21st May 2008

19th May 2008
The weather settled and we moved to Puerta Pollensa on Monday 12th and the wind was a little too light to have a good sail, however, we tried…. We were able to get some laundry done on Tuesday at a nearby Apart-Hotel, met a couple from Shetland (Hewit (ex RNLI) & Margaret Clark, on a Westerly), also met Gary (from Blantyre) who now has Fletcher’s Bar. On the Wednesday we cycled to the inland town of Pollensa (about 7k each way) – big difference from being on the coast – the town is very nice and the inside of the church is also very well done – amazing paintings. The moorings in Pollensa are also run by the local government and they have a 3-day rule, which is sometimes relaxed in the quiet periods – however – we had not radioed or telephoned our arrival and the staff were not best pleased with Jaap organising our mooring so we didn’t want to push our luck by asking for extra days. The weather was fine on Thursday so we sailed over to Ciudadela, Mallorca and had to accept a Club Nautica berth (27 euro, 1 night), had a small walk out in the evening and then went to the market on Friday morning before sailing to Cala Galdana to anchor in the bay. It was amazing the size of the ferries that came into Ciudadela and had to turn around at the top end – it looked like there was only about a metre or 2 at each end of the ship. We actually picked up a free mooring in Cala Galdana which was good.

We always like Cala Galdana which is a beautiful place with a safe beach, we were first here about 22 years ago and the last time was about 12 years ago. When we went ashore to refresh our memories and try to get internet, we ended up in the little bar / restaurant near the apartment where we stayed on our last visit. It is still run by the same guy – Pere, who is absolutely fantastic. There were families in the restaurant and he is brilliant with the children – it was great to talk with him again and we called in a couple of times more before we decided to move (on Monday) before the swell came back into the bay on Monday. The wind had been coming into the bay on Saturday (from SE) but only about F2 then the wind swung to the north and the swell started to build up from the SE. The swell did settle a bit overnight but not until about 3am and the wind had died away, so it all made for an uncomfortable night. Anyway, we left on Monday morning for Mahon and had a sail for about half of the way before the wind dropped to virtually nothing. If you are ever in Cala Galdana (or Menorca) it’s worth a visit to Pere’s place - Sa Lluna, (which is actually across the small river and round the corner in Serpentaria to be precise). When we were chatting about what he does during the winter when the tourist season is over, he was saying about picking mushrooms – so we told him about the mushroom festival in Aberfoyle and by co-incidence it has a Spanish theme this year.

Now in Mahon (Mon 19th) for about a week – we have managed to negotiate a berth at the Sunseaker berths (because it’s off-season) – so it’s great to be in the middle of the city (for a decent price) and we’ll be able to see most of the sights from here.