July 19
I have noticed a definite trend here. Each year we have begun the summer sailing
season later and later. This season was
to be no different. It’s not because we
don’t want to go sailing but marinas have been upping the incentives to stay a
little longer. In London you were expected to leave at your six month date. That typically arrived around mid April. Sicily gave an extra
month if you reserved your winter berth early.
Cartagena simply let you stay at your winter rate as long as you wanted. Why leave when the weather isn’t perfect? But finally, the pull to explore just
overwhelms and while the weather wasn’t going to allow us to leisurely cruise
up the coast and then day sail over to the Balearics as we had hoped, we found a
small window that would get us there without banging into the winds if we did
it in two days. We departed Cartagena at
5:30 a.m., before the sun, or anyone else for that matter, was stirring
about. Fourteen hours later, we laid the
hook down in Puerto de Calpe just off the Penon de Ifach, a stunning rock peak
jutting into the sea. Puerto de Calpe, located at the north eastern end of the Coasta Blanca would put us just west of our next day destination, Formentera, the Balearics southern most island of the four island chain. On arrival, the
anchorage was a bit sloppy but just as the sun slipped into the sea the winds calmed and the waves melted to an inky glass slick. Sleep did not take long to arrive.
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| We anchored our first night out just behind Penon de Ifach, |
The forecast partly cooperated the next morning allowing us to motor
sail the 65 or so miles to Formentera, The Balearics is a highly popular group of islands off the east coast of Spain.
Each island is spectacular in its own right with water that invites you
to take a dive off the boat into the bluest of blue waters and mountain cliffs that take your breath away. The down side, we are arriving at the
height of tourist season. It was a long twelve
hour day between Puerto de Calpe and Formentera but felt grand to finally be on our way
again. We claimed a spot just off the
beach for the night and quickly realized that we had landed on the ferry runway
to the harbor. Ferries run constantly till
2000 hrs and pick up early again early morning. A move to lessen the wave action made little impact and put us in a downwind path of the ferry fumes. I revolted at the idea I would be sea sick
at anchor so off to Ibiza we went.
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| Puerto El Espalmeador marine reserve. Buoys only |
Ibiza, known as the party island, did not disappoint.
The music from the disco ashore in Cala Yondal was
almost as loud as that coming from the mega yacht anchored next to us.
Everyone had a much later bed time than
us.
We moved around to the next bay,
Cala De Port Roig, early the following morning and found it a bit crowded but sweet
relief from the constant base thumping.
Our last day in the area was spent back in
Formentera.
King made reservations
for a mooring buoy at the marine reserve, Puerto El Espalmeador.
No anchoring allowed to protect the fragile
Poseidon seagrass in the area.
The white sand beach curved from one side of the bay to the other. A stunning spot, not to
mention more bare breasts than King has seen in a long time.
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| Sailing in the buff seemed to be popular |
Did I mention our on again/off again 3rd crew member
and neighbor was joining us in Mallorca?
It was time for Ostinato to move northeast.
Mallorca is the largest island of the Balearics and Palma, its capitol, is
crowded and lively this time of year. It
also is where Vince and Barbie, SV Horizons have been exploring and is where we
hope to catch up with them for a few days.
((For Shell Point friends, Vince and Barbie are new lot owners at SP.)
Winds between Formentera/Ibieza and Mollorca were light but enough to keep us
moving. Another long 12 hour day but what a surprise when we entered the anchorage in Santa Ponsa and saw not only Horizon sitting
there but also June and Gary on SV Friendship, our neighbors from
Cartagena. What fun to catch up!
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| Catamaran Friendship and Horizon |
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| Bill arrives in Palma! |
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| Catching up with Gary/June and Vince/Barbie in Santa Ponsa |
July 26 – We caught the bus to the airport and picked up
Bill.
Thankfully, the winds were calm enough for us to get him and his suitcases aboard without mishap.
We did our best to explore Palma, including a
hop on hop off bus.
The heat was so bad
that it was like being baked alive on the top deck.
Thankfully, the rides between sites were
brief.
On the return bus home to Santa Ponsa, I left my
sun hat and SPF shirt aboard.
The bus had long gone by the time I realized it was missing in action so we waited for the
bus to do a round trip but after checking several, gave up.
King on the other hand got the phone number
for lost and found and the quest was on.
It took 4 phone calls, 2 buses and a subway (who knew they had subways
in Mallorca!) and 14 killometers of walking. He returned with both hat and shirt.
My hero!
(Editors note: She owes me a lot!)
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| In Santa Ponsa during the eclipse. King got the best photos but this wasn't too bad. |
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Found a sail painted by Joan Miro
in a tiny gallery in Soller |
We said goodbyes in Santa Ponsa and moved Ostinato north up the east coast.
Each anchorage more beautiful than the last,
Peninsula de la Foradada, Puerto de Soller, the outrageous spectacular Cala de
la Calobia and Calla Murta where we were entertained throughout the day by one
boat that reset his anchor well over 10 times while baby goats on shore sang background music.
