Saturday July 19th.   Porta di Roma

Another eventful week.  Whatever this cruising life is it is certainly not dull and we seem to go from one adventure to another.  So much for lolling and relaxing in the hot Mediterranean sun.

The Coast of Elba.

We had a good sail with our friends Gayle and Mark from Corsica to Elba.  Another change of language from French back to Italian.  As we entered an anchorage in Golfo della Biodala on the north coast we were hailed on the VHF by the French couple we had met in Bonifacio so they joined us for drinks in their bay.  We were the only boats anchored there and the reason why became apparent during the night as, there being no wind at all, the swell from seaward caused the boat to roll so much that sleep was virtually impossible.

So it was an early start the next day and when we looked out there were storm clouds moving quickly across the whole island so we decided to head for a safe marina berth in Portoferraio, the capital of Elba.  It was a race against time as we motored into the harbour and managed to get tied up before the thunder and the rain.

Portoferraio in the rain. Exotica moored on the right.

There was a heavy downpour until early afternoon when we ventured out to explore this fascinating fortified town and glimpse from the outside the house where Napoleon was interned for a brief time in 1814 – 1815.

Napoleon’s House.

In Elba, as in France, they think highly of Napoleon.  I can’t understand why.

Portoferraio in the sunshine.

The next day in the sunshine Portoferraio looked much more interesting and certainly is a bustling and busy town with ferries coming in and out of the port at an astonishing rate.

Brigantine under full sail off Elba.

We also had the pleasure of seeing a replica brigantine under full sail out in the bay.

We took a short trip around the west coast of Elba and anchored in a little bay off Porto Azzura. The town used to be called Longone after the prison on the hilltop which was used to house some of the worst criminals and mafiosi.  The word Longone was used as a synonym for prison so when it closed they changed the name of the town so as not to put off the tourists.  Apparently this plan has worked.

With Mark and the salad bowl.

We had planned an early departure for the mainland after a disturbed night with the anchor chain making grinding noises.

The Bay in which our anchor chain lies.

We went to weigh the anchor and found that the chain was stuck on some underwater obstruction.  Mark and Terry worked for nearly two hours trying to free it by every possible means.  Fortunately Terry, a few weeks ago, had purchased  a small buoy which is attached to the stock of the anchor and marks its position.  We were thus able to rescue the anchor and disconnect it from  the chain.  We then tried  to pull the chain through but it was irretrievably jammed around a concrete block.  A diver might have been able to rescue it but we didn’t have time so we left the chain on the seabed and headed for Italy, just thankful that we had still got the 25 kg. stainless steel anchor.

After this bad start we had a long days sail south to the mainland of Italy, the wind was quite strong but was dead behind us which meant that we were not very fast and it was a bit uncomfortable, also with no anchor we had to find a marina.  The first harbour we went into Porto Ercole was full, luckily Marina Cala Galera was very close and, fortunately, they were more welcoming and we tied up securely.

The days excitement was not quite at an end as, after welcome showers and drinks we sauntered to the only restaurant on the dock.  There Terry’s order was a tagliolini of seafood which one mouthful told him it was rancid.  He returned it to the management who were less than impressed but did return, after a considerable wait with a different and edible dish.

Gayle and Mark left for Rome the next day and Terry arranged buying and loading 80 meters of 10 mm chain.  One feels very vulnerable without an anchor although we have two spares they are only a short line of chain and warp.

Leaving Porto Ercole

The mouth of the River Tiber

Yesterday Julie and Terry did another sixty miles down the coast to the mouth of the River Tiber,(rather a dull entrance for such a famous stream) and have slotted in to the marina of Porta Turistica di Roma.  This is a huge marina complex which may once have been very smart but is now the victim of recessionary times with many of the shops closed and those that are still open selling cheap goods.

However it is not too expensive and safe to leave the boat which we plan to do for two weeks.  In that time we are going to Rome for a couple of days and then fly to Sofia in Bulgaria where we are booked in for our annual dose of Wagner.  Four nights of the Ring Cycle, our annual fix!

