat for a short or a long period of time, with or without a crew. Online platforms like SamBoat allow any boat owner to put his ship at disposal of new clients from all over the world. This enhances and simplifies the availability of ships of any type and measure, even for beginners.
The natural charm of the open sea, combined with the extreme safety conditions ensured by SamBoat (every ship is in perfect state, and if you want a crew, it is put together by hiring only qualified professionals) makes every boat trip a unique experience. For the newcomers, it’s often like a brand-new world opening up in front of them.
Hire a boat and choose the best itinerary
With the right ship, an expert crew, and proper equipment, in order to make a boat trip perfect it lacks only the choice of the best itinerary. And by the word “best” we mean the fittest and most pleasant one for those who have to experience it. Before sailing, in fact, it’s important that everyone answers the following questions: what do I want from this trip? What do I aim to achieve?
The nature of a sea experience can shift dramatically, according to the type of itinerary. Just choosing the ocean rather than the sea (in our case, the Atlantic over the Mediterranean) makes an unbelievable – in most cases unexpected – difference. The waters are different, the currents are (widely) different, and the style of navigation itself changes a lot. Sometimes, a different kind of boat is required, depending on many factors (season, weather, duration of the trip, and so on).
But the most important parameter to be taken into account is obviously the passenger’s taste. Are you looking for pure leisure time spent in the open sea? Do you want to visit the most beautiful beaches in the area? Or are you aiming to moor in the nearby cities with a high historical and cultural profile? Only by answering these questions, you can schedule your perfect boat trip and fully enjoy it.
Hire a boat in Ibiza: a few itinerary proposals
As we said before, a departure from Ibiza allows the sailors to choose among a wide range of possible itineraries, both inside and outside the Mediterranean Basin. Of course, those that head towards the Atlantic are more challenging and require some experience (or an experienced crew). Whereas, in terms of chances of amusement and the number of places worthy of being “touched”, they’re nearly on the same level.
That’s the reason why we have chosen a few itinerary proposals to submit to you here below. They are as much different and eclectic as possible, in the attempt to satisfy the taste of any possible client. Obviously, they’re not the only ones, but they are a sure source of delight for a sea lover, and a chance to start to appreciate the art of sailing for those who don’t know it yet.
The estimated time to fully experience every route (including a satisfying docking time in every significant port along the way) is 15-20 days. Of course, if you have enough time (and money) you can try more than one of them. One last warning: beware of Visas (especially if you’re not an EU citizen) and always bring your passport with you.
- Circumnavigation of the Iberian Peninsula: from Ibiza to Biarritz. By circumnavigating a mainland, you ensure yourself the right amount of amusement in the open sea, as well as the right level of safety. In this case, you can touch the most beautiful shores of South (Malaga, Marbella, Cadiz, not counting Gibraltar) and North (La Coruña, Gijón, Bilbao) Spain and those of Portugal (the Algarve region, Cascais, Nazaré), ending your trip in French territory, by one of the most renowned European Atlantic Sea locations.
- Route to the Canary Islands and beyond. One of the most fascinating itineraries. Overcoming the Strait of Gibraltar, you have to head south until you meet the majesty of those amazing volcanic islands. But it’s not over: if you’re adventurous enough, you can stretch up to the most luxurious Western African shores: Cape Verde, Nouakchott in Mauritania, and Dakar in Senegal.
- Route to the Azores. Secluded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the best sea that you could ever encounter in your life, these islands are the ideal destination for the most experienced sailors. Before touching them, don’t forget to visit another Portuguese territory: Madeira. Even if it will imply for you a large detour to the south.
- The historical path: North Africa, Italy, Greece. If your desire is to match leisure time and cultural enrichment, this is the itinerary that most fits you. From the ancient Spanish fortifications on the Moroccan shores (especially Ceuta which, while being on the African continent, is a Spanish territory) to the ruins of Carthage, near Tunis, lapping the former Magna Graecia (southern Italian regions such as Sicily and Calabria) and finally mooring on the port of Piraeus, near Athens.
- Discovering the Middle East: route to Lebanon. There is a portion of the Mediterranean that marks the transit between European-Christian and Asian-Islamic cultures. It’s the one that shifts from Greece to Turkey, and it’s marked by some of the most suggestive ports of the sea: Porto Kagio, Santorin, Candia, Adalia, Mersin, Alexandretta. Once you got there, the route to Beirut is already mapped out.
