Mallorca – 12 May 2017

We have now left Ibiza and the next Island being Mallorca. A really good days sailing to get there with some 25 knots of wind the whole way – a school of dolphins joined us – Caroline wasn’t so keen on the days sail…

My first time up the mast (well 3 times) as the anchor bulb needed replacing. Very nervous but loved it now that I have done it. A great view

Arctic is anchored in the bay just behind the small Island in the centre…can you see her..

12 – 14 May – Cala Portals / Portal Vells – Mallorca

A wonderful and absolutely stunning bay – once we had made it across from Ibiza. It had been a rocking and rolling crossing with not much wind. 3 crew were feeling sick but did not succumb to the motion thank goodness. It was also pretty chilly, at one point Howard even had hat and gloves on.

Anyway, Portal Vells is a hot spot for the locals at the weekend. The pilot books warn you about it but oh my goodness. It was like packing sardines into a tin. If there was a patch of sand to anchor in it was not like that for long. The place was heaving and unfortunately a lot of them were louts who were loud, brash and drunk. We had 3 motor boats around us each pumping out their own style of loud music as well as the idiotic shouts from the drunks aboard. We saw 2 boats come in, drop anchor, call for the water taxi to take them to the beach bar having only just dropped enough chain for the anchor to hit the bottom. Low and behold the vessels then drifted off on the next wave that washed in and took them out to open water. They either hit other boats on the way past or just drifted out to open sea. Not only this; we had anchor buoys out as the bottom had some rocks. So what do the less experienced do, lift them thinking they are buoys to tie up on. One boat even got the line wrapped around the prop and had to be told by another vessel that it had happened as they did not even realise. They proceeded to dive in, cut the line and let the buoy drift off. It belonged to our friends on Kealoha V so Howard retrieved the buoy and handed it back to Mike when he returned back. Needless to say, the offenders did not tell him they had done the damage but he approached them with the cut line and buoy and they paid up to replace the line.

At 18:00 we had a Shawshank Redemption moment as one of our friends called it. You know the film? Well the scene is where he has locked himself in the wardens office and puts the loud speakers on with the classical music blaring into the exercise yard. To get the oiks back, we did this with Arctic’s PA system – Karl Jenkins an armed man was blaster through the fog horns to wish the loud idiots a lovely end to a mad mad day.

15 – 19 May – Cala Illetes – Mallorca

Another anchorage but this was miles from anywhere. Provisioning was hard. My life seems to revolve around where the nearest supermarket is and what it will cost to re-provision the boat. Sometimes it feels like we are in the war years and having a ration book – compared to how we used to live and spend money. There are times I just want to say sod it all – we are having an ice cream from an ice cream seller and not a box from the supermarket!.

Olivia and I walked 2 hours to find a shop in the soaring heat of the day. She had cut her feet and was not having a great time. We found a shop, filled our trolley bags and walked back sweating buckets. No wonder we have all lost weight and look like sticks, it’s like walking in a sauna!. Not our idea of fun at all but a necessary part of living aboard in a 44 foot space.

Having just provisioned, we find the freezer is now not working so the meat we have is now having to be kept as cold as possible in the fridge and eaten up quickly. Having made sure it was fully stocked before we left Ibiza, this meant an awful lot of meat to consume in a short space of time. Typical. Eating ice-cream through a straw was great fun though and the girls enjoyed it immensely.

So now we have to find a man to fix it!. We were put in contact with one but he wasn’t available for 2 days and he wanted us in a marina to do the work. When they cost around €150 per day it’s not in our budget but the marina at Puerto Portals was very helpful and obliging. They allowed us to stay on the visitor’s pontoon for 2 hours free whilst the work was undertaken. The repair cost €300 as the main circuit board for the freezer was water logged (from the pump that had to be replaced due to mussels growing in it and splitting the membrane) but the freezer is fixed and working again. Now just have to find a suitable shop to restock!.

Illetes itself was ok – it had a small sandy beach, good snorkelling but not a lot more. We took a bus to Palma and the girls walked around the main town with Mike and Cate from Kealoha V as the water maker housing had cracked and we needed to find new ones. Leroy Merlin a builder’s merchant had just what we needed but were another bus ride back out of town on the other side. Our thanks to Mike and Cate for being great babysitters and allowing us the freedom to get the bits we needed to fix yet another issue.

