Week 2 in Majorca

Week 2 in Majorca

Sunday 26th May… This morning we paid for another night on the buoy in Porto Petro harbour. The swell out there is still up somewhat, and in here it’s very comfortable, sheltered, and we got some decent sleep. So what to do with ourselves?  We went for a big walkies over to Cala D’Or which is only the next inlet but it’s about 30 minutes walk away. It’s quite a holiday resort with a busy marina and two beaches. It was getting to about coffee time and we were tempted to stop for coffee and cake aside the marina, which was very yummy. Whilst we were there one of the nearby motor boats started to leave but got caught on a lazy line and was stuck. He dropped his anchor to keep his bow in place and subsequently attempted to release the line with his boat hook at the stern of his boat. Unfortunately…..he fell in!! Oh dear, he’s not having a good day then. And yes, he was a Brit, like so many of the boaters here. He must have been pretty embarrassed as there were quite a few people watching from the quayside. 

Passing a Pigeon tree on our way to Cala D'Or

Arriving at the start of the large marina

Smugglers Bar....no Smugglers yet

Elevensies

In the cafe

From there we walked further into Cala D’Or and took a look at the small but busy beaches and then through the abundance of restaurants and headed back to Porto Petro. It was 1pm when we got back and we stopped off for a bite of lunch. 

Cala D'Or beach

Cala Gran beach

On Thesee, Dean has been making a bow seat and he finished it off today. What do you think? Tonight when we were putting the dinghy away, it was a lovely sunny evening and the water was really clear. We could actually see the blocks holding the buoy and chain.

Man at work

I'll be sitting there for sure

See the blocks holding the buoy in 4 metres of water

Monday 27th May… We’re feeling disappointed with Majorca, there really isn’t anything to see here. Neither are there very many sheltered anchorages. In fact today we must have travelled about 50 miles just to get out of the weather… and it wasn’t bad weather at that! After motoring for quite a while we put the mainsail up but it just wasn’t creating any speed, it was really weird, as if Thésée was rebelling. We couldn’t see what was wrong with it.  As we started to cross the bay at Palma we rolled out the genoa and suddenly the mainsail came to life and things got lively. Like 20 knots apparent wind speed and so after all that wait we had to put reefs in.  

Just after passing half way across the bay, a large cruise ship came out of port. It was Oasis of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship. We were on a heading to cross paths, and to be sure of his intentions Dean called the ship on the VHF. They confirmed we were 2 miles off his port bow and instructed us to hold our course, they would go behind us. Phew, that was good to hear, as it would have been tricky for us to change course giving our speed and direction at the time. It's quite intimidating when you find yourself in front of a large ship even though it's still a way off. Well by the time this episode had passed, about 20 minutes had gone by and we were almost at our destination…. Punta Negra, near Palma Nova. The beach says no dogs, no dinghys  and the boat is a rolly at times. It’s been a long day and we are both shattered. Sorry Majorca, we are not amused.

Just one of the headlands on today's journey

Oasis of the Seas....thank you for giving way to us

Tuesday 28th May… It was a pleasant morning on board Thesee. And so after the usual weather checks we moved about one mile away to an anchorage just outside Puerto Portals. Plenty of space here and we chose a nice sandy spot just off the beach where the Aquarium is situated. Just so happens there was a seal show going on and we managed to get a bit of a view from Thesee. Outside the anchorage, just a mile or so offshore we have a massive superyacht. Having done our stalking we found out it’s called KATARA. Built for the Emir of Qatar! Nice. Value $300 million. 

How much!

Walkies ashore

Found this in the middle of a traffic island

This afternoon we finally got our registration for PortsIB sorted. They have a few cheaper marinas dotted around the Balearics and they had previously got our boat details incorrect and we were unable to book in advance. Anyway after phone calls and emails going back 3 weeks or so we now have it corrected and have booked a night in Andraitx for Thursday.

There's plenty of beach to land the dinghy on and not too many people about. Later on we had the Cobb BBQ going. Dean was trying out his new briquettes, and they took quite some time to get going. Eventually he cooked Steaks, Sausages, and Chicken breast. We actually had a nice day today, yikes 😃

Same size?

There's another boat in the bay also "Ngoni" a sail boat. Almost the same size as Thésée by the looks of it. Only they claim it's 57 meters long and cost $50 million.

Three super yachts together

The rich and famous will be writing about us in their blogs also I think.

Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th May... Wednesday morning we landed on the beach nearer the marina at Puerto Portals where the water was very clear and free from random rocks on the shoreline. This marina is very upmarket and full, i mean full of large motor yachts, most of them flying the British Ensign. God help Spain if they kick out the Brits after Brexit, they'll go bankrupt. Anyway it was a posh walk we had and amongst the swanky restaurants and bars Dean found a Santander cashpoint. We can withdraw from Santander cashpoints without being charged a fee, so it's a good opportunity when we see one. 

