Fornells, Menorca to Puerto Pollensa

Fornells

TUESDAY 2 - THURSDAY 11 SEPTEMBER

Fornells is one of the best places in Menorca to leave the boat safely on a buoy as it is a very sheltered inlet with a good bus service. We decided to spend a few days here in order to visit places on the island, but ended up staying longer than we intended. We repeated the Peak Performance Buoyancy Control Adventure Dive with the local dive school, and this time the tuition was excellent. We dived in a very sheltered bay near Cabo Fornells where there is some wonderful under water rock formation and our instructor took us through a narrow tunnel and cave. He showed us the hiding place of a very large octopus and a moray eel. Roger also saw a Stingray.

We visited Mahon by bus one day and another day went to Es Mercadal, where we managed to buy a generator to boost our electricity supplies. We walked the 3 kilometers to the top of Monte del Toro, the highest point on Menorca.

Our intention was to leave on the Sunday, but when we woke in the morning the wind was too strong and the forecast was not good until the following Wednesday. There are some excellent very reasonably priced restaurants in Fornells, and after one evening meal Roger had the throttle on the dinghy too high when trying to turn the dinghy around, and we hit a small motor boat, which sent my bag flying, managing to drown my camera and two mobile phones, one of which was fairly new and expensive!

On Wednesday we got up early to sail the 50 miles to Mallorca but as we let go of the buoy, the engine died when Roger put the engine into gear. We managed to get back on the buoy which was not easy as there was quite a strong wind. We managed to lasso the buoy but could not get the rope through the eye from the boat, so I went into the water so Roger could pass me the rope. When Roger was putting the dinghy in the water, he let go of the painter and the dinghy was being blown away, so Roger had to jump in and swim for the dinghy. By now we had both had involuntary swims and it was feeling like a very bad day at the office! We went ashore to call an engineer, who came quite quickly. He altered the linkage on the gear lever, and everything seemed OK, but it was now too late to set off on such a long journey.

The next day we got up early again, let go of the buoy and the same thing happened! We were beginning to feel like we were in the film ‘Groundhog Day’. We called the engineer again, and he eventually discovered that as we increased the revs with the throttle, the cable was being pulled tight which was putting pressure on the cable from the pull lever stop switch and stopping the engine. Both cables are next to each other in my ‘linen’ cupboard and after we had done the laundry I had squeeze the sheets back into the cupboard and put pressure on the cables! We checked the weather and realized if we didn’t go straight away we would be stuck for a few more days, so we left about 2 p.m. We motor-sailed the 50 miles to Mallorca, at one time accompanied by a yellow wagtail who landed on our boat several times mid ocean for a rest. We arrived in Puerto de Pollensa about 11.30 p.m. where we picked up a buoy in the dark.

Fornells: Free buoys, shower 3 euros at Hostel La Palma, no WiFi, 2 Internet Cafes.

Isla de Aires to Es Grao - 8 Miles and 6 Miles to Cala Adaya, Menorca

Sunset on Isla de Aires

Albufera

FRIDAY 29 - SUNDAY 31 AUGUST 2008

The anchorage at Isla de Aires was very calm and we commented that the boat didn’t seem to move at all. However, when we tried to pull the anchor up we realised we were slightly aground!

We sailed to Es Grao, where there was plenty of room to anchor and good holding in sand. Es Grao is a lovely white village with a couple of bars and restaurants huddled around a beautiful wide bay with several small beaches and clear turquoise water.

Just behind the beach is the Albufera Natural Park, where we saw moorhens, a great crested grebe, egrets and mallard.

The wind generator has been getting noisy so Roger took it apart. It will need some new parts, and because we are not stationery long enough to have them sent to us at the moment, we’ll probably have to wait until the autumn. This will cause problems as the two solar panels will not be able to keep up with the fridge and our other electrical needs.

On Sunday, we motored the 6 miles to Cala de Addaya, which is a in a narrow estuary and although the bottom was weed, the anchor managed to hold first time. All the other boats were on buoys and although a man on another boat said we could use one of the buoys as the owners were away, we decided to stay on anchor.

Cala Trebeluja to Isla de Aires, Menorca - 16 Miles

Roger to the rescue!

THURSDAY 28 AUGUST 2008

RESCUING ANOTHER BOAT

We set off for Cala Binibeca but when we arrived there wasn’t enough space to anchor as there were so many mooring bouys. The oil pressure gauge was off the scale on high. After about 4 miles it seemed to come down to a more normal level. The rev counter is still playing up occasionally. 

