From Spain into Italy

After a few days anchored in Pollenca the weather forecast finally predicted a change from the NE winds we had had for 3 days to light south westerly’s that looked good for getting across to Minorca.  The forecast was for the wind to pick up a little during the day to around 12-15knts so we left late morning, in company with Bagheera, to try and take advantage of the better wind a bit later in the day since we reckoned on about 6hrs for the passage.

We left Pollenca and motor sailed in the predicted light winds for about an hour until we cleared the end of Mallorca, then the wind picked up and decided to go around to the South eventually settling at a steady F6 from the SSE meaning we had 2 reefs in the main and a well rolled Jib as we made good progress even though we were hard on the wind. Fortunately the sea was pretty flat since it had not had time to build up to match the wind speed. We got to Minorca having recorded wind speeds up to 30knts and boat speeds of over 9knts and made the 36 miles in 5 1/2 hrs.

Heading out of Pollenca	Very Bouncy Anchorage – Ciutadella

We had identified a promising looking anchorage just south of the entrance to Ciutadella that should have been well protected from the strong S and SE winds that we had when we arrived but when we got there there was very little space and the waves reflecting around the rocks made it pretty uncomfortable.

We stuck it out for a couple of hours before a conflab with Bagheera and a decision to head round to the North of the Island and eventually into the calm and tranquillity of Cala Morrells where we spent a much more comfortable night than we would have had in Ciutadella.  It was also a brisk sail with 25 – 30knts of wind behind us most of the way.

Calm Cala Morrells, Minorca	Large Sheltered Anchorage, Cala Son Saura

Next morning we had strong NE winds that were forecast to continue for the next few days and although our little anchorage in Cala Morrells was nicely protected the rest of the North coast would be pretty uncomfortable. So we headed South, still with Bagheera, for another easy sail with just the gennaker out making around 8knts with the strong winds behind us. We rounded the SW corner of Minorca and after a couple of miles along the S coast we went into the large sheltered anchorage of Cala Son Saura with beautiful sandy beaches and clear turquoise waters. It got fairly busy with around 40 boats at some times but still plenty of room to anchor on a nice sandy seabed in about 5m of water.

Cala Macarella	Cala Trebeluya with River Just Right of Centre

We had a couple of days rest in Son Saura before Bagheera needed to find some shops for supplies and we both needed to head a bit further East ready for the crossing to Sardinia.  We made a huge trip of 2 1/2 nm  to Cala Macarella where we stopped for a couple of hours for breakfast before going another 3nm to Santa Galdana for supplies and then made another huge leap of 4nm before anchoring in the delightful Cala Trebeluja.

Ready for Upriver Expedition	Anchored and Tied to Rocks, Cala Covas

There is a river in the corner of Cala Trebeluja that you can dinghy or kayak up for just over a mile so we set of the next day with Phil and Alison and had a very serene paddle up and back. We saw quite a few small turtles in the weeds and some pretty large fish fish, together with lots of dragonflies and birds, a very nice little excursion.

Next day we decided we should go to Cala Covas, it is reportedly on of the prettiest Calas in Minorca with well over a hundred caves around the cliffs but it is quite small for anchoring. We arrived fairly early to find the place pretty much full but soon a few boats left and we managed to move further up and anchor with lines to the rocks to keep us steady, Bagheera deployed two anchors just behind us. The NW wind was gusting down the valley and boats were being blow about quite a bit but we seemed fairly secure in what was, indeed, a lovely place. Unfortunately after a couple of hours some swell started working it’s way into the Cala and reflecting off the cliffs and we thought it was probably only going to get worse.

Headsail Only Heading to Binibecca	Spanish Sunday Lunch Under the Trees

Quick radio call to Bagheera meant a hasty exit and a downwind run along the south coast to the much calmer anchorage of Cala de Binnibecca. We got ourselves anchored at the first attempt in a nice sandy patch but Bagheera had real trouble getting their anchor to set properly, but eventually they did and we had a great BBQ and drinks to round the day off.

The weather forecast was now showing a pretty calm couple of days for the Thursday and Friday and it looked like the best opportunity we would get for a pretty easy crossing to Sardinia so we had a lazy day on the Wednesday in Binnibecca checking everything was stowed away and the boat was ready for the 200nm trip.

We left Binnibecca at first light just before dawn on the Thursday with hardly any wind, after a couple of hours we had enough breeze to motorsail but that did not last very long and we ended up motoring all the way across apart from about 4hrs of motorsailing, at least the sea was flat calm and the sunset was really vivid.

6kg Tuna Landed, Freezer Stocked Up	Sunset Between Minorca and Sardinia

We had great success with our fishing managing to land a 6kg tuna just as we sat down for dinner on the Thursday night and then a 5kg tuna early the next morning, two more fish managed to escape after we had hooked them. It seems that Jacko’s tips on our fishing expedition in Lagos really did come in useful and we now have the freezer well stocked with enough tuna for about 12 meals.