Brit flags as far as you can see down this pontoon

Nice Topiary design going on here 

Moneybags row

Santander Bank...yippee

Looks like Almerimar tower

Fancy restaurants

Shiny expensive anchors

By 10.30am ish we were back on ship and ready to move somewhere. Again, trying to dodge today's weather. This time we decided on Palma Nova bay, about 2 miles away. Unfortunately we absentmindedly went too early and the wind/waves were coming straight in the bay, so we diverted back to Les Illetes (we were here last week) and dropped anchor. There were still quite a few overnighter yachts here as it was still early and we noticed the boat we were next to was Polar Seal.....friends of ours (Ryan and Sophie) from Almerimar. What a coincidence. Today there were a lot of megayachts anchored in the bay, we've christened it Millionaires Bay. 

Here's one of the superyachts

Who lives in a yacht like this?

By mid afternoon the afternoon blow had arrived and people started leaving and heading over to Palma Nova. We rode it out until 6pm but it wasn't calming down and we needed to get Saffy ashore, so we too headed back to Palma Nova. It was much more peaceful and calm there. Ryan and Sophie kindly invited us over for dinner and we spent a nice couple of hours with them. They too have a Beneteau Oceanis about the same year as ours so very similar decor. 

Next day, Thursday was a good morning and we got ashore with Saffy for a look around the place. It's very touristy as you would imagine but quite nice really. We had to move on anyway as we'd reserved a place for tonight at the PortsIB in Andratx. We motored there with wind on the nose, and it was quite nice to be back really. This place was our first stop when we arrived in Majorca about 2 weeks ago. We're happy tonight and now planning the next few days.

Along Palma Nova esplanade

Well kept bay trees here

Some palm trees need a little help

Lovely walk back along the seafront

Well kept gardens at this cafe

Back on the beach now

 View ashore from Thésée

Friday 31st May... The last day of the low season marina charges!! It was a calm still sleep and a lovely sunny morning here in Andratx. We were feeling relaxed and so decided we wanted to stay another night. So on Saffy's walkies about 9.30am we popped into the marina office and booked ourselves another night. There is only about 12 places here and they were all full last night. A very nice couple from Yorkshire that we met here sadly had to leave because their place was booked tonight. By late morning most of the boats had gone and by early afternoon we were the only ones left.

  

Thésée no mates

View North 

East

 South

I took the opportunity of electricity to give Saffy a haircut. You can hardly tell really as the clippers don't seem to make much difference. She was very calm and patient for quite a while then got fidgety so i decided to stop. Dean then got busy washing the boat down. He was almost done when he called down to me 'Is Saffy downstairs with you?'.... Er no i replied. Panic set in and our hearts started racing. We couldn't see her around and wasn't sure how long she had been missing for. Oh no Saffy's abandoned ship and left home!! I went downstairs to make sure she wasn't there. When i came back up Dean was smiling. He had spotted her on the quayside asleep and shading herself underneath a nearby bench. Phew and double phew. We had to laugh really. Now she's grounded. 

Saffy the escape artist... 

once we found her hiding spot 

This afternoon we both sat together in the sunshine on Dean's newly made bow seat. It's quite strange sitting at the bow looking aft, the boat looks really wierd. We watched a nearby boat fitting his new blue fenders. Now we have 'fender envy'. 

Dean trying out his new bow seat

Room enough for two

It's been a lovely day, just being able to hang around the boat. The weather's sunny and warm and the views here of the mountains are beautiful.

Saturday 1st June... So many people have told us about a place called Soller that we eventually had to just go and see for ourselves. It's half way along the north coast of Majorca and just about the only place here in this part of the world. There was no wind today and so we had to motor for four hours to get there, but it was now or never i suppose, and so we went for it. The coastline scenery was beautiful with mountains full of greenery.

Dean on lookout sitting on his new bow seat

as we take the passage between San Telmo and Isla Mitjana

Passing Isla Dragonera

The sea was so calm, we coastguard would call it smooth

Looking back

Lonesome Bird at sea

There wasn't a great many boats about until we saw 10 boats coming towards us all pretty much side by side. They must have been part of a rally, we picked a gap and went for it.

Passing through the line of boats

Arrival at Soller was 3.30pm, the anchorage already full. Picking the best spot we could find we dropped the hook in 8 metres. We didn't get the positioning quite right and have ended up a little close to a couple of boats but generally all the boats are pretty close together. Maybe tomorrow if some leave we can reposition ourselves.

Entering Soller harbour

Trams along the prom

Wow, your cleats are so big!!

Looking across to the hills

Who's that shadow taking the photo?

Sunday 2nd June... It was a beautiful morning here in Soller. The boats are anchored pretty closely here as there are so many of them, but we were pleased to see that Thesee was sitting hansomely on top of his anchor and not disturbing the neighbours. It was early when we took Saffy for a walk and before the sun reached intensity so we walked around the whole bay from one side to the other.