We carried on to anchor off Isla de Aires, on the south eastern tip of Menorca. After lunch we swam to check the anchor, as the holding is not very good, being mostly rock. The anchor was not dug in and the boat was lying over rocks covered in thick weed and as the boat moved, the depth under the keel ranged from 2 cm to 1 meter. We felt it was safe enough for now, but would re-anchor later when it was less crowded. We went ashore on the island and saw rabbits and lots of the unique black lizard (Lacerta lilfordi) which we fed with tomato. 

A motor boat next to us could not get their anchor up, even though there were people in the water with snorkels trying to direct them. In the end Roger went in using our scuba equipment and managed to free them. Their chain had got wrapped around rocks in two places, and it would have been impossible to free without a diver. As the weather was very settled, we decided not to reset our anchor in case we had the same problem!

Ciutadella to Cala Trebuluja, Menorca - 16 Miles

MONDAY 25 - WEDNESDAY 27 AUGUST 2008

After untangling our rudder from the lazy lines of a couple of French boats we sailed to Cala Trebeluja, which is a lovely bay, and although crowded, we managed to anchor without any problems. In the evening, there were only two other boats in the anchorage.


The next day we took the dinghy over the sandbar and paddled up a lovely stream to find a shady place to spend the day.

River at Cala Trebeluja

Puerto de Pollensa, Mallorca to Ciutadella, Menorca - 35 Miles

Ciutadella, Menorca

FRIDAY 22 - SUNDAY 24 AUGUST 2008

We set off for Ciutadella on the west coast of Menorca, motoring in a flat sea and after a few miles the rev counter started fluctuating wildly, then settled on 0! About 14 miles from Menorca, there was an ‘All Ships’ security message to say that an 0.8 metre Resaca, which causes a rise and fall in the sea level, was heading for Ciutadella and the port would be closed from 10.00 p.m. We decided to press on until we heard another ‘All Ships’ that there was a 2 meter wave between Barcelona and the Balearics, which can cause a large wave in the narrow port of Ciutadella. At that point we decided to turn around and head back to Puerto de Pollensa – 45 miles of motoring and ended back where we started!

As the weather was not good on the Saturday we set off on Sunday once again for Ciutadella and went into the Marina, as there are not any anchorages convenient to visit the beautiful old town. Ciutadella was the capital of Menorca for a couple of thousand years until the British took over and moved the capital to Mahon in 1722. It has faced many raids during its long history, including one by the Turks in 1558 where they took 3,000 captives to the slave markets of Istanbul. The Pope organized money to be raised and a doctor from Menorca went to Istanbul and bought the slaves back.

CIUTADELLA MARINA: 40 euros including water, no electric, showers 2 euros, internet, but not free, washing machine 13 euros, wash and dry 20 euros,

Soller to Puerto de Pollensa, Mallorca - 35 Miles

Alison and I

THURSDAY 14 - THURSDAY 21 AUGUST 2008

We decided to head for Puerto de Pollensa although the sea was going to be rather lumpy after yesterday’s winds, as strong winds are forecast again from midnight tonight. We made slow progress against the wind and waves but arrived in Puerto de Pollensa about 5 p.m. and were delighted to see there were vacant buoys we could pick up instead of anchoring.

During the night there was fork lightning, thunder and then heavy rain and wind about 6 a.m. The wind was very strong the next day, gusting up to 40 knots, so we stayed on board until about 5 p.m. when we took the dinghy ashore to the Hotel Illa d'Or and met up with Alison, a friend from Swansea, and her family and friends, all from Swansea. We went back to her sister and brother-in-law’s beautiful villa which overlooks the bay.

We stayed in Puerto de Pollensa for a few days and signed up for two Adventure Dives, buoyancy control and multi-level with Scuba Mallorca. On the first dive, the instructor had problems clearing her ears and indicated we should follow another group. The dive was then aborted after 16 minutes because one of the people was choking. On the second dive, the instructor had five people to look after and did not give any real instruction. We certainly didn’t feel we could qualify for the Adventure Dives, so the school only charged us for one normal dive.

Soller in a Force 6

WEDNESDAY 13 AUGUST 2008

The wind was gusting quite strong from about 2.30 a.m. and the boat was rolling quite badly. The wind increased and waves were starting to roll in through the entrance. About 11.30 a.m. a Marinero suggested we moved further into the anchorage as the wind was due to increase to 25 – 30 knots. We managed to find a space and for once the anchor set straight away. 