Low and behold, something else has now gone wrong. The anchor light is not working. That means someone has to venture to the top of the mast to fix it. Mike and Cate, again come to help us out. They have a spare bulb and also offer to help me hoist Howard up. So up he goes, on the halyard. He does not like it, once at the top he cannot figure out how to get the unit apart, it won’t free itself. So he brings the whole bulb fixing down. We get it apart, now the bulb is too big to fit without having the actually take the unit apart further. Screwdriver out and it is now ready to go back on. Up he goes again, a little happier this time, but when he gets there, he puts the light on but the colours are all facing the wrong way!. So down he comes yet again. Fixed at the bottom now back up. He is half way up when he says a really big wave is coming and can we hold him at station. The wave as we see it is only a few inches high but it must look huge from where he is. Anyway, all back and working great. Well done Howard. The girls and I are proud of you. We know you don’t like heights and we really appreciate you going outside your comfort zone to make us safe.

19 – 22 May – Santa Ponca – Mallorca

Another hot day and we find ourselves in Santa Ponca after a rough trip. 25+ knots with big seas which sent water over the top of the spray hood and into the cockpit. Glad I always remember to close the windows!

Santa Ponca is a large bay with a large reef to one side which is well marked. There is space for around 30 boats at anchor to be comfortable, 2 beaches close by and numerous shops to provision from even though the biggest is a far walk from the anchorage base. It is a typical tourist base which becomes evident from the amount of bars with Brits, Irish and Northerners frequenting them. I was not enamoured with the place other than for provisioning, but as stated this was a walk of 1 hour there.

We did meet up with Samji ( Duncan and Pat) here, they came in on washing day for us, so were greeted with our underwear waving them in. Duncan was the walk king in Cartagena and he knew of walks here too so we set off for another of his treks. A lovely walk with some fabulous scenery and it was lovely to catch up again and discuss adventures had so far.

23 – 25 May – Sant Elm- Mallorca

I loved this place tucked in near to Dragonera – an island that looks like 2 sleeping dragons back to back. This lovely little bay was a treasure to find, clear water, 6.5 mtrs over sand; you could see your anchor clearly in the water. A great beach and the town was a dear find. One main street but it was full of old world charm. Bougainvillea draped walls, people sitting outside homes chatting, a real sleepy place that was busy but not bustling.

Olivia had a bad experience though; she was stung by a jellyfish which left a huge mark on her arm poor girl. She refused to allow anyone to wee on it for her, however, another friend (Mads and Lotte – Looma IV) told us to cover it in vinegar as the jellyfish can leave small hooks behind in the flesh. We did this and she said it really stopped it hurting – she did not moan as much after we did this application so I think it actually worked. It does however seem to reawaken after a few days and if you allow the sting area to get too much sun then that too can inflame it. Poor girl was so scared for days after that she refused to go in swimming which she usually does every day so it must have been very painful for her.

We took a huge walk up to the top of Dragonera whilst we were here. It’s a high climb and in temperatures well into the mid 30’s was a little testing. However the sense of achievement once at the top was great – only topped by seeing the lizards running all over the girl’s legs as they sat eating their lunch. Christian (Maritha and Rainers son) had his drone and made a wonderful clip of the top and surrounding areas. On the way back down we heard a cheeping sound close by us and saw a lone Herring gul sat on a rock. This was not the source of the noise but its chick which was running around on the craggy rock side exploring. It was soft and fluffy and really lovely to see as they are well camouflaged and had the adult bird not been eyeing us I don’t think we would even have known it was there. Further down we saw another Gul leave a spot and upon closer inspection saw 2 eggs in a nest. They obviously feel happy here as there are not really any predators, the island having been rid of all cats, rats and rabbits some years ago.

We had a quick diversion back to Santa Ponca for a quick birthday get together with the boats whom we had met during our time in Cartagena.

Lisa and Mark – Wild Iris (it was Lisa’s Birthday bash Mike and Cate – Kealoah V

Dave and Chris – Spindrift of Hamble Duncan and Pat – Samji Bridget and Axel – Matriki

And of course our very very great friends and adopted brother of Howard, Rainer and Maritha – Albatross.

