GHOST

This year our rendezvous was in Menorca, but it still adhered to the James Bond theme, less midnight meetings on beaches and more Casino on the quayside. The more sedate arrangement this year being due to the attendance of Miss Moneypenny, Aka, The Mother for her debut for a week's holiday on Ghost.

La Mola very close to Mahon has been our home for most of the week. A sheltered spot providing welcome relief from the storms winds and rain!! We have managed a few days of sunshine however as intrepid English folk the weather has not held us back from the activities and gin drinking we have managed to pack in.

On arrival on Saturday we made the most of the sun. Swam, drank and played cards - Brad with his new speargun purchase christened it with his first fish catch! I am happily beating everyone at Uno and confounding with my unpredictable bidding in 500. On Sunday Mum, me and Kat went to the fort on La Mola. It took 50 years to build and by the time it was finished the evolution of marine missiles meant it was obsolete! It was used as a military prison and a training camp for a period and now I think it should host paintballing shootouts - loads of creepy hiding holes. It also presented an opportunity for the best photo of the holiday - see inset in attached!

The rain moved in on Sunday night through Monday and Tuesday. We hired a car to see the Island leaving the boat sheltered in the bay. We managed to pack in a trip to Neolithic caves and checked out some ogaliths. We found what was said to be the best beach and cove on the Island - Cala Covas - we disagreed, it smelt bad and there was lots of litter. So on Tuesday we set out to find a better beach and we did at Macarella, however the storms that we had had for three nights had been blowing in debris....damn autumn approaching too fast.

We finished the exploration of the island by car in Ciutadella where we were unfortunate enough to sample some of the most disgusting Tapas I have ever had - quite an achievement. We wandered round the town and explored the shops, on our way back to the boat we popped into an outlet leather store and came out with nothing!! Surely a miracle!

As the storms abated we headed to a different anchorage (after sneakily stealing water from a pontoon at lunchtime) the swell as we sailed was enormous and I have to admit to getting rather sea sick, much to Mum's hilarity though I heard her burping occasionally. We ended up at Isla Colom, a lovely little anchorage that gives access to three isolated beaches. We quickly dingyed ashore and paddled about. The beaches were beautiful and we were desperate to swim, unfortunately the storm had caused problems again and washed in a whole shoal of jellyfish - poor little things dying on the beach and in the shallows. We did not want to take the risk of being stung and so were satisfied with beachcombing. We poured stiff Mojitos to take our minds off the waves....

The swell gradually died down over the night but we heard that more weather was coming in the following day and so we headed back to the safety of La Mola. This of course has lead to another day in town shopping! What is a girl to do! The dress was only 20 Euros!

So a final delicious farewell dinner - celebrating the local Thai cuisine, the trip into town also allowed us to experience night motoring in the dingy for the 2 miles back to the anchorage! It has been a blur....oh well back to more rain in England.

For more pics see: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bradmcmaster1/Menorca209WithMumCelina#