August 8 – August 28: Minorca

Beautiful bays in Minorca

The trip to Minorca was pleasant but wearing as the wind was on our nose for most of the time, so we were delighted to glide into a calm and peaceful cala just outside Mahon harbour and dip into the cool water. After close on 13 hours at sea Cala Taulera was a real haven.
It also proved to be a perfect setting off point the next morning to visit the fortress of Isobell 11 on La Mola, near Mahon. This extensive military fortress was built by the Spanish government in 1848 in response to the threat by France and Britain who were both eyeing up Mahon harbour as a strategic harbour for their fleets. It apparently took 25 years to construct but was out-dated before completion!
Mahon harbour
We left the peacefulness of our anchorage for Mahon the next day to seek out a buoy or pontoon nearer to the town. Mahon is nestled in a huge natural harbour and is a hideaway for luxury yachts. Consequently mooring fees were well over 100e – something to keep well away from! We managed to find a buoy in Cala Longa, another small cala in the harbour entrance which still required a 20 minute dingy trip into the town.
Everything about Mahon was expensive and rather showy. To crown it we had an oil spillage in the dingy which took two hours to clean up! Things brightened up considerably when Maria arrived, even though I got her time of arrival incorrect by 12 hours!
We left Mahon the next day early in the morning and headed out in a brisk north easterly of 10-12 knots which proved an exciting welcome for Maria who was immediately at home on the waves. At lunchtime we moored up in the Cala Coves, a narrow inlet with high rocks each side with over 90 caves most of them inhabited in the Bronze Age. It was an amazing place with loads of small cave entrances carved into the rock faces. Most of them had been sectioned off and the bones, tools and remains found inside were now museum pieces, but others we could clamber into and just imagine how life must have been for families living in the coolness and ruggedness of these caves. Below the sapphire waters supplied a welcomed dip after our excursions into the rocks. Maria was of course in her element, itching to climb the craggy cliff faces.
When we returned to Mahon to collect Maria's friend Ali, the harbour was much quieter than during our previous visit and we were able to pick up a buoy closer to town. The next day we made our way up the east coast again looking for a secluded cala. Somehow, once you have tasted the solitude of nothing but cliffs, clear water and a few boats around you, any other anchorage is second best.
Laying up
The forecast was for light easterly and north easterly throughout the following week which was completely the wrong wind for sailing to Sardinia, as planned so we changed our plans and started to look at the remainder of the Spanish coast and beginning of the French coast for laying up over winter. The 'manyana' attitude everywhere meant that we had little response from marinas we had been contacting by email and phone calls were equally fruitless.
After a few more wearing on line sessions we have now put our hopes on Sant Carles de la Rapita along the Spanish coast halfway between Valencia and Barcelona. With the reassuring thought that we may have at last found an over winter home for Moonshadow we were able to get down to enjoying the rest of our holiday with only three weeks left to go.
Minorca is continuing to be peaceful and unspoilt. We spent two days in Port de Fornells, a huge sheltered harbour om the north coast of the island, bordering a small village with little development except for some large executive homes. Great place for watersports of all kinds. One of the prettiest harbours we stayed at was Cala de Addaia hidden in a picturesque corner of a large lagoon and surrounded by gentle hillsides, covered in shrubs and trees with no houses in sight.
Completely unspoilt
It is refreshing to know that you can still find an anchorage where you are completely on your own with just beautiful scenery around you. That was the case when we sailed into Port de Sanitja. On one side a kindly gently sloping headland lined the bay with the Cavalleria lighthouse at its head, on the other side coarse juniper bushes and reedy grass protruded out of the stony ground. The inlet was breathtakingly peaceful and certainly had a historical feel about it especially when we realised we were moored just a few metres away from a Roman military camp from 123BC! The rocks that lined the eastern side of the bay were gnarled and twisted into amazingly grotesque shapes which reminded us that during the winter the east winds constantly battered the island, shops closed down and the bars and restaurants went into hibernation. We were the only yacht in the anchorage!
We moored once again in Fornells with the idea of visiting a fiesta the next day. We nearly didn't make it as our dingy had disappeared the next morning! Fortunately, a Spaniard on a boat closer to the harbour had seen the empty dingy heading for land and had managed to catch it and securely tie it behind his own boat. Life without a dingy would have been very difficult!
Fiesta time
We made a brief visit to a fiesta in the small town of Ferreries where we stood sweating among the crowds that cheered and shouted as the mayor of the town announced the grand opening. Fiestas are held in each town in turn to honour their patron saint and horses play a leading role, rearing on command through the crowds! We had become so used to our peaceful way of life that we found the electric crowd rather daunting so we decided to give the evening celebrations a miss and instead visit the stud farm where these beautiful black Minorcan horses are bred.
We planned to catch the first day of the classic yacht race so we tacked to Mahon in a lovely sailing wind of 10-12 knots staying the night before at a pleasant anchorage on the eastern side of Isla Colon which surprisingly had laid buoys which we did not have to pay for. When we arrived in Mahon we found that the Classic Yacht race had been cancelled undoubtedly due to lack of entries and the impact of the recession.
We visited Son Martorellet, the Minorcan horse stud, and saw about 15 beautiful black stallions, four of which performed some of their high school moves in an airy, immaculate indoor school, the roof of which had been lined with cork for insulation. One of their trainers told us that the horses perform the same routines six days a week and to train them to the level required took three to four years. Amazing dedication on behalf of both horse and rider.
Our last night in Minorca once more characterised the beauty of this unexploited island. Our anchorage was in Cala Son Saura, a wide bay, with two quiet beaches where we dropped the anchor 6m down and could see the sandy bottom clearly through the azure blue water. Our last swim in Minorcan waters was one to remember!