Despite the strong winds a small local boat carried on regardless fishing between boats trying to reset their anchors and the ferry still took people out on ‘pleasure’ trips. A yacht called Arctic Fox had caught the chain of another yacht with its anchor and was dragging it along with it! The Marineros were excellent and helped them sort the problem out and checked everyone was safe.

Arctic Fox dragging another boat with it!

Soller

Soller

TUESDAY 12 AUGUST 2008

Jessica, Gill and Jenny left in a taxi at 7.30 a.m. and after tidying the boat we had breakfast ashore. Strong winds are forecast, so we enquired about marina prices at the other marina, and because it is run by the government it is cheaper – about 34 euros, but they were full. They told us the government marinas all charge the same price but you have to book at least three days in advance on the internet. I tried booking on line for Port de Polensa but although there is an English option, it was only in Catalan. After an hour of trying, I asked the woman in the office to ring and was told it was booked as next weekend is a bank holiday.




We went to anchor about 2.30 p.m. and it took nearly two hours because the anchorage was so crowded and the anchor didn’t set to start with. In the end we had to anchor half way between the entrance and the other boats in 12 meters, which was not very protected. The anchoring technique of some of the others seems to be to drop the anchor and chain as fast as possible, sometimes still going forward, and then go for a swim. They don’t seem to check that the anchor is dug in or take bearings.

Cala de la Calobra to Soller, Mallorca

Cala de la Calobra

SUNDAY 10  - MONDAY 11 AUGUST 2008

We motored to Cala de la Calobra (Torrente de Pareis) which was packed with day trippers. We swam ashore and walked along the river bed, where there is a lagoon and we spotted an eel. In the evening, when most people had left, we swam ashore and walked through the tunnels to the next bay, where we had very large gin and tonics. We had a BBQ with some of the bream we had caught in my prawn pot and played Swansea Monopoly.

The next day I realized I had left my new mask at the café, so we left the girls cleaning the outside of the boat and went back to the café, but they said it wasn’t there. We sailed at about 2 knots with the cruising chute back to the Marina at Soller. This is the first marina we have been in since leaving mainland Spain. Roger made use of the water supplies and did the washing and the girls and I cleaned the decks and tidied the boat before going out for a farewell meal.

Marina: 72 euros, WiFi, good showers

Cala Basset to Soller, Mallorca

THURSDAY 7 - SATURDAY 9 AUGUST 2008

We motor-sailed into the wind to Soller and had quite a rolly night at anchor, so we put the flopper stopper out the next day. We caught the tram (4 euros) to Soller and then the wooden train (10 euros) to Palma. After some retail therapy for Jessica and a long lunch by the Marina we caught the bus back to Soller – slightly cheaper at 2.85 euros!

Saturday was spent being holiday makers on the beach and swimming trying to avoid the jelly fish. I swam back to the boat later and got stung twice.

Punta Negra to Santa Ponsa to Cala Basset, Mallorca

Visit from Jess, Jenny & Gill - Punta Negra

Jessica and the Jelly Fish

MONDAY 4 - WEDNESDAY 6 AUGUST 2008

We collected Gill, Jessica and her friend Jenny in the dinghy at Punta Negra, which is an excellent spot to collect people, as there is a small pontoon close by. The next day we did a three hour motor-sail to Santa Ponsa.

On Wednesday we filled up with diesel (1.29 euros per litre - 93 euros) and enquired about marina prices. It would cost about 76 euros a night for our boat. We motored to San Telmo, but the anchorage was too crowded and once again we had trouble setting the anchor. We continued to a small bay, Cala Basset which has a rocky and sand bottom, but managed to anchor. 

It is a beautiful bay with high cliffs but was full of small jelly fish. We think they were Pelagia nocticula which can inflict painful stings. We decided to take the dinghy ashore rather than swim, filled it with water and used it as a paddling pool to keep us cool on the beach. I still managed to get stung in the shallow water. It was painful and then like a nettle rash, which disappeared after a couple of hours.


In the evening the wind started to blow from the land and by 1.00 a.m. there were some strong gusts of about 30 knots. We had moved off the mark on the chart plotter and were worried our anchor may have dragged - some rocks were very close, and there were two other boats nearby. We decided to stay on anchor watch and then the girls joined us. They seemed quite calm about it all and said later they weren’t worried once they knew Roger and I were up there and in control! What touching faith! It calmed down about 4.00 a.m. and Jessica and I saw some wonderful shooting stars.

Enjoying a cool drink