Saturday July 14th. Portoferraio,  Island of Elba

We have for a week or so been journeying up the east coast of the French island of Corsica.

Our son Edward and his girlfriend, Charmaine, have travelled from Canada to stay with us for ten days, we collected them from the airport in Olbia, a sizeable town and seaport on the north east tip of Sardinia.
The second night they were with us we anchored in the beautiful bay of Cala di Volpe which is in the south of the famous Costa Smeralda. Sadly the day was rather dull and not emerald at all. The next day we motored up the coast and drove into the harbour at Porto Cervo where you must have a mega superyacht to impress anybody. We then sailed and motored past the Maddalena Islands, a fine cruising ground but not for us this time as storm clouds gathered and another Mistral forecast, we also had to get up to the north of Corsica by the end of the week.

Entering Bonifacio

We had a splendid sail across the Straits of Bonifacio which separate Sardinia from Corsica and which are notorious for strong winds. We had a good 25 knot beam reach with just the headsail and made excellent time in good comfort.

Bonifacio from the old town

Bonifacio at night

Bonifacio is an amazing place. The harbour is a deep lateral cleft in the rock rather like a short fjord with a fortified town on the hillside above. Homer describes it thus, “a curious bay with mountain walls of stone to left and right and reaching far inland, a narrow entrance opening from the sea where cliffs converge as though to touch and close.” Odysseus’ fleet was safely anchored here and he moored his own ship at the entrance.
Since it is such a safe natural harbour and stands on a major sea route the town has been the focus of many conquerors over the years and sustained a number of sieges the most notable in 1420 where the town held out for five months against Don Alfonso of Aragon. This was particularly meritorious since the attackers had mortars and cannons and the newly invented musket whereas the townspeople only had bows and arrows, stones, boiling water and molten lead.
It is sad to think that for a place with so much beauty and history we are likely to remember Bonifacio for the drama of the stolen computers. We were moored along the public quay with easy access to the many people milling about. After a most enjoyable evening aboard with new friends we had made on two yachts which had sailed, ergo raced, across from Sardinia at the same time as us,Terry must have thought it would be a good idea to secrete the computers, a laptop and an iPad, in his undies drawer. Unfortunately, at 5am the next morning he was awakened by some rowdy nightclub stragglers, dashed to the chart table to find the computers missing, presumed stolen, since anyone could have walked on board as the hatch was not locked. This caused a morning of serious alarm as all our information is on them in one form or another so it was a race to change all the important passwords and then to cancel all the credit cards as well as informing the police. Only when Julie was putting away the washing at 4pm did she discover them sitting happily in Terry’s under bunk drawer. Of course it was good to have them back but the waste of time, energy and ongoing frustration made it not one of Terry’s finest hours.

Exotica in full sail off the south of Corsica

We left Bonifacio the next day in convoy with our new-found friends, a Swiss couple in one boat and a French pair in the other and after a long days sail in light airs we anchored alongside each other in a delightful bay of Porte Vecchio, on the south-east coast of Corsica. We all got together for dinner on one of the boats. A feature of this kind of life is that, having much in common, you meet up with people for a couple of days, become best friends and  never see them again.

The next day we did a 52 mile passage in grey skies up the coast to Port de Taverna. There are no anchorages along the length of the east coast of Corsica and only a couple of safe harbours so we had a long haul in light airs where we did a good deal of motoring.

From Port de Taverna to Bastia at the north of the island is only a twenty mile hop and we set off on Thursday morning in bright sunshine with enough breeze to tempt us to set sail for a couple of hours. When in sight of Bastia the wind came round from the west so we decided to motor the five miles into the port. However the wind rapidly strengthened and within about half an hour we had a full gale on our hands with winds 18-40 knots and a single gust of 51 knots. We felt it was too dangerous to attempt to enter a harbour so we stayed offshore, for a time lying ahull with the engine off and being blown towards Italy. As the gale was a westerly we motored back towards the coast in a northerly direction where there was slightly more shelter. After about three hours the wind decreased a little and in a lull we turned back to Bastia and slipped into Port de Toga and managed to get tied up securely in very short order. All was not quite over as, while we were washing all the salt off the decks, another boat entering was caught by a gust and scraped down our bows nearly ripping off the anchor. Some vigorous fending off and a few words of advice for him to back off prevented any damage but it was too close for comfort.
This is the first serious heavy weather we have had, apart from the thunderstorm of a couple of weeks ago, and it was good that the boat handled the conditions well. So much so that Charmaine and Edward were asleep down below for most of the time while Julie and Terry were braving the elements in full foul weather gear.

