Menorca

The day we left the anchorage in Alcudia to make our way to Menorca saw an early start. We weighed anchor at 6.45am and headed into the marina to top up our fuel and water tanks. It was an uncharacteristically overcast start to the day, and even a little light rain. We then headed a couple of miles up the coast and dropped anchor for breakfast and a nap before the passage over to Menorca. The sea was calm and as there was very little wind, which was on the nose anyway, we ended up motor-sailing for most of the way.

We hoped to anchor just outside one of the main ports on the island, Cuidadela. However, our Pilot book warned that it would be busy in high season and this proved to be the case.

We arrived at 6.30pm to find there was 'no room at the Inn', so we motored to the north coast to try an alternative anchorage. Our first choice was an anchorage at Cadolar Torre, which had a spectacular cave. However, we felt it was too exposed for our liking. Finally at 9pm we finally settled on Cala de Algavere.

The approach to the bay was stunning as it was surrounded by pink rocky cliffs. Infact, all of the coastline we had seen thus far had been really rugged and very unspoilt.

Menorcan coast at dusk

Cala de Algavere was a very busy anchorage and there were already about 40 other yachts at anchor there.

It is a large bay with a public beach that can only be accessed by a sandy path leading to a car park. There were no buildings whatsoever on the beach, but it was still incredibly popular with the locals.

Beach at Cala Algavere

One morning we landed the dinghy on the shore and trekked through a wooded path that brought us to a viewpoint above the anchorage.

View overlooking anchorage at Cala Algavere

After this we pottered around the rock formations in the tender, and did download a book on geology for the kindle when we returned to Scarlet.

Stunning rock formations

Our next stop was the stunning Fornells. This really long bay (5km long by 2km wide) has been declared a site of Community Importance by the Balearic Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Territorial Affairs.

It is mostly laid out to buoys to protect the precious Neptune Grass (a type of weed), which is one of the Mediterranean's most important Ecosystems. We decided to take up a mooring buoy at 29 Euros a night.

Scarlet in the Fornells

Steve was disappointed that we hadn't been able to see Cuidadela and we were both keen
to see some of the island's archaeological sites, so we went ashore and tracked down a chandlers who organised a hire a car for the following day.

For 60 Euros, we hired an Opel Corsa. It was a laid back handover compared to the one we had in the UK a few months ago. No checking for paint chips under a microscope or signing disclaimers for returning it with more than three dead flies on the windscreen... just here are the keys, have a nice day, please return it to any car park in the town, and leave the keys in it!

Menorca is a relatively small island at just 26 miles long by 11 miles wide, and the roads are easy to drive. The countryside inland is remarkably like the UK - very lush, with lots of fields, farmland and wooded areas. With some of the smaller roads being no more than narrow lanes, Steve felt we could have been in parts of Devon or Cornwall.

View towards Fornells from Mare de Deu del Toro

We reached Cuidadela in less than an hour, parked up, and had a wander around this charming town. It has lots of narrow alleys and squares and a busy harbour. The narrow streets were deliberately designed to confuse invaders, and did a good job of getting us lost too.

Cuidadela harbour

Narrow streets in Cuidadela

On leaving Cuidadela we visited the Naveta d'es Tudons, which lays claim to being the oldest roofed building in Europe, dating back to 1300 BC.

The Naveta resembles an upturned ship and is built of large stone blocks and has two storeys. It measures 14 metres by 6.5 metres and was used over several centuries as a communal tomb. Archaeologists found personal belongings with the people who were buried, such as necklaces, bracelets, bronze pendants, weapons, small pots and ceramic cups.

The door of the Naveta faces west, towards the setting sun. The entrance leads to a small corridor from which there is access to the upper chamber and to a second door that leads to the lower chamber. To help preserve the monument, it is no longer possible to go inside the Naveta but it is still an impressive structure from the outside.

Steve outside the Naveta

There are many caves around the island and before the Navetas were built, the dead were laid to rest in these caves.

Our next stop was Torretrencada, where there was a well preserved Taula. The Taula is a shrine with two large blocks of stone which form a 'T' shape, a sort of poor mans Stonehenge. It is thought that these monuments were used for community religious rituals.