August 1 – August 7: Majorca

Palma's magnificent cathedral and

Palma harbour

First impressions of Majorca were that it is far more commercialised than Ibiza and it really feels like coming back to civilisation. Our first night was spent in Santa Ponsa bay, a large area with good holding over sand, but surrounded by development, which seemed uncomfortably obtrusive after the peaceful calas we had been experiencing.

The day before discovering Palma we anchored between two small islands Las Illetas. We took the dinghy ashore to roam one of the small islands which was deserted and the second led to an exclusive part of the mainland with posh bars and elaborate Spanish homes with their glistening white walls, tall, wrought iron gates, and carpets of flowing brightly coloured flowers.

We had heard that Palma was very expensive to moor, but we needed water and supplies so we headed for one of the nine yacht marinas in a huge bay that provides berthing for several thousand yachts. We had heard from other sailors that the quay known as Pier 46 but now taken over by Viva Yacht charter was an excellent place to berth as it was close to the old town and the magnificent 13^th century Gothic cathedral.

This turned out to be great advice. We motored into the vast harbour, which was home to a large slice of the super yacht market, fearing the worst as far as harbour charges were concerned, headed for Pier 46 and proceeded to moor up to a vacant berth as though we owned the place. We struck a deal of 50E for the first night and 40E for the second with a guy called Henry and there we were, just a short walk from the beautiful old town, the cathedral and the Almudaina Palace. Brilliant. The city turned out to be the most beautiful we have visited so far, wide flagged walkways, a beautifully kept old town which constantly provided the mounting excitement of what is round the next winding corner and even a cycle path through most of the city. So it was bikes out and off to explore.

It was well past midnight when we checked out a large screen that had been erected in front of the cathedral where we found hundreds of people, hanging out watching the ancient American movie - Moon River!

During out time in Palma we saw The royal palace of La Almundaina, walked around the towering Gothic cathedral and took a trip to Soller on a narrow gauge railway through the mountains, where farmers had hacked out towering terraces in the harshest of landscapes to grow their olive and fruit trees.

After two days in Palma we sailed in a lovely breeze to Ensalada de Rapita, a long, sandy bay where we anchored in readiness for our visit to the Isle de Cabrera a beautiful nature reserve that required a permit to visit.

Sadly, the visit did not materialise as just a mile or so away from the island, the engine of the boat overheated and our only option was to sail back in the direction we had come before the wind dropped. With Anders's skill and a lot of luck we sailed into the harbour at La Rapita and asked if there was an engineer available to help us. We had learned never to take no for an answer, so this coupled with Anders charm actually effected a visit from an engineer within the hour! The day turned out far better than expected as the problem was the sea water impeller that had one broken fin, rather than a far more serious and costly problem.

Our last night on Majorca was spent at Porto Colon, after visiting many calas along the east coast that were already well populated with boats. We anchored in the harbour area and had a welcome 38^th anniversary dinner ashore at the local yacht club.

We had planned one more night in Majorca before leaving for Minorca to meet Maria, but on hearing from fellow yatchsmen that bad weather was due in a couple of days, we decided to make the 13 hour crossing to Menorca the next day. The alarm was set for 5.30am!

I meet a headless man outside Palma cathedral