Anchored near Porto Petro, looking down into Cala de sa Torre

We set off Monday for a shortish trip around the south eastern tip of Mallorca with a whole load of other yachts leading to a mild anxiety that they were all going to the same place as us. We motored into the wind down to Cabo Salinas, around the corner we were able to sail. We made the mistake of thinking the genny would be enough; it wasn't so it was genny away, main up, genny back out preceded with some concern when the engine wouldn't start - the starter motor was ticking but not firing. It finally started but we do seem to be being plagued with random faults in our systems at the moment, at least the windless is working again now.

We'd also had a period of GPS 'no fix' alerts wen we set off prompting us to think the GPS was on the blink too. We later found out that it wasn't just us and that there was a NATO exercise going on in the area so no problem with our system after all.

An hour or so of gentle sailing north in the F4 wind brought us to the entrance to Porto Petro, all the other boats carried on past with only ourselves and Pimentao heading in. The engine started first time and we turned to port for the Cala d'els Homos Morts to find just 4 other boats anchored and plenty of space for us. We anchored in the join between the two calas in a patch of sand amongst the rock and weed seabed in around 7m. At the end of each cala is a very small beach with buoyed off swimming and a large hotel along the northern shore, who kindly provide unlocked wifi! It takes 5 -10 minutes to walk to the town from the end of Homos Morts up past the left of the hotel or a slightly longer but more scenic route following the rocky shore in front of the hotel where a rough path has been made. The town is small with a couple of supermarkets and a few bars lining the waterfront.


Looking down to the anchorage for Cala d'els Homos Morts

A few hours after we'd arrived a man came over in a rib advising us that we shouldn't be anchoring here and that we should move onto the buoys on the other side of the bay (which we would have to pay to use) or face a fine from the police. We thanked him for his advice and stayed where we were; he told a slightly different story to Pimentao. We looked up the IB ports website which lists calas in which anchoring is banned due to the Posidonia Project (sea grass) and this cala wasn't listed. I've since done a bit more research and on the Cruising Association website it says Porto Petro is no longer a Posidonia area so he was most definately telling porkies and touting for business!

We're well sheltered from the south east winds here, so much that the wind genny isn't even spinning and it's blowing a F5 outside. Although we're sheltered from the main swell we are getting a reflected swell as the waves bounce back off the surrounding rocky shore. It's bearable but something we're wondering if we will suffer all along this coast if the swell direction has any east in it. Its much busier in here today with more boats sheltering from the swell - the boats on the buoys across the bay are rolling more than we are and we would have had to pay €35 for the pleasure had the man from yesterday been believed.