Rose & Brian 03 December 2009 Around Mallorca Hi All

8/14/2019 Rose & Brian 03 December 2009 Around Mallorca Hi All

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Rose & Brian 03 December 2009

Around Mallorca

Hi AllWe havent got very far since the last travelogue, but apparently the weather in theUK and northern Europe has been so bad that the residents of those shores need aglimpse of distant sunshine! I wont include pictures of thick cloud then.

As intended we set off from Santa Ponsa the day after I sent the last blog (andapologies for omitting a subject line when sending from wifi cafes it is always a bitof a rush). As we headed back to the boat that evening who should we see headingtowards us but Swyn-y-Mor! We had taken the outboard off the dinghy in preparationfor the next day, but rowed the dinghy across the 20 yards or so to the receptionquay thus avoiding the mile trek around the dock to get to the wifi caf. So wehelped Swyn-y-Mor tie up and expressed some amazement that we had ended up at

the same place. We were able to return their Cruising Association notes that I hadinadvertently kept, provided them with some bake yourself loaves which Rosesubsequently added to her must have provisioning list, and generally exchangedstories of where we had been. Also we gave them a small quantity of Ferronet (thatmagic liquid) to see if it might help remove some tough rust stains they had beenworking on. All of this involved a few trips back and forth to our boat, so I got a bit of rowing practise not very effective at going in straight lines yet!

On the way out of Sta Ponsa


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We set off the next day,the wind was light tobegin with and thecruising chute came outagain, but a few gustsstarted blowing as wecarefully navigatedthrough a 400m channelbetween the main islandand the Isla Dragonera(lookes like dragonsteeth) so we snuffed itquickly and tied it down.

The gusts continued for a while as we sailed along in awe of the huge cliffs andmountains behind them. The views were breathtaking and the pictures just dont do

justice to the size of the landscape.


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Foradada with an L-shaped headland with abig hole halfway up

We ended up at CalaDeya (or Deia or Dela!).This was described withsome accuracy as beingone of the more dramaticplaces to stay along thenorth coast, with theadded interest of a village

of the same name up inthe hills where RobertGraves used to live.

As we approached thecove the wind started tobe very warm, and as welet the anchor down I wasthrowing off layers of clothing. The bay was soclear I could see theanchor and chain as it

went down about 4 metresto a rocky bottom and we


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let out enough chain to ensure that we would have a good grip on the ground. I wontgo into the technical detail, but the rule is to let out four times the depth of the water.As it turned out, the boat drifted around a bit and the chain got wedged between acouple of big boulders on the seabed fairly close to the boat. Once we had noticedthis, we felt very secure! Thankfully it all came up without much trouble when we left

the first time we had managed to weigh anchor without manual assistance! Brianmuch relieved. Since then it has behaved impeccably.

Cala Deya

Knowing that we would be anchoring for the next week or so, we left the dinghyinflated and tied it to the back of the boat so it bobbed along behind us. Then it isjust a matter of putting the outboard onto the back of the dinghy (a technique nowwell mastered with the aid of a little davit, ropes and a few pulleys and a harness) ateach stop. However in Deya the bay was so small that it was the work of 5 minutesto row to the little jetty that led up past small fishermens huts and a caf (closed) and

some holiday apartments to the road to Deya village. We went ashore and exploreda few hundred yards up the road to see what was there.


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The road wound between massivecliffs again and the wind becamewarmer and warmer. We thoughtit was just the effect of thecaptured heat from the stone, buteven when we got back to theboat it was hot - 20C at 8.30 inthe evening. Being in a cove withhigh cliffs around the sun hadgone down well before the normalsunset time of 6pm. We decidedthat the effect was due to thesoutherly wind being a Siroccoand this was partially borne out bya conversation we had the nextday with a caf owner.

Next day we venturedall the way up the

winding road andmarked paths to Deyavillage which was verypretty. Both the roadand the village weresurrounded by wellkept terraces with olive,orange and lemontrees and woolly sheepgrazing beneath them.


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The village was backed by enormous mountains.

Robert Graves house was closed, butwe stopped at Patricias caf (sorry,succumbed to temptation) and hadlunch and a beer as well as a bottle of water and icecream having got veryhot climbing the hill. The temperaturehad risen to 30C by 11am on theboat! On the way back we did a bit of scavenging and found a goodreplacement bamboo pole and a deadumbrella to augment one we hadrescued in Almerimar. Oncedismantled the spokes provide veryuseful springy wire for all sorts of uses

one of them made a double glassholder to stop our drinks glasses fallingover when they are being replenishedat sea. The new umbrella has alreadyfashioned a paternoster (fishing rigthing) for our continuing unsuccessfulfishing attempts. The centre pole and

handle have been put aside as a potential spare boathook or boathook retrievaldevice (based on our incident in Cala St Vincente)!

The helpful guidebook from the townhall in Deya said that the whole area had gonedownhill since the early 20 th century after the incursion of bohemians and hippies

including said Robert Graves and also Arthur Rackham! However there were somebijou residences going for only 1.6m so it cant have been so detrimental.