We swam each day in blue swimming pool waters,
cooked dinner on the grill and enjoyed a glass of wine as the sunset.
Every anchorage was jam packed during the day
but around 6 p.m. each night boats would begin pulling up their anchors
to return to their marinas, leaving us to delight in mother nature at her best
in quite solitude.
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| Nothing beats the view of the sun setting on the water.....especially in Manorca |
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Peninsula de la Foradada
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| Cruising along the east coast |
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| Cala De La Calobra, our favorite anchorage in Menoca |
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| View from the beach |
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| The Norwegian Royal family anchored next to us. |
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| The baby goats sang to us all day |
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| The food didn't matter. Just had to have air conditioning! |
August 4 – Ostinato’s anchor was up at 0630 for the short
jump to Fornells on the north coast of Menorca, the most eastern of the island
chain.
The anchor was down by 1600,
the dinghy released from her davits minutes
later and we were off to “town” to explore.
Within 15 minutes we had located the supermarket and several gelato
shops.
Yep, all we need!
Or so we thought.
The heat wave entered Fornells sometime that
night under the cloak of darkness.
I moved to sleep in the cockpit to search for a cool breeze sometime around 3 a.m. By 9 a.m., it was already clearly going to be a scorcher.
The water was
getting so warm a swim was like soaking in a warm tub.
At 104 degrees on the temp gauge, we decided
to go ashore to find somewhere cool for lunch!
AHHHHA air conditioning.
The
wonderful thing about European restaurants is they don’t rush you along so we
stayed cool all afternoon!
August 8 - We hung out in Fornells for 3 full days.
Long enough to get several coffee gelatos,
eat Mallorquinas, the local pastry delicacy (thank you granddaughter, Julia), and watch the
coming and goings of the mega yachts that anchored nearby.
We could see our time in the Balearics quickly
coming to an end and it was with reluctance that we moved three hours to the
east to Mahon which would be our last port of call.
Mahon is an ancient port according to the
Pilot, founded in 206 BC!
I’m sure there
was plenty of anchoring available during that time but we anchored in Cala Teulera
which appears to be the only free anchorage left in the area.
As anchorages go, it was fine.
A 2 mile dinghy ride into town but doable as long as the winds were down.
You can only stay 3 days at anchor here then you must move on or find a marina for a day before you can return.
During the day we roamed about town. Zapatos (shoes) was one of my first new Spanish words when we arrived in Spain last fall so what could be more appropriate than to buy shoes on my exit. I found a small shop that made Mallorcan sandals and ordered myself 2 pairs….to be picked up the following
day.
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| Plenty of room on our first day in the anchorage in Mahon |
We returned to the sandal shop the next afternoon but they were not ready and I
was asked to return tomorrow. I was given a sandal shaped key ring by the owner for my trouble. By the
time we got back to Ostinato, the anchorage had filled. King counted over 45 boats in an area that shouldn't have more than 25. One sat only 20 feet away from our bow and no one was on board. Much too close. Yikes.
King was worried and set his alarm for 3 a.m. to get up and take a look
around. That quickly resulted to an all hands on
deck. As if on cue, the winds began to howl and mini torpedo drops of rain plummeted our heads as Bill and I rushed about the decks deploying fenders.
As the little boat next to us swung within a foot of Ostinato King started yelling at the boat …”get up, get up, get up!”. They struggled out a deep sleep and promptly pull up our anchor chain with theirs. Chaos broke out as winds reached 35 knots and we had no choice to but to motor into it. Two sailboats behind us became entangled at their bow and
were running up our backside screaming for us to get out of their way. Our anchor
chain was finally released from our neighbors anchor but there was no possibility that our anchor would hold until we had to time to reset it. King expertly handled Ostinato as boats were moving throughout the
anchorage but you had no idea who was dragging, who was trying to stay in
place, and who was pulling anchor with hopes of escape.
Winds peaked at 60 knots. King tried to put me on the wheel so he and
Bill could get the anchor up but I couldn’t keep her steady in the gusts. He aborted that plan and just worked to keep
Ostinato as far away from the other boats as possible with Bill on starboard
and me on port giving updates on the status of our tangled neighbors behind us along with anyone else that looked like a potential threat. Finally, Bill went forward and did an expert job of getting our anchor up.
In what seemed like days but was likely only 60
minutes, it was all over. The anchorage
was lit up like Christmas with several sailboats still entangled, many pulling
up their chain to reset their anchor and, a few who had held
tight and simply took in the sight with wonder.
How we were not hit is simply amazing and a tribute to King’s ability to
handle the boat. We had a cup of tea and
then fell into bed. The next morning, in a half empty anchorage that included the 2 little boats still attached at the
bow, it was another beautiful morning in a serene cove.
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| This is the closest I got to getting my zapattos |
After the night's excitement I was less than excited about the long dinghy ride to pick up the shoes but King knew I had looked
forward to getting them so off we went.
Were they ready?
Yes.
Were they what I ordered?
No!
I
give. No going away with Zapatos.
Sardinia is calling.......