A nice walk in the countryside

Taula at Torretrencada

Our last historical stop was at the medieval village of Torralba d'en Salord. The most significant building in Torralba is the Talayot. It gives it's name to the whole culture which covers a period starting in the 13th century BC, until the Roman conquest in 123 BC. Talayots were constructed on pieces of high ground, and were used to keep watch over the surrounding territory.

Remains of a Talayot

On this site there is also the remains of a sandstone construction, possibly dating back to the 17th century that was probably a rural church.

Remains of a church

We also saw Talayotic Hypogeums (artificial caves) which were used as communal tombs, and funeral rites were carried out in them.

I am not playing hide and seek anymore Steve!

Finally, we saw the Hypostle Room which is made up of three sections - the barrow, the access corridor, and the chamber. Archaeologists believe it was used to store foodstuffs.

Hypostle room

There are Talayots and Taulas all over the island but we just visited a small selection before heading to the city of Mahon. Mahon boasts one of the best natural harbours in the Mediterranean. It measures 5.5km in length and 250-1,000 metres in width.

Part of Mahon harbour, it is vast

Once again, Mahon is a very attractive city with many historical buildings and an interesting claim to culinary fame. One of the stories goes that in the 1700's the French chef of the Duc de Richelieu at that time, based in Mahon, made a sauce based on the popular Aoli. However the Duke, or was it his wife (or maybe mistress?), was not so fond of the garlic in Aoli, so the chef made a version without garlic and substituted cream with olive oil. Henceforth it was know as Mahonnaise.

Whilst in Mahon, Steve spotted a music shop and purchased a guitar, an essential item for liveaboard cruisers! Well, maybe, but it will keep him amused over winter.

After a long and exhausting day, we drove back to the Fornells and had a swim before having dinner and an early night. The following day, we took the dinghy around some of the islands in the Fornells.

On leaving the Fornells, we decided to head to anchorage just inside the entrance to Mahon harbour. This would be a good location to start the passage to Sardinia. There was enough wind to have a great sail, and en-route we passed our friends Jim, Tim, Lana and Susie on Moonstream.

Cala Taulera anchorage was really pretty, and was surrounded by the fort of Isobel II.

 Cala Taulera anchorage

We had a welcome swim and decided to do the guided tour around the fort the following day, however, things didn't quite go to plan... We were visited early (about 9am which is early for us) the next morning by a harbour official in a rib to say we had to move from the anchorage straight away. Boats are no longer allowed to anchor there unless they are caught out in bad weather, which rather scuppered our plans to visit the fort.

We decided instead to pop round the corner and motor up into Mahon itself. Even though we had visited in the car, the port is equally impressive from the water. It has many moorings for all sizes of yachts, if you have very deep pockets. We checked our chart and back tracked towards the Fornells and made for Cala Tamarells, an anchorage behind Isla Colom. Although very popular, there was plenty of room to anchor.

We checked the forecast again for the following day as we needed a good 48 hour window for our 182 mile passage to Sardinia. It looked like we would have 20 knot winds for the first 24 hours, and then calmer conditions for our arrival. Once again we passage planned for 5 knots speed over ground, knowing that if we went quicker we would not have any issues as we would arrive in the morning and not afternoon. As it turned out we had a rather 'exciting' crossing with much more wind than forecast, but more of that on the next update.


Steve and Lynne xx

Mallorca

We are now in Menorca, but have not had a chance until now to update the blog.

After spending a very rolly night and day in Cala San Vicente, Ibiza, we could take no more. Lynne was beginning to feel a bit queasy and had to wear her seasickness watch. This threw up (pun intended) a number of choices... stay put and ride it out, look for an anchorage on the other side of the island, or leave soon for Mallorca.

Having looked at the weather again (forecasts seem to change by the hour) it revealed that the swell would continue into the bay for the next few days at least.  Contrastingly, the conditions in Palma bay, Mallorca looked ideal.

Decision made, we conjured up a snack and Lynne updated the chart and popped the waypoints into the plotter. We then had the difficult task of getting the tender back on deck. 3 pairs of arms would have come in useful, and the air was blue with cursing as it swung first one way and then another. From the nearby beach it would have been a good spectator sport!
We use the spinnaker halyard to haul the tender onto the foredeck which in flat calm conditions works well for us. It has made us stop and think about davits so we can lift the tender onto the stern. Perhaps something we will investigate further when we are in our winter marina. We also find the genoa sheets sometimes snag on the tender when tacking, which is annoying at best, and could even be dangerous in rough sees as it means going forward to sort it out.

