Photo: Palma cathedral
We left Porto Colom on Monday 1st August and had a great wing on wing sail in 12 - 22 knots of north east wind down to Sant Jordi along the south coast of Mallorca. A shallow anchorage and one of the few we have had difficulties finding a suitable spot to anchor, but after a couple of attempts we found a spot in nice sand. We stayed 7 nights in the anchorage, went into town a couple of times. The town was basically a tourist town with cafes, beach shops and lots of people on the beach, the supermarket was small but well stocked. In the anchorage, it must have been the national holidays in Belgium as we were anchored alongside 6 Belgium flagged boats, the most we have seen in one place. On Saturday we were joined in the anchorage by Paul and Gloria on Scallywag, which resulted in a shared dinner that evening and a catch up on everyone's news.
Monday 8th August we motor sailed to La Lonja Charter Marina in Palma. The marina is a charter yacht base, you cannot book in for the weekends and is not in any of the cruising guides, we were told about it by our good friends Rick and Robin "Endangered Species". The marina is well located near the cathedral in old town Palma, which is the jewel in the crown of Palma's sites, which includes a castle, meeting houses, palaces and old merchant houses. Visiting the cathedral in the morning, you get to see the magnificent rose window reflecting its rainbows on the pillars and walls of the cathedral interior, an awesome wow factor. The restaurants and cafes around the old town are plentiful and we enjoyed tapas on a couple of evenings in the same place, we got to know Mario the waiter quite well, the restaurant always has people queuing up outside on the off chance of getting a table. Palma is the first major city we have been in for a while and regularly had 3 cruise ships in port each day and the best shopping mall and supermarket we have seen for a long time. Wind Pony were joined by their friend Bill who flew in from the USA and will be travelling with them to the Canaries, he brought Brian's new toy, an Iridium Go, with him, this will keep Brian busy setting it up and learning how to use it for the next we while.
We left La Lonja on Friday 12th August and motored 16nm to anchor in Santa Ponsa. We had planned on evening drinks with Paul and Gloria Scallywag, as we would not be seeing them again until the Canaries, but the afternoon sea breeze came in quite strong and with boats trying to anchor in an already crowded anchorage, a farewell on the phone had to suffice. The following morning we upped anchor at 06:30 and motor sailed 66nm to Puerto el Espalmador, Formentera. A very long sandy beach behind a low lying island, it was like a parking lot, but with plenty of room. There looked to be several hundred boats, Brian reckoned close to a thousand, along the beach, including plenty of super yachts/launches with small day craft and yachts of all shapes and sizes, an interesting mixture. Most of the boats left at sunset which made for a peaceful evening and sleep, a contrast to the water movement and activity during the day. We took the dinghy ashore for a walk around the lagoon and along the coastal walkway, being mindful of the naturalists.
Monday 15th August we motored the 63nm to Marina Puerto Del Calpe on the Spanish mainland. Dinner ashore and we left the following morning for Puerto Del Torrevieja. It was an interesting day, a few miles after we left Calpe we crossed the Greenwich Meridian, we will be travelling west from Greenwich for the first time since leaving Tonga in 2010. Later in the day we radioed a ship who had altered course to be on a collision course with us, he was going into Alicante. There was no response from the ship, despite several calls on VHF, he continued to alter course but also forced us to alter course to avoid him. The previous day when we were the give way vessel, we radioed a ship, he responded immediately and told us he was changing course so we would go around his stern and therefore needed to take no action. It just shows that despite AIS you have to be vigilant. The weather was also a mixed bag, we had everything from no wind to 20 knots "on the nose", we therefore motored, motor sailed and sailed during the day, which also saw several periods of rain.
We anchored for the night outside the marina in Torrevieja and left the following morning, motoring 39nm to Yacht Port Marina, Cartagena, this is the first pontoon marina we have been in since entering the Mediterranean. The coast line today was more interesting, rugged hills/mountains and craggy shorelines. We stayed in Cartagena for 5 nights and enjoyed the town, it has a strong Roman history, the Roman theatre is worth a visit, and there is also a castle, a fort and many fortifications. The main street is narrow, has several interesting bronze statues, the iron work on the balconies is amazing, the road is tiled, pedestrian only and there is a large array of shops, cafes and bars. Everything was within walking distance from the marina.
We finally left on Monday 22nd August and motor sailed 47nm to Puerto de Garrucha marina, where we side tied. As we were motoring along there was a loud bang and something came crashing down and hit the deck, our radar reflector had parted company with the mast. Oh well something else to replace. There is a 1.5 m swell on the coast so we will be marina hopping our way to Gibraltar. To get into the marina we had to go past the commercial wharf where ships where being loaded with gypsum, around the perimeter of the marina there was a constant trail of lorries who unloaded onto the wharf where the gypsum was then picked up by front end loaders and put on conveyor belts to the ship. This occurred constantly between 7am and 7pm. There was plenty of space in the marina even though we were side tied, nice.
Tuesday we left at first light, past the ships still loading its gypsum and motor sailed through big seas, with a not very pleasant angle to the swell and winds of 20+ knots to Cape de Gata, the turning point for going along the southern coast of Spain. Once we changed angle, we put the Yankee on the pole and had a great wing on wing sail, surfing down waves at 10+ knots, to Puerto de Almerimar marina, total distance of 67nm, giving a sleeping turtle a wake-up call as he flipped his way out of our path. Along the south coast of Spain there are mile after mile of greenhouses, apparently where most of the winter vegetables for Europe are grown.
It's amazing how much difference a day makes, Wednesday we motored with no wind 43nm to Marina Del Este, Puerto de la Mona, a more boutique marina with 200 berths compared with Almerimar which had over a thousand berths. They gave us a bottle of red wine for staying with them. We were encouraged along by a current of up to 1.5 knots pushing us toward our destination, must be the effect of us getting closer to the narrow exit to the Mediterranean. Along the way we saw many more greenhouses, trawlers and what passes for a fishing buoy in this part of the world, two soccer balls tied together and enclosed in a net. As at Almerimar, we had to tie up to the fuel berth or watch tower on arrival to complete the paperwork before being allocated a berth, this is the first time we have come across this. We have also noticed that far fewer people speak English on the Spanish mainland than in the Baleares Islands. Dinner and drinks ashore with Lynn, Dick and Bill, the marina has many around the complex. Wind Pony are staying an extra day at Este for a road trip to Grenada, something they have a particular interest in. We will go on ahead to Gibraltar, the lure of an All Blacks game against the Wallabies to watch on Saturday. The yacht next to us in the marina was English and the owner chatted away about Dol and his plans to cross the Atlantic this year with the ARC, (Atlantic Cruising Rally). As we get closer to Gibraltar we are meeting more and more people who like us will be crossing this year.
Thursday saw us motoring again with no wind but a favourable current to Puerto De Benalmadena marina, our final stop along the coast of Spain as Friday we will head to Gibraltar, our final stop and country in the Mediterranean. We have another repair to do, the alternator for our house batteries appears to have stopped working. We have contacted an auto electrician to have a look at it in Gibraltar.