We left our anchorage on Friday 7th August about 7-15pm for a night sail to the Balearic Islands. We had no definite plans for these islands our intentions were to find somewhere to anchor if it was nice we would stay and if it was not that nice we were prepared to carry on. We had to motor all the way as there wasn't much wind and what wind we did have was directly on our nose. We arrived at 9am at Puerto el Espalmador where we were able to pick up a mooring buoy, we must of arrived just at the right time because within a few minutes all the mooring buoys were taken and what space there was for anchoring was very quickly filled.

El Espalmador is a small natural Island which is unspoilt and an idyllic spot, the beach is nice soft sand and pinkish in colour and the sea is clear and warm. We took many long strolls along the beach and also had some nice picnics accompanied by a bottle of wine. You can even walk through the water to the Island of Formentera. We walked across and like many occasions realised we had not taken any footwear and the sand is far too hot to walk on. It seemed amazing how you can walk from one Island to another through the water on a sand strip.

This Island is also well known for its mud bath we did visit the area where their were many people bathing in the mud, we did decline this bath due to the lack of water on board but we did also regret it. This is also a naturist beach where we also declined. We were only supposed to stay on this buoy for 1 night but we managed to stay for 5 nights. There is a patrol man that goes around checking on everyone but we always managed to avoid him. Out of the 5 nights we stayed here 3 of the nights were very windy and on 1 particular night it was blowing well over 30 knots and this kept Mick up all night.

We left El Espalmador on the 13th August and were sorry to leave as we both really enjoyed our time there. We left before first light on the 13th August where we made our way to Mallorca but yet again with no set plans. We arrived early evening at a large bay in Santa Ponsa, we managed to find a nice place to anchor and again it looked absolutely stunning place. Obviously one of the biggest things about being at anchor for this length of time is provisions, especially the lack of water. At Santa Ponsa we were back in civilisation and we were able to restock with food etc, but we had to go into a marina to refill our water tanks. Lucky enough there is a marina at Santa Ponsa so when we left on 17th August we popped in to fill our water and fuel tanks. At some of the marinas in the Balearics at this time of the year there can be a 2 day wait before you can fill your tanks with water, but we were lucky enough to not have to go through this procedure. Also when at anchor baths are always taken in the sea, but due to the lack of water and not knowing when we can next refill our tanks we did not have the luxury of being able to rinse ourselves off with fresh water so we would have a bath in the sea take the tender to the beach and rinse off under one of the beach showers. We stayed 4 nights at Santa Ponsa and although a fairly busy place we totally enjoyed ourselves.

We left Santa Ponsa on the morning of 17th August and headed up the coast to try to find another suitable anchorage. We found a little spot called Cala Gran which was at Puerto De Cala LLonga ( Marina Cala D'or ). We arrived at the above on the 17th Aug 2009 and anchored in Cala Gran. There was not a great deal of room and it was also quite deep, we anchored in just over 10 metres of water and could only put out just under 30 metres of chain. It was very rolly so we both had a bit of a restless night, we only stayed 1 night so never went to beach etc although we did manage to have a good swim and snorkel. We left Cala Gran on the 18th Aug for our next destination which was Menorca, where in Menorca we did not know. We arrived in Menorca at a large natural harbour called Mahon and again we were lucky enough to find a nice bay called Cala Taulera, we managed to anchor in a this very busy bay and again it was a lovely spot.

We stayed a total of 8 days in Cala Taulera, on day 1 when going to the shops in our tender we did not appreciate just how far the shops were, they were about a 40 minute tender ride with our little 2hp outboard. Just after we were returning from the shops we managed to run out of petrol and tried to row back to our anchorage, we were rowing for about 1 hour and getting nowhere in 100 degrees heat when someone took pity on us and towed us back to the boat. The very next day again coming back from the shops we saw two guys that had broken down and in some distress but in a large rubber boat. We went to assist and gave them a tow to their rather large house with own moorings, but you can imagine us with our little 2hp outboard towing this rather large expensive toy, but we got them home, the only problem being is that by us giving them a tow we used more petrol then we intended and once again we run out of petrol, luckily we were close to home so this did not cause us to much distress. We had been thinking about buying a new outboard motor, with the distance we were travelling to the shops and the old engine was playing up a bit we both decided that now was the right time, although we knew we would be paying more here in Menorca than we would be in some other places, so we are now the proud owners of a 4hp Yamaha outboard engine.

We had a great time in Menorca and intended to leave on the Wednesday 26th Aug. We were up very early in the morning to discover a electric storm in the far distance, it was quite spectacular to watch, but we were a bit concerned that it could be coming our way so we waited to see what the outcome of this would be. We waited to just before 6am and then decided that the electric storm was no closer so we raised anchor and headed out to sea. Like always we tend to leave and then get everything sorted out on the boat and also we would have breakfast whilst underway. We left with very little wind of about 3 to 4 knots; it was very dark as there was no moon, we had just got the sails up when the wind increased dramatically, within minutes the wind was 30 to 35 knots, the waves were coming over the boat, we still had all the washing out and we were far from ready to deal with this sort of weather. I managed to get 2 reefs in the main, but sill was struggling to get the boat under full control with everything packed away and tidy, we were just not prepared for this. After little discussion we both decided to get back to the safety of the harbour, so in heavy winds, heavy seas and lighting everywhere we returned to our anchorage but only to find that all the other boats had been struggling to make their anchors hold and there was just no room for us. We went to a few more spots we knew and once again there was no room, so eventually we had to pick up a mooring buoy and pay an extraordinary amount for this luxury, however it was worth it to be safe and sound and we were in a lovely spot. So we eventually left Menorca a day later than planned on the 27th Aug for our next destination which was Sardinia.

We loved the Balearic Islands and had just over 3 weeks there at anchor, the anchorages are getting less and less as they are putting more buoys in and they seem to want to charge for everything, it would be such a pity if this was ever the case as this would most certainly stop people like us visiting these great places. We love to anchor and we also like bathing in the sea, but we will be looking forward to getting into a nice shower where we can run the water with no concerns and everything is not salty all of the time.