Our next guests Gayle and Mark arrived in Bastia on the ferry from Livorno, we motored with them a few miles up the coast to Porticciolo, a pristine bay where the water is emerald and the sandy bottom is easily visible.

Full moon at sunset

However we spent an uncomfortable night rolling at anchor before making our way back to Bastia where Charmaine and Edward flew to Paris.

Leaving Bastia for Elba.

A very good meal at Huguette Restaurant overlooking Port Vieux in Bastia before our departure from France and back to Italy and the island of Elba, famous for Napoleon’s brief sojourn where arriving in the Golfo di Procchio we were radioed by the French couple we had met in Bonifacio who were in the same bay! A very jolly reunion on Exotica then a brilliant dinner cooked by our guests while we roll at anchor.

Sunday June 29th. 2014   Marina Di Portisco, Sardinia.

The Walls of Cagliari

The heights of Cagliari

Last Sunday Lizzy and Tony Dyson joined us and we explored the southern port city of Cagliari.  The town has grown around a heavily fortified hill-top, which is now home to Sardinia’s most secure prison (where all the Sardinian banditti are held we were informed) and some fancy restaurants and bars with spectacular views over the city and the harbour.

The Aperol Spritzer.

At one of the latter we tried a drink called an Aperol Spritzer, which appears to  be very popular with the locals.  It is a mixture of Aperol, a decidedly medicinal flavoured spirit, mixed with the local prosecco. It is a lurid fluorescent orange colour but in our minds fails to improve on either drink alone.  At our next visit to the supermarket it was Gordons that was placed in the trolley.

Our track from Mallorca.

During the next few days we did some fairly long trips up the Sardinian east coast. The Roman writer Pausanias, two thousand years ago, called it  “an unbroken chain of impassable mountains, and if you sail along the coast you will find no anchorage on this side of the island, while violent but irregular gusts of wind sweep down to the sea from the tops of the mountains”.

Well, he was right and on Wednesday we set off from La Caletta, a small harbour and marina two thirds of the way up the coast.  There was a light breeze but when we had gone about half an hour Julie noticed dark clouds to the north, right in our path, with a few bolts of lightening and some thunder.  We decided to stop and see if they would continue blowing towards the north east but new rain bearing clouds gathered just west of us so the decision was made to return to port.  Unfortunately we were overtaken by the weather just as we got back into the harbour and a fierce wind and driving rain, whipping up the water’s surface, made it not only impossible to come alongside but hard to control the boat within a confined space.  We therefore opted to return to sea and safety.  For a brief period there was virtually no visibility and, as we had seen two other boats heading for La Caletta, we were concerned that we might collide with them. Fortunately the storm passed very rapidly and within about twenty minutes the wind and rain eased and we were able to re-enter the harbour and tie alongside without difficulty. Even managed to retrieve our fender which miraculously stayed in the harbour after blowing off during the storm. A few more valuable lessons learned.

Leaving La Calleta the second time after the storm.

Within a couple of hours the wind had dropped, the sun returned and in perfect weather we set off for Porto di Puntaldia, which is a purpose built resort and marina with beautifully manicured lawns – not something you see often in the ports of Sardinia- designer shops and good restaurants.

Drying out in Marina di Pultaldia.

Here we dried out and debriefed on an interesting day and enjoyed 2 nights in this stylish marina.