This afternoon was spent reading, relaxing, and watching the comings and goings. Dean made a new hammock out of a big Beneteau towel we had been given ages ago. It worked really well, although a tad on the small side. Saffy enjoyed herself blowing in the wind but we haven't tried her in the hammock yet!

It's a dog's life

It's a Skipper's life

Wow, batteries charged to 100% with solar and wind power

Now it's my turn

Monday 3rd June… Sorry to leave Soller as it’s a lovely place and we’ve really enjoyed the weekend here doing nothing. But we need to start heading back as tomorrow we plan to cross back to Ibiza on Tuesday.

 So long Soller, see you again someday

There was no wind and we motored for almost 3 hours to the corner of Majorca where there is a very large island called Dragonera. I mentioned it the other day when we passed. The wind funnels between Dragonera and the mainland, plus there’s a small island in the middle of the channel. By the time we neared Dragonera the wind was picking up and we were getting 16 knots but heading straight into in, still motoring. As the wind direction had been a little bit unpredictable we chose to take the wider channel. That turned out to be a GOOD CHOICE, because as we were deciding what the sailboat ahead of us was doing (gybing and tacking everywhere), and a fishing boat heading straight for us from the port side, we RAN OUT OF FUEL. The engine cut out and we were just at the narrowest point of the channel. Yikes and Double Yikes.

Dean passed the helm to me and told me to keep wind in the mainsail or we would be ‘in trouble’…well that wasn’t his exact expression. He quickly rolled out the genoa and fortunately we could get a heading that would just miss Dragonera, whilst a hundred and one thoughts were going on in his head. Once we had cleared the island we were out in open water and we carried on sailing offshore for a while to give us some breathing space and decide the next move.

Fortunately the ever resourceful Dean had two emergency jerry cans of fuel in the locker which we had filled back in Santa Pola. As the boat was stable but still heeling a little, he decided to syphon one of the cans in to the fuel tank before we tacked and headed back towards the shore. Then he tried to start the engine but the fuel wasn’t getting through. He had to go to the engine and prime the pump on the filter. After a couple of tries the engine started. It’s a good job he knows what he’s doing.

Once we had tacked we headed into Andratx as the fuel berth was open until 8pm tonight and we stopped there and filled up. Over 300 euros to fill the tank. We want to leave early tomorrow so had to fill up tonight. After filling up we motored to Santa Ponsa anchorage and arrived at 7.45pm. We’ve been trying to get here and have a look for the last week or so. Shame we will only spend about 12 hours here after all that. What a day it’s been. One we will never forget.

Tuesday/Wednesday 4th & 5th June 2019

Sorry we missed the blog last night (Tuesday). We sailed back across to Ibiza. We had spent Monday night in the anchorage at Santa Ponsa, that all went well. We took Saffy ashore for walkies quite early.

 View of Santa Ponsa from the boat

Saffy's beach

I appreciate that we didn't see much of Santa Ponsa but to be honest it didn't seem worth looking at! Anyway we lifted the anchor and where on our way by 0800. The wind was light at first and of course there was a swell running beam on so it was a little uncomfortable. We tried to set the cruising chute but by the time we were ready to fly the wind had picked up so it all had to go away again. Eventually we set the main and genoa and had a reasonable sail back to Ibiza. 

Linda made a call to friends on Impavidus when we were about 5 miles out and picked up a signal. They told us they were in San Miguel and there was space for us. So we headed straight there. We arrived at about 16.30 dropped the anchor and then ran Saffy ashore for more walkies. On the way we arranged drinks. (which is why we missed the blog last night)!

 Approaching San Miguel

 Too much to drink

Part of the Impavidus crew

Wednesday morning. On our way to walk Saffy Linda arranged for a walk with all the crews from Impavidus and Eternite. So at the allotted time we all met on the beach with the dinghies, dogs, shoes, water etc and off we went. We walked up to the tower we looked at a couple of weeks ago, although we ended up going a different route this time.

 Nice flowers en-route

View from the walk

And another

And another

 Bit hot for dogs

And this dog

 Nearly there

 Dave made it to the top of the tower

 Millionaire's playground

 He owns this island too!

 Another view

And another

I managed to convince everyone that the beach bar at the other end does great Sangria. They do, but they don't like dogs! So we called the water taxi and went back by boat.

 On our way back

 Still on our way back

Sangria at last after the water taxi ride

There's a bit of a blow coming through (again) and the swell is rolling in once more. So another uncomfortable and sleepless night coming up. If you ever get the chance to come to Ibiza, run away as fast as you can! So tomorrow we will try and move to a better anchorage. We also need to get ready for the arrival of Wendy and Russ and Von and Jim. 

I hope they can learn to leap out of a dinghy to the beach and back in after having a few drinks. I called the marina this morning and guess what, no they wont take us! Strange place, they want you to come a spend all your money but they want to make it as difficult as possible for you.

This is the last blog post entitled 'Week 2 in Majorca' (as we're in Ibiza now!)

The next post will be called 'Ibiza Party'