We left the bay under engine at around 7.30pm and headed ENE into the open sea. No sooner than we were out of the Cala, our speed dropped to just a knot or so, despite being in forward gear with about 1400rpm showing. Steve popped the engine into neutral, engaged reverse and then went back into forward again. This time there were no issues and the speed soon picked up (more on this topic later as it happened again).

After we had headed into wind and unfurled the mainsail, we engaged the autohelm and set the genoa once the course had settled. We had an unusually consistent 12 to 15 knot wind about 60 degrees off the starboard bow which ended up lasting for most of the night. This afforded us our best sail of the season so far.

As the sun fell the swell became much greater than before, but the waves were long spaced like Atlantic rollers, so not uncomfortable and in fact unlocked memories of our Biscay crossing. Sitting in the cockpit looking back gave the best view as we glided along in an exhilarating way, up and down the swell.

By midnight the full moon broke through the clouds to starboard and the view was soporific to say the least. We were shifting through the water averaging over 6 knots with the occasional plume of spray running down the side decks. We had rigged up the sea berth in the saloon so we afforded ourselves a couple of hours sleep on each watch.

Night sailing is so serene, well in the conditions that particular night anyway. Our only issue was that we were making such good time towards Mallorca that we actually needed to slow down! We should say at this juncture that we passage plan at 5 knots, which is normally about right for a fully laden cruising yacht like ours.  This means our calculations for arrival times at destinations are based on covering 5 nautical miles in one hour, so we work out our passage planning backwards. In other words the optimum time of arrival, and set our departure time accordingly.

We did not relish arriving at an anchorage in the dark so we took in some sail and dropped the speed down. It is useful to anchor in daylight if at all possible, as we can usually see the bottom. Finding a sandy spot is preferable to rocks or weed anyday. This season we have witnessed many boats who have caught their anchors on rocks.

We had a brief visit during the night from a swordfish, and later on a lone dolphin, but apart from that the night was uneventful. Not cold enough to warrant layers and layers, but not exactly shorts and t-shirts either. In anycase we always wear our lifejackects when night sailing, and clip on with the harness for peace of mind.

Almost as soon as the sun came up the next day we could see the coast of Malllorca clearly. By 8am we rounded the lighthouse into Palma bay and swung well inshore to stay out of the way of the cruise ships and ferries. On the way up it seemed rude not to pop by into Magaluf bay. A lone yacht was at anchor and the town looked very quiet, no doubt as most of it's occupants would be nursing a hangover!

We carried on past Palma Nova bay which looked very pretty, however too much rock and weed to anchor so we continued to a spot off the beach at Puerto Portals, just next to a very exclusive marina. We dropped the anchor in 5 metres of water and watched it fall to a nice sandy bottom, popped the anchor alarm on, rigged the anchor buoy, had breakfast, and went to sleep for the rest of the morning.

Peurto Portals anchorage

Lynne was awoken later by a voice over a loudspeaker and went into the cockpit to investigate. She discovered that there was a Seaworld type park backing onto the beach. There was a dolphin display going on, and every now and then she could hear the "oohs" and "aahs" from the audience as they marveled at the display. Next was the sealion show, followed by the exotic bird show. All these were accompanied by some great music. It was quite amusing during our stay here to hear the sealion barking during the night, and being woken up to the sound of parrots squawking in the early morning.

Puerto Portals, according to our Pilot Book, is one of the most expensive marinas in the Mediterranean. Every day we watch as superyachts pop in and out. One day, yacht Eos dropped anchor close by. At over 300 feet long, she is the world's largest privately owned yacht. On another day, a yacht about 80 feet long anchored, and the owners had the staff bring up their gym equipment onto the deck, then they had a workout. It did seem odd seeing a rowing machine in use and a large boxing bag hanging from the boom! We did check, but sadly there is no room on Scarlet Lady for a gym!

