Today we are bobbing up and down in one of the nicest places on the planet, the isle of Cabrera just off the south east point of Majorca. Cabrera is a national park with a very protected natural harbour. There are only mooring bouys here for which you need a permit – which Rob obtained before flying out. The sun is shining, the sea is blue and the beer is cold. Pam and Anna have gone off to a near by beach to try and swim (if they can avoid the thousands of jellyfish) and Rob has gone off in search of some Sullidae.
We got into Majorca a few days back – don’t ask me to remember how many – and tied up in Port Adriano. This was a marina occupied by 98% big motor boats. We managed to shoe-horn between two and there we were for 3 days whilst we said goodbye to Murray and Alan and hello to Rob and Anna. We did have a day overlap so had a good meal that night. The marina had all mod cons but I don’t recommend it to any other yacht. As we came in I was rather concerned that we only had 0.2 of a metre under the keel. I thought it was because we were swept towards a moored work boat (perhaps dredging). On the way out though, following the line advised by the marinier, we went aground. One minute it was 1m under the keel – the next zip!! It was only light sand silting up the entrance with all the new development work but I reckon 2.2m is about the max depth coming in. We got off with a bit of help from the marinier in his RIB but I don’t want to do that too often.
The weather on Friday was crap (rain and wind) so we went into Palma for a look-around. Now remember last weekend when Cartagena was closed for the weekend. Well this was hardly any better. Friday was a bank holiday as it was May 1st. I mean, what country would have it’s May day holiday on May 1st. Surely the first Monday is more logical .....err maybe not! So everything was shut again including the tourist disinformation office. There was a boat show on the harbour so we did that for a few hours to find some dinner plates (at vast expense) for the boat. The tacky green and yellow ones have now been consigned to the bin. Saturday (back to wall to wall sunshine) was a quiet day on the boat making sure the holding tank divert valve was working (another smelly job for me), which it is now and Murray went up the mast to fit the new Tacktick wind transmitter when it arrived with Rob and Anna. First thing Sunday, Alan and Murray departed by taxi and we filled up with fuel, ran aground and then headed off to Cabrera with a 12 knt following wind. We managed to get the Spinnaker up for a few hours.
Cabrera is a fantastic place. Nice and quiet. Free moorings. One of the few places to find Auduains Gull – which we spotted this morning – although Pam and I had seen them on Ibiza a few days earlier. We took the dinghy a couple of miles round the coast to see some caves and had the odd beer or three in the local army cantena (not unsurprising not the cheapest of bars). It must be warm because Pam has not complained about the cold at all for 48 hours!!!! There are 50 moorings here and yesterday (holiday weekend Sunday) about 20 were occupied. Today (mid afternoon Monday) there is only us on a mooring!!! The forecast is for some rain tomorrow though! Can’t recommend this place strong enough!! A “must see” place.
Rob and Anna are only over for a few days so we have to get them back to the mainland for Tuesday evening for a flight the following morning. We will either go up to the South East coast or back to Palma depending on the wind direction but we have now decided to try and get to the South East coast by Saturday to pick up Martin who arrives on Sunday for a two week stay – and passages over to Sardinia and Sicily. This means only a few 30 mile sails this week and quite a few nights away from marinas for a change. It was starting to get expensive with the prices rising all the time as we headed to Majorca. I’ve managed to miss the radio sked with Trevor the last 3 nights (beer, food, walking etc) so not a clue where they are – and we are out of mobile phone range so no texts. It has been nice though to chill out a bit and relax.
We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather west of Gibraltar to see if Steve and June on Piper manage to escape from Lagos but strong easterlies seem to have put paid to that (and probably for a while to come). Will they ever catch us up? I have to remind you though of how nice it was, sitting outside the army cantena, sipping a cold beer and looking out over the bay in 25 degs of sunshine. So that’s why we came south!!!!
Sounds like just the ticket after a hard fortnight! Easterlies finally seem to be subsiding, so off with Piper tomorrow - Faro then Gib.
Ju and Liz
Posted by: Ju Randall | 06/05/2009 at 11:57 AM