Landfall Sardinia, Capo Caccia	Anchorage in Cala del Bollo, Porto Conte, Sardinia

We made landfall in Sardinia at Capo Caccia around 3pm on the Friday after 36hrs and then headed a couple of miles into Porte Conte to anchor in Cala del Bollo, well sheltered from the forecast strong NW winds that are coming our way.

Hi all Sue here

Well we have had a very busy time lately with Phil and Alison of Bagheera and have visited many Cala’s along the way. Think our record was three in one day.

Our crossing to Menorca was quite lively but at least we arrived there in good time. Sadly the anchorage we had chosen to arrive at, Ciutadella, was extremely bouncy that I even started to feel seasick in there. I was so glad when we decided to move on to  Cala Morrells where we enjoyed a nice well earned meal with Phil and Alison. The first Vodka and Tonic always tastes the best after a long day!

Cala Trebeluja was really beautiful and when we kayaked up the river it was hard to imagine you were so close to the sea, it seemed a totally different world full of wildlife and plants. The colours of the dragon flies were luminous red and turquoise. We also went for a walk around the Cala itself and found lots of interesting remains of old buildings that no one seems to know much about! It was a Sunday when we were there and the Spanish families were out in force picnicking under any available tree, they definitely do it properly with chairs, tables, umbrellas etc.

It’s a shame we couldn’t go ashore at Cala Covas as it would have been really good to have explored the Caves where apparently people used to live many years ago. You could see the windows and doors carved out of the rocks. Never mind I’m sure there will be many more caves to explore on our voyage. It did feel though as if we had been trying to anchor safely for hours and then we had to up and leave anyway and Bagheera had an even harder time of it! Then when we got to Binnibecca Bagheera couldn’t find a sandy patch like we had and ended up having several goes at anchoring again. I think Alison was quite relieved when I shouted across that I would do supper and of course anchor drinks! The following day we all decided to go out for an early meal before we all set of for Sardinia and go our separate ways for a while.

It was exciting to think we were finally going to be able to cross to Sardinia. We got up at 5am on Thursday to leave and Chris checked the weather forecast. He then told me that actually the weather forecast looked better for next Tuesday for crossing and what did I think. For once I was rendered speechless but I think he got the message from the look on my face and just said OK we will go today! I know we had to motor sail but we had been around the Balearics for long enough and it was time to go.

Chris was in his element when he caught a 6kg Tuna but the boat looked like a chainsaw massacre had gone on when he had finished preparing it! The second one was a much cleaner effort after he had read up on some tips for preparing Tuna in our fishing guide. All recipes for Tuna will be gladly received!

It was so nice to finally arrive in Sardinia. We are now chilling around Porto Conte for the next week until my sister Caroline and her daughter Kathryn arrive on the 30th July for four days. Then it will be time to decide which way we go next, around Sardinia or across to Corsica.

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Around Mallorca–Again!

Well we have not really got very far since our last posting, we have only managed to get around the N Coast of Mallorca as far as Pollenca.  However it has been very nice to slow down and take it easy.

Part of the reason for our tardiness is that we have been waiting for some spare parts to be sent out from the UK.  We have two extra alternators on our starboard engine to give us an extra 240A of charging capacity to keep our batteries up to max charge when we need to do any motoring.  About a month ago the main battery isolator on the charging circuits failed while the engine was running meaning the alternators were disconnected from the batteries – this is not very good for them while they are running!!!! It blew some diodes on the regulator circuits and so they stopped working, I managed to make a temporary repair using some diodes we had on board but it only lasted a week or so before failing again, probably due to overheating of the new diodes.

An internet search tracked down a supplier who could supply new diode plates at £43 each so I thought it best to order them and get the alternators properly fixed.  Unfortunately a mix up with the Marina address and probably the Spanish Postal system as well means that the new bits have not yet appeared.  Not sure if or when the bits will appear so have had to reorder them so Caroline can bring them over with her at the end of the month, just means we will have some spares if the originals do turn up.

We had a couple of days at Arenal after Rich and Caroline left and then we sailed across Palma Bay to briefly meet up with Nick on Imagine who is berthing in Palma for the summer.  From Palma we went down to a nice anchorage at Les Illetas just a few miles South of Palma, a busy little place but well sheltered from most winds.  The Spanish Customs put in an appearance and seemed to check quite a few boats in the anchorage, but they left us alone.

Santa Ponsa Anchorage – Nimrod at Left	Steep Climb Above Santa Ponsa

Next stop was the anchorage at Santa Ponsa again where we waited for our spares to turn up, this meant we had about 12 days anchored there.  Not such a hardship since it is very well sheltered with good holding in warm clear waters, especially down towards the beach.  Also good supermarkets and plenty of bars etc ashore to keep us stocked up.  The weather warmed up considerably while we were here with temperatures well into the 30’s some days and the occasional threat of a thunderstorm.

We were joined here by Phil & Alison on Bagheera, Hakan & Inge-Marie on Alacrtity and Tommy & Christina on Ger, all friends from winter in Lagos. That meant we had to have a BBQ ashore as well as a few drinks on each others boats – all very enjoyable.

