We left Porto Petro on Tuesday around 10.00 hrs for the short trip up the coast to find a new anchorage. We liked Porto Petro and would recommend a visit, people were friendly, the restaurant we tried was good and reasonable and the small supermarkets carry most of your daily needs.
We motor-sailed a couple of miles to Cala Llonga/Cala D’Or/Cala Gran. These three calas spring off the one entrance from the sea. The main marina is in Cala Llonga, we tried there looking for an anchorage but the area was small and congested with divers and inflatable lifting bags as they tried to raise a sunken yacht to starboard of the main fairway. It looked as if a charter yacht had managed to get a hole in her somehow as she had sunk, mast up, in about six meters of water. Someone’s holiday ended a bit early! Cala D’Or is oriented to take the swell straight in from the sea and therefore was a non-starter so we anchored in Cala Gran which was attractive but suffering from some swell. It was OK as a coffee stop but we decided to press on.
Cala Mitjana a further mile up the coast has two very small arms and a slightly bigger northern bay. When we arrived there was only a small speedboat present, but even so it looked a bit tricky to anchor for any period of time. We floated about for a few minutes and worked out a scheme that dropped our anchor to the south and then had a line ashore to the eastern side where there was a bollard set in the cliff. This took us about 30 minutes to set up as we had to drop the dinghy etc but once completed we were well set. Over the course of the day 4 or 5 other larger boats came to look but only one other had the skill to work a space amongst us and the number of small craft that had come for the day. The inevitable large tripper boat came charging into the Cala regularly but he couldn’t do more than circle in the entrance due to the congestion. It was very pleasant, the cala has good shelter, a small beach at the head and there are the manicured ground of what we assume is a private house around the cliff-tops. The sun came out too which always helps. We had a relaxed day, Chris snorkeled and we watched the antics of the other craft working into the bay.
By 17.00 hrs we were the only boat there as everyone else packed up and went to the marinas. We did lay our stern anchor out across the Cala incase the wind changed but it was not really required and we took it back on board early the next day before the influx was expected. It was a great place for the night though some swell did manage to find its way in during the dark hours (it always waits until we go to bed and then creeps round the headland). Though there are no facilities and it’s quite isolated we thought this was almost a perfect anchorage - if you get there early enough to bag the right space!
We had a quiet start the following day as no-one else arrived until around 11.00 hrs but by the time we upped anchor about 14.00 hrs the circus was in full swing again.

Photo: Splice anchored in Cala Mitjana, our line to shore is just visible to the right of the boat.