Most of these superyachts and gin palaces have plenty of toys onboard too - jet skis, canoes, ribs etc. However, we saw something new to us here... a German boat had a device that propelled a man into the air on a jet of water. Very James Bond!

Rocket man

On taking the dinghy ashore, we were pleased to find a metal loop in a low lying concrete wall at the back of the beach. This was perfect for chaining the dinghy to. Just a short stroll past Marineland, we found a Tabac where we topped up our Vodafone dongle, and a wifi cafe where we caught up on some emails. We discovered there was a bus stop too, where we could get a bus into Palma. The lady in the Tabac also told us there was a large Mercadona supermarket about a 15 minute walk away. (Actually took us more like 30 mins but still not too far and with no gym on board it was good to get the exercise).

We were happy with the settled conditions and the fact we had somewhere secure to leave the dinghy, so the following day we took the bus into Palma and caught the 1912 vintage train into the pretty, old town of Soller on the north of the island.

A vintage Steve on a vintage train

The journey took about an hour and the scenery was spectacular in places, as the train trundled through the Serra Tramuntana mountains. Sadly though, due to a mishap with our camera (it turns out it wasn't waterproof, don't ask!), we had no camera to take any photos. We did however, have a camera phone which we used to take some shots but apologies for the quality which isn't great.

Whilst in Soller, we had a lovely lunch and shared a dessert - ice cream made to look like spaghetti bolognaise. Delicious!

Spaghetti ice cream

Back in Palma we saw the cathedral, and looked out over to the many marinas there.

Palma seafront

On the way back to the bus, a detour to a department store was made and Steve bought Lynne a new camera for her birthday, a Canon Ixus, and so far we are really pleased with the results.

Before we left the anchorage, we did a provisioning trip to the Mercadona and on Lynne's birthday, took the bus into Magaluf for a night out. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about and whether it lived up to its reputation. We had dinner on the seafront and then took a walk up 'The Strip'. There were plenty of Stag and Hen parties in fancy dress, and apart from seeing the odd drunk reveler,  all we saw was people out having a good time. However, it was still only 10pm and would probably be another story altogether by 3am the next morning!

Magaluf at night

Our next stop was Santa Ponsa. Just outside the marina was a large, well protected anchorage and once again, we were able to anchor in very clear water in sand. Lynne always puts her snorkel and mask on once we have anchored, and swims out to check the anchor has dug in well. It always helps when the water is clear and not too choppy.

Santa Ponsa is a busy tourist town with a lovely large bay, numerous restaurants, and an Eroski supermarket just a short walk away. The resort is very German orientated and Lynne felt like she was living back in Berlin with all the German shops and restaurants, and hearing nearly everyone speak German. Steve was quite taken with Santa Ponsa and took the opportunity to pick up a property brochure from an Estate Agent. He saw several lovely villas that could be yours for a cool 20 million Euros!

View towards Santa Ponsa and anchorage

A packed beach at Santa Ponsa

We both enjoy creating dishes using whatever food we have available between food shops. Lynne's speciality is Soda bread which is very quick and easy to make, as well as her own version of a Spanish tortilla using up some potatoes, onions, eggs and chorizo. For an extra kick, she added some crushed chilli flakes. Yummy!

Very tasty!

Boat bread

We had really enjoyed our time in Santa Ponsa, and reluctantly headed up to the north coast to the anchorage at Puerto de Soller. This coastline is really stunning, and Jurassic Park in appearance. We had no wind that day, so sadly had to motor.

Relaxed crew

Stunning coastline

The anchorage at Soller was extremely crowded, but we managed to find a space. 

Soller anchorage

Lynne checked the anchor and was quite happy as it was buried in a large patch of sand. She noticed that closer into the shore it was more rocky, and there was quite a lot of weed on the sea bed.

Soller Marina

Puerto de Soller is a very pretty place and there are several nice restaurants, small supermarkets, a launderette, and a chandlery shop all on the seafront. We got a new Camping Gaz bottle from the chandlers for 19 Euros. From the port, you can get an electric tram into the town of Soller a few miles inland. The journey takes about 20 minutes each way.