A lovely time was had by all on the lava rocks here for a BBQ. The girls were fed up with the grownups talking so became the entertainment crew for the night, they had us playing games and singing songs. We had some naughty jokers in the pack (Duncan and Mike) when we played Chinese whispers but a great time was had by all and it was just like old times in Cartagena.

Well as with all good things they come to an end and we set off again with well wishes and comments that we will meet up again soon.

26 – 30 May – Sollér

After an early morning swim we set off for Sollér, 31 miles from here. The sun was as hot as ever by 09:30 so it was going to be another sweaty day. Wind on the nose – typical, so engine is on and the girls are taking clear advantage of this fact. They have not surfaced at all on the trip watching films one after the other from the hard drive – clever things. They have learnt that when an engine is on, either propelling us forward or generating electricity they can use the tv / hard disk box without causing a loss of power to the batteries, so a good time to catch up on some square eyed fun.

Sollér on first appearances did not appeal. Not only that, we had to reset 3 times. Why people in pedalo’s think its ok practice to stop right by the side of your boat at the bow when you are dropping anchor is beyond my comprehension. The young lad, with his father, on this particular occasion looked like he had spent most of his holiday being patched up with plasters. He had cuts and scrapes all over the place – perhaps that’s why – getting too close to large boats when dropping an anchor is not good practice. Anyway – child, pedalo and father avoided – anchor dropped into the muddy weedy bottom, held and settled, all is good.

This place was just full of package tourists. There were pedalo’s galore, kayaks and canoes too. Lots of people enjoying themselves in the short time they had off from the norm of life. The town was nice. Several supermarkets and even a launderette, although at €5.00 per 6kg wash it was a little steep. But to wash sheets and towels by hand is a bit of a task, washing them is ok, trying to get all the soap out is another thing and towels get horribly stiff if they don’t get it all out. So I took advantage of the mechanical help and found John and Heather off Evergreen in there before me, a lovely surprise. Out of the 4 washing machines, there were only 2 actively working and a mechanic was toying with the 2 broken ones. He left still leaving 2 broken machines – not a good mechanic. I am not sure the machines were in that good an order as the washing came out not that much cleaner than it went in but at least it smelt better and I hadn’t had to struggle with it by hand.

There was an old tram line that took you to the old town, we decided to take this as a nice change from walking everywhere. However at €6.00 per person each way it was rather steep for our budget and as the journey was less than 10 mins long we thought it was a rip off too. Needless to say we walked back which was not too far and we found some interesting things on the way back. The old town was delightful – a fabulous market with fresh fruit and veg was set up so really pleased to have ventured off the boat for the day.

31 May – 5 June – Pollença – Mallorca

40 miles along the coast, a nice short run and we get to Pollença . The coastline was full of holes in the strata which made loads of different shaped faces when you looked at it, very interesting and fun to spot too.

The bay in Pollença was huge. It was only between 3.5 and 5 mtrs deep all the way across so anchoring was a dream. We anchored off the main area first on the south side of the bay near to the SAR (search and Rescue) station. We saw planes taking off, collecting water, dumping it back into the sea then coming back in to land on the sea again. It was great for us all to watch and experience, made us all feel more comfortable that should we ever need their services that they were extremely competent in their work. We seemed to be miles from shore here so we moved the following day closer in.

Again great holding and we tucked in near the buoy field. Just as well as we had a full day and night of high winds, over 35 knots and thunderstorms. Howard wrapped the spare anchor chain around the shrouds and we placed various electrical items into the oven for protection in case we got struck by lightning. Its nice having a big boat but not when your mast is taller than the rest around you. We rode out the storm without any problems, although I hate storms and always have even as a child. They take on a life of their own when you are anchor – completely exposed to whatever it wants to throw at you. Very scary but at least we had no incidents.

Pollença was a largish tourist spot with good supply of shops and bars. We met up with Samji again and Duncan once again took us on a walk they had found. It was superb. A walk into the mountain passes, goats grazing on the shrubs they could find, and opening into a beautiful cala. The same goats fed on your clothes if you left them on the open beach!. Idyllic, turquoise clear water what more could you ask for?

Maybe another Island?