Lunch at anchor in Porto della Taverna, the majestic Isola Tavolara in the distance

Yesterday we bypassed the city of Olbia to overnight in Porto Rotondo, a marina with 640 berths, mainly superyachts, however the shower and loo, yes there was only one for the whole marina, were so ghastly we are now in Porto di Portisco another marina one nautical mile away on the fringe of the famous Costa Smeralda.  This is the Sardinian equivalent of the French Riviera, conceived and bankrolled by a consortium headed by the Aga Khan in the 1960s.  It is now the playground of the rich and famous. The Italian Waters Pilot, our absolute bible on the trip, states “In July and August the beautiful people arrive; movie legends and rock starts like Bruce Willis and Mick Jagger rub shoulders with royalty and celebrities, the rich and super-rich show off their new floating toys worth millions of pounds, the hangers on and the minions run around in circles disappearing up their own nautical specifics and the place hums and buzzes with activity.  It has to be seen at least once and the yachtsman is lucky to be able to drop in and see it.

Monday June 23rd. Cagliari, Sardinia.

Sunday June 8th we sailed round the bay to Porto Alcudia, the main port for the north of Mallorca and found a comfortable berth in the marina and booked in for a week. We had a rendezvous with ten friends, most of whom had worked with Terry at the Hospital in Bermuda around 1975. Every year they have a reunion in some warm place at this time of year, often in Mallorca, so we brought Exotica to the nearest port. Two teams came sailing with us on the Monday and Tuesday and we then went to stay at their villa for a few days. It was a delightful spot in a small village, Llubi, with excellent accommodation and a warm swimming pool. We have still not been tempted into the sea yet.

ex-Bermudians lunching in Mallorca

Second group of ex-Bermudians.

The whole team at Llubi

On Tuesday June 10th Michael Milne-Home arrived from Australia, one of the experienced crew to help us passage to Italy. It was about then that we started looking at the weather to assess when we will be able to cross from the Balearic Islands to Sardinia. It is in this two hundred and forty nautical mile stretch of water that the dreaded Mistral wind blows. It is a wind that originates in the Rhone Valley and then sweeps down the Golfe de Lyon and south towards Africa. The weather all week had been perfect but just as our departure approached we could see a storm developing at exactly the time we had planned to leave.
On Friday June 13th Barbara and Malcolm Shaw arrived and completed the crew to make the passage. The weather, however, was definitely unsuitable so we pottered around Alcudia and then back to Puerto Pollensa for another couple of days. Our only excitement was to watch, and then help, an Oceanis 45 attempt to leave the marina in 25 knots with scant crew who omitted to drop the mooring line which caught around his keel causing him the swing wildly into the boats in their marina berths. It was an example of very poor seamanship.

Leaving Mallorca at dawn

By Tuesday 17th June the weather forecast was favourable so at 5am we were up and by 6am we had cast off the lines at Pollenca and with a final backward look at Spain set off for Italy. Initially there was no wind and we motored along. Just on the south east corner of Menorca a beautiful norwesterly  14-18  came in so we had 3 hours sailing before it came, again, from the west and abated, therefore dead astern so back to the “iron genny”. We maintained a strict watch system of three hours on and four and a half hours off which gave us plenty of rest. Julie had cooked an excellent chilli con carne which was reheated on a number of occasions and proved delicious during a cold stint on deck.

Sunrise on the start of the passage to Sardinia.

We were favoured with a beautiful sunrise when we set off from Pollenca and a lone dolphin played briefly in the magnificent sunset. Overnight a bright three quarter moon, the ocean seemed vast and uninhabited, not even by birds and only one other boat in the distance. On the morning of our second day at sea we were running a bit behind if we wanted to get into port before dark so we ran the motor much of the day, but did manage a few hours sailing when a stiff northerly with 2 metre sea blew up around midday. At 3.45pm got our first sight of the Italian coast.

Landfall in Italy.

It wasn’t until 7.30pm that we finally entered the port of Caloforte on the tiny Sardinian island of San Pietro, moored at the marina and had a good drink to celebrate our first major passage.

Carloforte, our first Italian town.

We spent a morning in Caloforte, exploring this walled town with its history of pirates and tuna fishing.

The national flag of Sardinia.

We were also intrigued by the Sardinian flag which is the Christian cross of St George with the severed heads of four Saracens in each quadrant.  Not exactly a multicultural emblem.