Tram in Soller

Evening at anchor

The following day started off calm, so we decided to row the dinghy ashore and leave the outboard motor on the boat. Big mistake! The wind picked up steadily whilst we were ashore, and by the time we tried to row the dinghy back to the boat, it was gusting 15-18 knots of wind. As the yacht was approximately 350 metres from the shore, we knew it was going to be a challenge, and we were right. We were rowing hard but every time a gust of wind hit us head on, we started to drift backwards. After an exhausting 20 minutes, we were still only two thirds of the way there. We managed to grab hold of a small fishing boat that was on a mooring buoy to get our breath back.

We noticed a Beneteau Oceanis had dragged its anchor in the windy conditions, and the owners where nowhere to be seen. The yacht had ended up broadside to a small motor boat which was on a mooring buoy, and was pinned hard to it. A man from another nearby yacht was soon on deck and managed to secure the yacht in such a way to minimise any further damage. We managed to attract his attention and in our best Spanish he understood another rescue mission was needed, in this case a tow to our boat which he duly gave.
Later that evening we popped over to thank him, and gave him a bottle of wine for his troubles.

On leaving Soller, we planned to sail to the anchorage at Cala San Vicente (yes, this island has one too!), as there was going to be a fiesta on at the weekend in honour of La Virgen del Mar. It was another calm and windless day, so once again we were under motor. En-route to our intended anchorage, we decided to take a look at Cala de la Calobra (Torrente de Pareis), as the pilot book describes it as being spectacular. It didn't disappoint, and was straight out of a film set.

What a place!

Just as we were leaving the Cala, Steve had to put the engine into neutral to slow us down and allow a yacht to pass in front of us. When he went to put the engine in gear again, nothing happened! The engine was revving away but we were making no speed. The forward gear had not engaged. Being so close to cliffs was not good, but fortunately, there was a bit of current taking us away from shore, and just enough wind to fill the sails. Steve turned the engine off, waited a few minutes and then turned it back on again. Luckily for us, this time he managed to engage forward gear.

We considered our options and after consulting the Pilot Book, phoned the nearest Yanmar agents (Yanmar is the make of our engine/gearboox). Alcudia marina had Yanmar engineers. We decided the best course of action would be to motor straight there and anchor off until we could go ashore on the Monday morning to speak to the engineers. It was a shame that we would be missing out on a fiesta, but we simply couldn't risk anchoring in Cala San Vicente and not being able to leave when the time came.

There was plenty of room to anchor outside the marina in Alcudia and no swell for a change. We both enjoyed a swim to cool off. That evening, we took the dinghy into the marina and tied up to the fuel pontoon. We familiarised ourselves with where the Yanmar agents were and took a walk into the resort.  It was very crowded and a definite tourist resort. Not to our liking, but the beach is pretty. Just outside the marina there was a display by some Spanish folk singers and dancers, so we stopped to watch for a while.

We had a thoroughly relaxing weekend at anchor, doing very little apart from swimming, eating and reading. Talking of reading, our Kindles have really come into their own this year. Our 3G versions also mean we can check out weather forecasts on the built in browser, which is very useful and free!

On Monday morning we called in at the Yanmar dealers and explained the issue. To cut a long story short, we had used the wrong grade and type of oil in the gearbox. Since changing it everything is back to how it should be, and lessons learned for the future.

Alcudia bay is huge and we spent the next couple of days just sailing around and enjoying being on the water. We backtracked and did nip round the corner to visit Pollensa, and ended up spending a few nights there too. It was just as we were anchoring that the noise of a plane distracted us by landing a short distance away!

Interesting sights in Pollensa bay

Pollensa old town is very charming and well worth a visit. It is only a short 12 minute bus ride from the port.

Just add cocktails

About 300 steps to get to the top

The last night of our stay coincided with the end of a local festival, which was celebrated with a huge fireworks display at midnight... very timely as it marked the start of Steve's birthday.

Festival In Pollensa

Before leaving Mallorca we visited the 24 hour marina fuel berth in Alcudia to top up both the diesel and water tanks. Despite the fact we have had to motor a fair amount, our fuel consumption is working out at a very frugal 1.5 litres per hour.

We would have liked to have spent longer in Mallorca, but time is marching on and we still have many miles to cover. It would be possible to spend a whole season in the Balearics, so we hope to come back sometime in the future and do just that.

And so on to the smallest of the islands, Menorca, which follows in the next update.