We left Shirish, Juno, and the kids in Cala Mitjana last Tuesday. Boy, the two-anchor system never fails to trouble me! I guess that is how I get the experience to become a better captain. I was awake the night before at 0200 planning the sequence of events that would allow us to get both anchors up in this tight little cala without running into the shear walls or the other two sailboats. Of course, when the time came I had to throw the entire plan out and go with 'Plan B' (which I made up on the spot)! As it was, we got out of there unscathed after about an hour of wrestling with anchors - first the primary and then the secondary Fortress.

The 42 nm sail over to Bahia de Palma was fairly uneventful. We were off the wind reaching in 15-20k, and while it isn't the most comfortable ride, it certainly was quick! I was particularly disappointed to realize my speedo was reading in mph and not knots, and that I really wasn't doing 10k but rather only 7k! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted to think we were really cranking along that fast!!

After a night at a quiet anchorage, Palmanova, we headed over to the main town and anchored off the breakwater of the commercial/main marina. Now you gotta understand about Palma. This is where "the beautiful people" come to play. It is definitely on the circuit of the superyachts. They are stacked up like cord wood and a boat that would otherwise make your jaw drop down in any anchorage is 'just another boat' here. Needless to say, we are outclassed!

Right after dropping the anchor off the breakwater Will informed me the remote to the windlass was on the fritz. We had been having problems with it earlier in the Aeolian Islands, but I thought we got past that and had those issues resolved. Apparently not. It continues to amaze me how things on a boat have a life of their own and grow and change. There have been several problems that have arisen and then fixed themselves. Still other perfectly working items find ways to go kaput.

The remote isn't that hard to figure would fail. First of all, I am sure the charterers that used this boat previously were not kind to it. Then factor in that we filled up the entire anchor locker with salt water on last year's Atlantic crossing, and you get the idea that that didn't help the remote a whole lot! So here we are stuck off the breakwater of Palma waiting for parts to arrive to fix the remote.

In the past couple of days I have learned a few daffy-nitions. Shirish defines sailing as something like "the fine art of going very slowly at great expense'. He backs that up by likening sailboat racing to "standing in a cold shower while shoving $100 bills down the drain." But I think Graham McGlashan's daffy-nition of cruising hits the nail on the head: "Fixing expensive yachts in exotic places!"

Everything was going fine till last night. I figured if the good Lord had to have the remote quit on me, then doing so off the breakwater of the Palma marina was probably the best spot. There are lots of services and chandleries here that can get the right parts. But last night the Spanish Coast Guard paid us a little visit. Apparently we are anchored in a prohibited area and they want us gone. Well, when we originally dropped the hook here it was only supposed to be for a couple of hours. But that couple of hours has turned into a couple of days thanks to the remote. Fortunately when I told them our 'issue' they understood and told us "OK. As soon as possible....just go away!!"

Sounds good to me. The parts arrive today (supposedly) and after that we are outta here. Let's just hope it all comes together quickly and the way it is supposed to.