We have now moved round to the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari, and our crew have left to be replaced by Lizzy and Tony Dyson with whom we bareboated in the Greek Islands in 1982.  In those days it was a 26 foot boat which we thought very grand.  Our plan is to move up the east coast of Sardinia day sailing into ports and anchoring in pretty bays.

Sunday June 8th.   off Punta de la Avenzada, Mallorca

We must pay tribute to our close friend, Graham Bush, who was one of our first visitors on Exotica last August. After a very short illness he passed away on May 16th in York. We returned to UK for his funeral, a very moving celebration of a life taken far too young.

Opera House in Palma

We were thrilled to get first night seats to the surprisingly excellent production of Verdi’s Otello in the charming Teatre Principal de Palma. The small stage was filled by the frame of a galleon which was cleverly moved for each Act. The principal singers were all Spanish and remarkably good, there was a fine, robust chorus and the orchestra under conductor Manuel Coves was of a high standard. After our opera extravaganza in April in the major opera houses of Europe this was an unexpected treat.

Leaving Palma for the last time.

We departed our home marina of Real Club Nautico in Palma, where Exotica has been moored since 2005, last Monday with mixed feelings, we loved being right in the centre of Palma but are excited about the prospect of new experiences.

Jeremy relaxing.

Jeremy Garling joined us on June 1st for 6 days of mostly good sailing. The wind of the Mallorcan coast is full of surprises, frequently “on the nose” no matter where you go, at other times 180 degree shifts. Keeps the helm on their toes. We anchored one last time in Santa Ponsa’s turquoise waters. Tuesday motored through Dragonera Passage then a 16-20 knot southerly filled in so we had an enjoyable run, firstly with full sails then just under genoa, to Port Soller , the only harbour half way up the 80 nautical mile spectacular north west coast. We looked very small tied up amongst the super yachts. They did, however, provide excellent “people watching”. Who does own these boats?

On the way to Soller, near where the gennaker shredded.

We had seriously considered buying a gennaker, which is a large  foresail to be used in light winds aft of the beam, and we had a sailmaker in Palma come to give us a quote. However it proved to be difficult to fit on our bow and ridiculously expensive so we decided against.  On our way to Soller in about 18 knots of breeze we saw a 45 footer try to hoist one.   The sock, which controls the sail, wouldn’t go up properly so the sail couldn’t fly, they got it wrapped around the mast before it shredded and landed in the water. An ill advised hoist in those conditions. We had the decency not to take any pictures, although we were tempted, and felt that we had definitely made the right decision to stick to our headsail.

The very expensive salad bowl.

Spent Wednesday taking the old tram from Port Soller to the charming town of Soller in the mountains above the port. Famous for it’s orange and lemon trees, each shop was adorned for the Orange Festival. We re-visited the olive wood shop and treated ourselves to the most outrageously expensive salad bowl…now an heirloom.

A disappointing passage from Port Soller to Puerto Pollensa on Thursday. The sky was blue, the wind cold, the sea lumpy and the wind on the nose for the entire 6 hours. However, one could still marvel at the majestic mountains along this coast. Our last night with Jeremy we had excellent fish at Restaurante Ca’n Josep.

Where we lost the dinghy overboard.

At anchor in Punta de la Avanzada, Julie was checking the anchor at 5am and saw the hillside above Alcudia ablaze, back burning or a forest fire we will never know but at daylight a plane water bombed the area for hours. A brisk northerly built up during the day, it must have been some gust that lifted the upturned dinghy over the lifeline and into the drink. A quick up anchor to retrieve the getaway, which will from now on always be secured!

Today we move to Alcudia to spend time with some old Bermuda day friends in their villa and be joined by our “passage” crew. Weather permitting, we will be crossing from Mallorca to Sardinia this time next week!

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

The 2014 Blog starts here.  We welcome your comments, please let us know that it is not disappearing into the ether.

