Monday May 26th.  –  Buckinghamshire, England

We have had an excellent week sailing around the south coast of Mallorca with Terry’s sister Margaret and two of her friends, Judi and Mike.  It had been our intention to leave Palma and head north but plans were changed due to the tragic death of a dear friend in York, so we have returned to UK for a week to attend the funeral.

Abaco

It is somewhat of a tradition to take guests on their first night in Palma to Abaco, an astonishing palace in the middle of the town converted into a cocktail bar.  The decor is lush with fresh flowers and fruit everywhere.  It is very gracious and the cocktails, which is all they serve, are outrageously expensive. Cocktails called First Kiss and Argentina scored!

The first barbecue

We sailed first to the island of Cabrera for a night, where much against Terry’s wishes, we broke out the barbecue and placed it on the pushpit, on the stern of the boat.  Two large fish had been filleted and stuffed with garlic and lemon, the barbecue lit and ready.  Mike was just placing the second fish on the grill when a seagull swooped down and literally snatched it from his hand.  Seagull and heavy fish crashed into the sea and another gull came in to attack the thief.  In the ensuing struggle they both lost hold and the fish was lost to the deep.

The team fending off the birds. Note Judi wielding the boathook menacingly.

Dinner was a little fish and chicken.

The bird man of Palma.

Talking of seagulls, they were a huge problem in the marina in Palma last year and we were forever cleaning up after their mess.  Not so nowadays, they have employed a falconer who walks the jetties every morning and now there is never an unwelcome gull to be seen.

From Cabrera we had a brisk 15nm sail to La Rapita in the south east of mainland of Mallorca in a norwesterly which reached 22 knots at times with a 2-3 metre swell.  With just the headsail we raced across the open water at 8 knots.  It was exhilarating sailing.  From there to Port Andratx, a 35nm close reach from the east to west south coast. Back to Palma on Saturday with a lunch stop at our favourite Santa Ponsa.

Every day we were able to sail and did very little motoring, unlike much of the time last year in high summer.  However, it is still Spring and although the sun shines most days the winds are still cool.

Dining at Forn Restaurant, Palma