However the peace was rudely shattered late one afternoon when a bank of black clouds rolled quickly across the bay and the wind rose sharply from almost calm to 40knts with gusts even higher blowing directly into the anchorage, this rapidly built up a short choppy sea that had boats bucking at their anchors.  From calm and tranquillity to complete chaos in a few minutes as boats dragged anchors and bumped into neighbours, fortunately we were right down at the far end of the anchorage in relative calm with only a couple of boats near us.  Our anchor held firm and so did our neighbours so we sat it out with engines running just in case we needed to move quickly.  The exposed end of the anchorage was much worse with one boat dragging onto the rocks and a couple of collisions, fortunately we don’t think anyone was hurt.  Less than 30 minutes after it started it had all blown over and calm was restored.

We managed to climb up the steep stairway on the North side of Santa Ponsa to the top of the surrounding hills, it was very hard work but the views over the Bay were lovely.  We had a few days with everyone before some of the boats started drifting away to other places and eventually we thought we had better move on since our spares seemed to well and truly lost.

Port Soller Harbour	Sunset on the Mountains Behind Soller

We had very little wind and so we headed around the North of the Island to Port Soller, this is about the only sheltered harbour on the 60nm stretch of coast so it is usually busy.  We arrived quite early just as a large motor yacht was leaving so we grabbed a nice spot to drop our anchor for the night.  Next day we headed back to the spectacular scenery of Cala de la Colabra that we told you about last time.

It is very busy in the day with all the trip boats and bus loads of day trippers descending on the place, as well as lots of boats. By early evening nearly every body has left and peace is restored in plenty of time for drinks, food and watching the sunset.

Chaos on The Beach – Cala de la Colabra	Neighbours in Colabra

Some of the anchoring antics in Colabra make for good entertainment as long as it is not too close to us – it is quite deep for anchoring (10 –15m) so you need a long length of anchor chain out to make sure the anchor holds properly on the bottom, we had around 40m of chain out and we could clearly see the anchor well dug in when we snorkelled over it to check.  Unfortunately not all boats seem to know how much chain they need to deploy, or even how much they have actually let out, very few boats seem to reverse properly to make sure the anchor is well dug in and even fewer bother to have a look with snorkel to check.  A swim around the anchorage revealed quite a few anchors just lying on the sea bed, not even slightly dug in, some with little more chain out than the depth of water and some with 60m of chain snaking around the sea bed to an anchor just lying there.  Probably worst was an 80ft long motor yacht with about 12m of chain in 8m of water and the anchor happily rolling around on the sea bed – they even stayed the night like that – any gust of wind would have had them in the rocks, very worrying that the skipper did not know better than that how to anchor £2 to £3 millions worth of boat!!!

Dramatic North Coast of Mallorca	Only 300ft Complete with Helicopter

A couple of days rest in Colabra with Bagheera was great but the weather forecast was indicating that we might be able to get over to Minorca and then Sardinia in the next few days, so we headed to Pollenca to sit out a couple of days of NE winds and make plans for the long crossing to Sardinia. As usual though the weather forecast has changed yet again and although we are still going to Minorca tomorrow (Friday) it looks like there are going to be some strong to gale force Northerly winds for a few days after that so we won’t be crossing to Sardinia in that!!!

We have SW winds tomorrow so we will head to Ciutadella at the West end and then the N winds mean we will spend the next few days around the South coast of Minorca while we wait for a nice weather window for Sardinia.

Hi all Sue here

Well we have been having a really lazy time lately but hopefully we are going to be starting to move on again tomorrow. It has been so nice meeting up with some of our friends from Lagos again and catching up with where they have been etc.

While we were in our favourite anchorage Cala Colabra a boat sailed in with a nude man at the helm, nothing unusual really but when five more appeared it was quite an occasion!! Then on further perusal I noticed they were all clean shaven top and bottom!! They gaily skipped around the boat ( am I allowed to say that!!) but it wasn’t really a pretty sight when bending down to check the anchor!! Mind you they did go rock climbing as well and I thought that was pretty brave of them!! and no I didn’t take any photos for the blog!!

Our friends off Bagheera are heading to Menorca with us tomorrow (friday) and then like us will sit it out there until we have a favourable weather forecast to cross to Sardinia. As we didn’t make it to Sardinia when my sister was out in June she has rebooked to come out with her daughter 31st July. I just hope the weather plays ball this time!!

When the squall hit us in Santa Ponsa I had been siting reading my book on the front of boat when I looked up and saw this black line heading towards us and at the same time the wind suddenly picked up. Chris was on Bagheera at the time so I was frantically dashing around closing hatches etc hoping he had seen it and would head back!! The people on the beach were hit by a sudden sand storm and were dashing in all directions. Then in the distance I could see a dinghy hurtling back towards Nimrod, I knew he wouldn’t leave me on my own really!! Very scary at the time but it didn’t last long, you know my saying now, like childbirth - soon forgotten!!

As I’m typing this Chris is making tomato soup, the plants have ripened in abundance and we can’t eat them quick enough!! We have just come back from drinks on Bagheera and planning our crossing to Menorca tomorrow. BBQ planned on Nimrod for our arrival tomorrow evening and a few anchor drinks. Hopefully our next blog will come from Sardinia.