We left Australia on April 9th. and stayed with my sister in Princes Risborough for four days to recover from the jet lag (and also to catch a nasty cold).  We then embarked on an extraordinary opera tour with nine other Australians and some occasional English enthusiasts.  For the non-opera lovers I will summarise briefly:

Dresden - 3 nights    Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss) King Arthur(Purcell)   
Leipzig - 2 nights    St Matthew Passion (Bach),   Parsifal (Wagner)   
Berlin  - 3 nights    Two Piano recital: 
                         Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich
                      Tannhauser (Wagner),  Parsifal  (Wagner)
Amsterdam -1 night    Arabella (Strauss)
Paris    - 2 nights   Tristan und Isolde  (Wagner)
Vienna   - 3 nights   Mozart Requiem, Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss) 
                      Lohengrin (Wagner)

The Opera House in Amsterdam

There was the potential for a degree of operatic indigestion but we enjoyed every minute.  The undisputed highlights were the masterful playing of two of the world’s greatest pianists in Barenboim and Argerich, the wonderful old fashioned Rosenkavalier in it’s home town of Vienna and Klaus Florian Voigt as Lohengrin. We were with a great party of old and new friends who were immensely knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

We returned to Palma, Mallorca on Monday May 5th to find Exotica exactly where we had left her.  Although we had had one email in German from Frank, the engineer who has cared for the boat since she was new, stating that all was in order, we were still a touch apprehensive as regards her survival in the winter.

We need not have worried.  The boat was immaculate and all the jobs have been done. Frank, who is now our very best friend, has lovingly cared for her and even replaced the toilet seats because he felt they were too worn for our guests.

Exotica in the Marina at Real Club Nautico

We are spending a few days alongside in Palma to engage a sailmaker to measure for a new light airs sail, purchase some bedding and a Nespresso machine before setting off for a few days around the island. Our rough plan is to meet up with friends in early June at the north of Mallorca, then sail to Sardinia, Corsica, the west coast of Italy and end either in Sardinia or Malta.  But that is always at the whim of the weather!

Friday September 20th.

Santa Ponsa from the cockpit

We spent the last four days of the 2013 cruise at anchor in Santa Ponsa.  This is one of our favorite places and only two hours from Palma by sea, 15 minutes by car! The bay is delightful with shallow water and a sandy bottom so with our large anchor and 25 metres of chain we were completely secure.  There were a few yachts coming and going but we stayed put, swam three times a day and went ashore in the dinghy for provisions and meals.  It was very lazy, so pleasant not to be constantly on the move.  Terry had the best restaurant meal of the trip at the Italian Restaurant attached to the Yacht Club, a recommendation from Ann Kihlbom and Alan Muir, who have lived in Santa Ponsa for many years and entertained us royally in their home on our last night there.

Ann and Alan

They have been a constant support with all things local since our arrival last May.

A final Mallorcan sunset.

Having a water maker makes us completely independent of the shore and the only constraints are the requirement for fresh bread and the size of the holding tanks!

The final sail back from Santa Ponsa.

We returned to Palma on Thursday and were lucky enough to get about half an hour of good wind so that we could sail across Palma Bay.  One of the features of this season has been the light winds, which for some reason always seem to be coming from dead ahead or right behind. Exotica, despite having innumerable merits, only sails really well with the wind on the beam.  It may be necessary to buy a large light headsail for ghosting downwind next year.

Putting out the fenders as we enter Palma Harbour for the final time.

Once back in our berth at Real Club Nautico we forced ourselves into cleaning and clearing up mode.  A lot of work has to be done before we fly out on Saturday morning,first to England and then to Canada for two weeks to see son Edward.

Plans for next year are still being considered.  We will return to Palma in early May and then take off from the Balearics for good, probably for the south of France, then Corsica, Sardinia and the west coast of Italy.  Till then http://www.clarkesailing.com will, temporarily we hope, close down.

Saturday September 7th.

We arrived back in Palma yesterday after an interesting couple of weeks.  Ten days ago we were walking along the jetty in Palma when we spied a beautiful new Oyster 575 sporting an Australian flag.  On further investigation we discovered that the owners, Vicki and John De Margheriti, had both attended the same First Aid course in Sydney as Julie in May this year.  They have sailed their boat from England and called in here en route to the Cannes Boat Show.  We spent a most enjoyable evening with them and their crew in cocktail bars and restaurants in Palma.

