Martin turned up more or less on time on Saturday afternoon so we had time to show him the delights of the yacht club and then into town for some roast suckling pig. It was not “over crowded” at all as all the charter boats must have had their weekly changeover so were all somewhere else. I managed to keep track of the Liverpool – West Ham score by poping in all the bars on the way up, ...and they won 3 – 0.
We left around 9 ish on Sunday to do the 50 mile passage over to Menorca. Plan A was to head directly to the southern tip of Sardinia but the forecast of fresh to strong south easterlies knocked that one on the head for at least 4 days. Plan B was therefore to head over to the west tip of Menorca, head east along the north coast and then over to the north end of Sardinia. The Sardinia trip looked like being at least 4 days off (Thursday).
We were aiming for Ciutadella, the town on the western tip but with a few anchorages in mind if it was busy. We got in around 6 ish after a combination of motor sailing and sailing to find all of the port moorings no longer in use. Obviously the ro-ro ferries have seen to that! The harbour master was very helpful and tried to accommodate us but it meant waiting on the emergency wharf until the ferry left at 8.30pm and then move onto the ferry berth, then at 8am the following morning move to where the fishing boats are and then moving off by 5pm the following day. Instead we chose to anchor and went round the corner to Cala Degollador. A smashing little anchorage in a narrow cala, perfectly sheltered from the strong easterly wind blowing. We used 2 anchors (front and back) and had a very peaceful night.
The forecast for Monday was 25knt of wind from the SE so we spent the morning shopping in Ciutadella to restock the boat with beer and other sundry items and re-rigging the reefing system (an idea of Martin). We left the anchorage at noon, out into 25knts to sail to the northern coast and meet up with Kishorn in one of the many anchorages up there. It was only a 12 mile sail but one of the more enjoyable ones. Lots of wind with not much sail up – but we went fast. No problem anchoring in a huge anchorage with a strong offshore wind. Off then to the beach for a bit of sunbathing. Lots of Sullidae around (Rob if you are reading) doing things that you don’t normally see birds doing! Plan tomorrow is to head to Mahon, the eastern most town on the island and a day shopping and refuelling etc for the trip to Sardinia.
We spent an nice evening entertaining Trevor and Lesley, Alan and Holly from a New Zealand boat and Ludo and Lucinda (a French couple on a Belgian registered boat that we thought was German!!! ....don’t ask!). With the help of the binoculars and Rob’s eye spy book of European birds, we were able to spot a pair of Ospreys circling overhead to add to the bee-eater that Martin had spotted earlier in the day. No woolly mammoths though today. The “Oh Really” has now been told to almost everyone we have met – yet people are still using it in normal conversation. I must tell it to you sometime!
Both anchorages over the last few nights rate a good 7/10. The one we are in now must be great when there isn’t 25knts of wind blowing which is what we have had ever since we got here.
No sign of Tony and Margaret although we’ve not had internet for a couple of days so that is not surprising.
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