The foundation for our travel and governing factor of most destinations is Tony’s work schedule.  We go where the races are!  So in September we ventured to Ibiza, a gorgeous island off the coast of south-eastern Spain. We came to Ibiza to cheer on the PROVEZZA TP52 in the Super Series and were fortunate to spend a great deal of time with the team.  Aside from yacht racing, Ibiza is known as a unique destination for parties, weddings and nightlife mega-clubbing.  We could not avoid the fabulous, yet constant head-nodding electronic beat: bomb-bah, bomb-ba-nomba, bomb-bah bomb bo-nampa!

Fish and helado after racing!

Above photo shows an afternoon field-trip to Dalt Vila and the cathedral on top of the old city. It was hot, hot, hot but so wonderful at the same time. We saw beautiful medieval art, exquisite sculptures and architecture and had a quiet lunch at a little cafe tucked out of site in the old city. Of course, we brought our drawing materials to sketch there.

Happily, we were able to find a quiet area in the hotel to do our school-work each day, which was enormously helpful.  Below is our school arrangement at the Hotel Corso in Ibiza. The hotel staff was kind and supportive as we setup school each day.

Our daily schedule was something like this:  breakfast at the hotel (which the kids loved) consisting of a lot of fresh fruit, croissants, ham, fresh orange juice and café cortado.  Then back to our hotel room to retrieve our small luggage of school books and return to a closed restaurant on a terrace of the hotel for “colegio“.  The staff were supportive of our mini-escuela and made a nice space for us.  We studied for about 2 or 2-1/2 hours and then would return our books to the room and either go to the pool or into the old city to explore. Sometimes, both!  The kids were exposed to a great deal of Spanish every day.

A particular moment of success for me was when we had taken a taxi from the marina to the top of the Dalt Vila and I spoke to our cab driver the entire way (en español). He told us some things about the area we should not miss and was enthusiastic about our visit to that part of the city. I translated all to the kids and Sophia was particularly moved.  Sophia shook her head and said, “I am SO learning to speak more languages…”   It was a moment I could not have orchestrated nor imagined would happen so soon; it was extraordinary. I felt that in our first week, the vision Tony and I had (to expose our kids to a greater world) was starting to become a reality.

Before leaving home, we set up the kids’ Chromebooks with a Spanish program called DUOLINGO. They are cruising through the exercises and both seem to be taking to Spanish very well.

Other daily school-work includes:  Poetry, Math, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Art, Art History, Spanish, Journal Writing, free reading and of course, postcard writing!  Our history and geography are covered via our afternoon excursions and travel, itself.  Science will be introduced as it naturally comes about – mostly in November once we move on to the boat… which, as far as I am concerned, will be one great big science project!

Waving in our Team:  Provezza, TP52.  The kids in the bottom photos are onboard PROVEZZA with dad after sailing. Dalt Vila (the old city) in the background.  Oliver throwing football pass with teammates post-racing.

Our Ibiza days blended easily into Ibiza nights as we met Tony at the marina post-racing each day. All the TP52’s are docked together and directly across the dock area is a large, nice tent with complementary drinks of any possible variety, ice cream, sangria and large cones of fresh fish, calamari and chips. It was great to see so many of the sailors that we have known for many years and to catch up with them. They are a wonderful group of guys with whom Tony works all year, and is truly an honor to know them.

After the marina outing, we would go back to the hotel for an afternoon swim/shower/ change and cocktail hour with the Turkish PROVEZZA crew, which began nightly at eight. Dinner was semi-prompt at about 9 or 930 and lasted until about 12-1am. The kids were absolute champs and maintained patience and grace during these long multi-course dinners. They played cards, colored pictures and conversed with the team of 24+. One night there was even a full regaling of Mike Lanza’s so-sad-yet-so-fabulous joke list. ie: “What do you call a man with no arms and no legs at the door? Matt.” It went on for hours, with a handful of British sailors adding even more off-color jokes to our supply.  The kids were beautifully behaved; For sure they won the hearts of many.