September 30, 2004, 4:15

Sitting here in an Internet Cafe in Cala Llonga on the east side of the island. We spent about 2 hours in Ibiza today, me just sightseeing, climbing up to the fortress and taking pictures, Theresa finally getting her souvenir shopping done.

From about 1 pm on we have been spending our last few hours at Cala Llonga, a beautiful beach, set in a deep inlet, where we have been relaxing.

Yesterday was by far the most exciting day. We took a ferry from Ibiza to Formentera with the Balerias boat called Ibiza Jet (29.80 Euros for supposedly the faster ferry at 25 minutes, it still took us 40 minutes to get over to the other island.)

Formentera is a lot smaller than Ibiza, about 82 square km compared to about 580. And it´s virtually flat, with only two areas with a long hilly elevation. The highest point is on east end of the island, at Far de la Mola, elevation about 200m.

We rented 2 motor scooters to discover the island, which was absolutely the best idea and the most fun. We had 2 little Piaggio automatic scooters with a 50 cc engine, top speed about 70 km/h, and a cost of 20 Euros a day, crappy helmet included.

We booted around the whole island, Far de La Mola, Far des Cap de Barbaria - an almost lunar landscape with many little figures of rock that must have been built by other tourists.

Then we moved on to Platja de Cala Saona, probably the nicest beach on the island, set into a rocky scenery. Most other beaches we saw (Es Copinar, Es Arenals on the south side of the island) were very flat, sandy beaches, with little scenic interest.

However, the colour of the water, as anywhere on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera is truly amazing, deep blue water with turquoise and light blue patches. I couldn´t believe the colours when I first saw them.

After handing our scooters back, we caught the slower ferry back at 7 and arrived in Ibiza Harbour at about 7:30, all the while standing on the outside deck and enjoying the cool air and the atmosphere of an impending sunset. Then we just shopped for dinner at the local Spanish "Walmart" and had a quiet dinner back at the resort. Although it wasn´t so quiet after all, it was karaoke night at the Gold Crown pub and there was many a singer who wasn´t really meant to be in front of a microphone.

Finally around midnight the ruckus died down and I could get to sleep. Well, tomorrow is our last day in Ibiza, our last chance to enjoy the Mediterranean. Tonight we are going to enjoy some true local Spanish dances in the village of Sant Miquel. Should be interesting....

For the entire article including photos please visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/hello_ibiza_3.htm