It didn't take long before all the mooring buoys were taken and for the wind to arrive making dinghy trips to and from the shore very wet indeed! We've had the wettest rides yet but making the decision to strip-off to bare essentials (much to the amusement of others) before setting off from the town quay was certainly worthwhile - at least the sea was warm.

It's amazing how time can fly when you're lazing around swimming, snorkelling and generally whiling away the hours being entertained by others around you on kayaks and paddleboards.

A dinghy trip around the harbour was cut rather short when we inadvertently came to an abrupt stop as the outboard engine struck the seabed and stalled. Ops, clearly it's pretty shallow in parts! Thankfully a kind man in a RIB came to our rescue and towed us back to the mooring area otherwise it would have been a long and hard row back for one of us.

Bruce finally dusted down his fishing gear and popped a line loaded with chorizo over the side - that was after a short trip ashore to purchase even more hooks and weights as he didn't have any in stock! Oh how I laughed when he informed me that he needed hooks and weights. Fishing was never that technical was it? I remember fishing with dad who caught various species over the years just with a basic line and rod. I don't ever recall him saying that he didn't have the right size hooks etc, unless of course, he already had them. To our surprise within two hours we (the 'royal') caught two. We threw the first one back as a 'good will' gesture given that the fridge was full. As for the second catch, well it was far too small. :-(


Is this fish smiling?

Our last evening was spent being physically involved in the local celebration of 'Mare de Déu del Carme' - the patron of the fishers as a mass procession of decorated boats proceeded straight through the mooring buoys, around the bay, eventually ending in a race that passed right next to us! Yachts, RIBs, speed boats, Mallorcan boats all heading towards us at great speed before deciding whether to take a left or right turn to avoid a collision with us! The wash created certainly made us roll around for a while whilst our dinghy bobbed around in frenzy.


the calm procession before...


...all hell broke loose!

Porto Colom is set inside a deep natural harbour. Small fishing boats lie alongside make shift jetties in front of pastel coloured boat houses that line the waterfront. It's one of our favourite harbours so far, quiet and peaceful, certainly not over developed or touristy.

From a cruisers point of view, diesel and petrol can be purchased along the harbour wall and an Eroski and Spar supermarket are just a 10 minute walk away from the dinghy pontoon. With regards to swell, from this day forth we'll be rating the significance of swell on what we shall now call our 'swell-ometer' scale. We give Porto Colom top marks - a grand 10/10 as our sleep was not disturbed at all during our time here. Hurray!