Ibiza. Six weeks of the year the island is a different place.

Ibiza has one general aviation apron, and in high summer it is the single most contested piece of ground on the island. From the beginning of April to the end of September, a general or business aviation slot request has to carry both the arrival and the departure, and it is not authorised until the coordination is confirmed back. From the beginning of May to the middle of October, larger aircraft staying more than about three hours need parking approval arranged in advance, and between June and September aircraft over twenty metres long are normally held to a limited stay on the apron unless the airport agrees otherwise.

In practice that means your aircraft often cannot wait for you. On a busy August weekend the usual answer is a drop and go: passengers off, aircraft away empty to Palma, Valencia or the mainland, and back for the return. That is a normal way to operate here, but it changes the cost and has to be settled early. A night curfew frames the day at both ends, so a late departure is not open-ended either.

Marina Ibiza and Marina Botafoch sit side by side on the north of the harbour, looking across at the old town, and between them they take everything from tenders to megayachts. Berths for July and August are committed a long way ahead, and a yacht without one anchors, which is the normal picture off Talamanca, around the south west coves and in the channel towards Formentera.

Anchoring is regulated. The Balearic rules protect the posidonia seagrass meadows that cover much of the seabed here, anchoring on them is prohibited, buoy fields are used instead in the regulated zones, and the waters around Formentera and the Ses Salines park are patrolled through the season. Your captain will work from the official seabed charts for the day; it is worth knowing about because it decides where the tender picks you up. See yacht charter and day charter.

Formentera has no airport and no bridge, so every arrival is by water. Fast boats from Ibiza town reach La Savina in around twenty five to thirty minutes, and a private boat or a yacht tender does the same crossing on your timing rather than a timetable. Most people go for the beaches at the northern tip and for lunch, then come back the same evening.

The day works when the boat, the car on the Ibiza side and the flight line up, and it does not when the three are arranged separately. We plan the crossing with the rest of the day around it, including the car waiting at the harbour when you return.