Last Sunday we set out to circumnavigate the island of Mallorca, during the week we tested Exotica and she has tested us.  The first day gave us one of the most exhilarating sails we have had so far with up to 30 knots hard on the nose.  The boat sailed beautifully, even under reduced canvas, and was easy to manage with just the two of us, although Julie preferred to steer rather than rely on the autohelm in the considerable gusts.

Sunset at anchor of Ensenada de la Rapita

We ended up for the night anchored of Ensenada de la  Rapita, a beautiful long sandy beach, with good holding for the anchor in the windy conditions, although the wind,as always, lightened towards dusk and we had a delightful evening meal in the cockpit.

The next day we rounded Punta Salinas, the most southerly tip of Mallorca and headed up the east coast. This side of the island is flatter and the coast is indented with many small bays although few are suitable for overnight anchoring.  We looked in to Cala Malgraner in the afternoon but there were too many other boats there and not enough room to swing.

Tied up alongside at Porto Cristo

In the evening we put into Porto Cristo where the pilot book told us there would be an anchorage but these have now been forbidden and we had to tie up to the quay at the cost of 112 Euro.  However, we were invited to cocktails with 8 Swiss guys on the boat next to us, had a swim in the Yacht Club pool and an excellent meal ashore in this picturesque small port.

The next day we motored and sailed a bit to the north east tip of the island.  A bit frustrating as every time we rounded a headland and expected the wind to free us a bit it seemed to turn on the nose again.

Checking on the anchor at Cala el Calo

We anchored for the night in a tiny bay called Cala el Calo, north of Santa Polenca where we were the only yacht.  We were enjoying a pleasant drink in the cockpit and congratulating ourselves on another pleasant day when we heard a pump start up and discharge water from the stern.  This was most unusual and on investigation we discovered a significant amount of sea water in the main bilge.  There then began a search for the source of the leak and after four hours of mopping out and research in the bottom of the boat we discovered water dripping in from the stern gland, which is the heavy rubber bung around the spot where the propeller shaft exits the boat.  We tried a number of tricks to stop the leak and managed to get it down to a trickle but nonetheless it continues, albeit a very small amount, and will certainly need to be replaced before we leave.

We went to bed in an unhappy frame of mind and this was not improved when the wind turned round in the middle of the night and we found ourselves too close to the beach in only half a metre of water.  This meant starting the engine, pulling up the anchor and motoring out 100 metres before setting it again.  This in the damp and the dark was not much fun.

We left Cala el Calo at first light and it looked like a beautiful little bay in the rising sun.  We had decided to do the whole of the rugged north west coast of Mallorca in one day which meant over 60 nautical miles.

Cabo de Formentor, the most northerly point of Mallorca.

Puerto Soller is the only place to stop all along this coast, but in view of the leak we wanted to be a bit nearer home and so motored almost all day as there was absolutely no wind, the sea was like glass.  We managed to get the sails up briefly through the Dragonera Passage at the south westerly tip of Mallorca and then sailed into Port Andratx where we took a mooring for the night.

Santa Ponsa

This was a peaceful, stress free night for which we were very grateful.

From Andratx, the next day we made the short trip to Santa Ponsa, one of our favorite places, where there is generally plenty of room to anchor, the holding is excellent and the view from the cockpit most agreeable.  We did, however, take a run ashore in the dinghy – (Julie has now mastered the art of managing the Honda 2.3 HP outboard) and found that the town itself is a decidedly downmarket tourist resort.  We hurriedly returned to Exotica.

Finally back to Palma, another glorious sunny day but again very little wind until the final half hour when you are just coming in to pick up the lines in the marina and the last thing you need is a cross wind to pick up the bow of the boat and swing you sideways.  Julie at the helm, however, with the help of the bowthruster is now very expert at getting us into our tight spot and by 5 pm we were safely tied up.  It was then down to washing down the boat so that it looks perfect for our next visitors who arrive on Sunday.