Actually July 17th!!!
14 July 2008 | Palma. Mallorca, Balearic Islands
John MacKenzie
We have had a busy last couple of days since arriving in our new favourite place in the world, the Balearic Islands in the Med, just south of Barcelona, Spain.
We enjoyed a full day this past Sunday exploring Barcelona's amazing, historic downtown with it's classic "La Rumbla" main street that hosts the best flower shops the world has to offer and street erformers of all shapes and sizes. By late afternoon (local time) the jet-lagged Walker crew were ready to board Windancer IV and we promptly began our first overnight sail with the new crew, arriving safely in Soller on the North coast of Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.
This picturesque anchorage was perfect for the rested crew after a good nights sleep and the day was spent swimming, snorkelling and tubing in clear, salty water. The next day we hired (rented) a car and and toured three towns, Deja, home to the famous author Robert Graves (deceased) and an artists hang-out of late, Villamosa, more of a tourists spot but still maintaining the Mallorca n beuty and finally the town of Soller, rumored to be the birthplace of Chirstopher Columbus.
Ziggy has said she will write more on our travels on this coast. We continued along the north coast of Mallorca in calm weather because no archorages are to be found until we round the NW corner of the island and pass the small island of Dragonera before anchoring in a great harbour called San Elmo (nicknamed St. Elmo's Fire in tribute to Ziggy;s favourite movie).
This morning we set sail (motor-sail) for Palma where we are moored for the evening. THis city incredibly alive - it is currently 2345 (almost midnight) and the streets are full of people, locals , and tourists, families and partiers - everyone is "out on the town".
We'll write much more on our experiences in Palma later. Tomorrow we'll sail overnight to Ibiza and onto Formentera before returning to Barcelona on the 23rd/24th to get our guest to the plane on the 25th. Stay tuned for more blogs from the other crew members soon.