38 35.3 N 000 3.4 W Javea (or Xabia)
Wednesday 30th June 2010

A couple more hops brought us to Javea (or Xabia in Valencianne) on Monday. The region speaks Castillian and (we thought) Catalan. But the locals are insistent the language is Valencianne and dismiss Catalan completely! Javea is very nice - touristy in a good way, but with a lot of foreign residents, mostly British and German so there is English widely spoken, an English second hand bookshop where I could trade in some of my old ones and get some new at a reduced price. A big fishing port by this area's standards and a little Club Nautico that everyone told us did not have room for visitors.

We anchored off the harbour that night, but it was a rolly night (put out a kedge to pull us round into the swell) and the fishing fleet roared out at midnight and returned at c 6am. However we did see the resulting fish auction. Richard made contact with old X colleague David Barnes, who has lived in Javea for the last 12 years. We arranged to meet up on Tuesday for lunch and a catch up. So we called up the Club Nautico on the VHF and they gave us a berth for the night and helped us in. It was a lovely little club with an active sailing school for youngsters.

David picked us up and gave us a tour of the area, beach, Montgo views (lone mountain nature reserve visible for miles) and then took us up the top of the Cape St Antonio with amazing views inland and out to sea. Then onto the restaurant for lunch, just down the road from the Cape. A lovely little place where David was obviously known. We let him choose for us, we started off with the local aioli and bread (no comparison to the shop bought stuff, Margaret, it was thick, creamy and pungent!) and chipis (baby squid deep fried), followed by the proper starters, a grilled vegetable platter - aubergines etc, a dried jamon, and a salad mixture that we shared between us. Then a local paella - a la banda, a fish one with calamari and prawns - it was heaven. And dessert. It was a fabulous lunch that did not finish until nearly 4pm as is quite proper. And a too rare treat for me!! We didn't feel like eating again for a while! And good to see David and hear about his life here.

We did a stock up and left the club to find an anchorage across the bay. It was time to make the "Channel" crossing to the Balearics so we found ourselves a sheltered spot from which we could leap off smartly the next day.

One thing that does amuse - there are many menus in Spanish with English translations - its just that some of the translations are too good to miss - Carrillada en Salsa becomes "Chaps in salsa" by order - mmm tasty, and Cochinillo (por encargo) becomes Piglet by order. Pooh and Eeyore would not approve!