Onwards the next day tokeep to our schedule of arriving in Palma onMonday 23 rd November,heading along thecontinuing cliffs to PointFormentor. This reallywas in a foment thewind increased directlyfrom the south as if itwere blowing straight outof the cliffs until wedropped all the sails andmotored for the last mileor so, worrying that itwould be worse round thecorner.

Our courtesy flags (Spainand Balearics) beingblown sideways!


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Amazingly as soon as we had rounded the point the wind dropped and we motoredinto the bay and headed for Porto Pollena. This was a fairly big marina with veryswish facilities and a smart glass marina office where we could get internet access.After a major food resupply in preparation for anchoring for the next four days, I wentoff on the bus to the actual town of Pollena about 8km inland.

Most of the towns on theisland are well inlandapparently as Barbarypirates were a problem andthis was the best defenseagainst them. I guess thepirates didnt like walking toomuch. The old town centrewas quite different from

those in Ibiza pink stoneand green shutters insteadof white plaster and blueshutters.

That evening we finalisedarrangements for Brian to flyback to Manchester over theweekend of 28 th November.The hospital had fixed up acheckup for him on 28 th andafter looking at the cost of

flights from various places itmade sense to keep theappointment and fly fromPalma. In the event, thecheckup was fine and he willonly have one more in about

4 months before being signed off which is really good news. Where will we be infour months?

In Porto Pollenawe watched thefishing boats goout in theevenings someof the sounds arequite evocativewith the smaller ones enginesmaking a puddle,puddle, plink,plink sound.They caught thesun as theyrounded the point,making a very


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pretty picture (that I didnt quite capture on camera). We followed them out of theport the next morning and headed for Cala Calamel, which was very quiet and tied upto a mooring buoy below wooded slopes with a few holiday and residentialapartments. We had left the high rocky mountains behind and were now in muchmore gentle surroundings.

The swell in the bay was quite heavy and the village was deserted, mostly holidayapartments with nothing of great interest to see, so we decided to move on tosomewhere more sheltered and set off the next day for Porto Petro.


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This harbour issurrounded by

small bays in which you can anchor,but as it was getting a bit bumpy weheaded into the shelter of the main

port. This was a bustling small marinawith a bay just outside where weanchored and took the dinghy into asmall dock by a restaurant. Havinginvestigated the small town (not muchto see and no shops were open fromFriday afternoon over the weekend. Good thing we had stocked up!) we settleddown for bit of fishing and sightseeing.

After a morning trying and failing to catch some bait fish or find mussels Brian stayedon the boat to play with his new paternoster, and I managed to walk through theresidential areas and down alleyways to the little bays we had seen on our way in.

All of them had steps from each of the houses on the cliffs down to the sea, eachwith a small jetty for their boat. In between the houses were some areas of scruband trees full of birds that were so small I couldnt see them.

One of the houses Ipassed note the reallykitsch cherub fountaininside!

In Santa Eularia we hadseen little intercom radiosets and had bought a setfor when one of us is atthe front of the boat(anchoring mainly) andthe other is at the backsteering. When theengine is running it is verydifficult to communicatefrom one end to the other.


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These worked really well, andwere also useful for me to call thedinghy taxi (i.e. Brian) when Iwanted to be picked up from theshore after my walk! Brian alsogot a new fishing reel for Christmas.

Taxi!The following day we headedsouth and west again to La Rapitaas the last stop before Palma another dead tourist developmentwith a marina and dock. We tiedup just inside the harbour wall,close to the petrol dock. To our surprise a crowd of about 20 adults and children

started gathering there just after dark. After a while, we saw what they had beenwaiting for a huge shoal of sardines was jumping out of the water under the lightsof the dock! There were so many the children were catching them in toy fishing netsand putting them in a bucket to many shouts of encouragement from their parents.Slowly the interest subsided and the crowd dissipated, but a few couples kept comingalong all evening to peer into the depths of the water!

Palma

The view from our boat facing east withthe Cathedral

The next stop wasPalma itself, after Iverified prices at acouple of marinas andfollowed Swyn-y-Mors advice that theReal Club Nautico dePalma was veryreasonable and hadgood facilities. FromTuesday to Thursdaywe did the usual boatthings, but also did adry run on the bus to

Palma airport to make sure Brian knew where it went and where to get it on the wayback. It is remarkable that you can catch the airport bus about 200 yards from themarina entrance, it takes about hr and from the airport be in Manchester in 3hours. It only took us 5 months to get here!


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Palma is just the rightsize town for me enough of interest towander round for acouple of days, a fewinteresting buildings(yes, a castle on thehill, a cathedral and apalace on the left of thecathedral in thispicture), an old part of town and also some bigshops and lots of chandlers for Brian!Not that manyferretarias though.

We have had thebikes out and cycledalong the seafrontand up to Bellver Castle today(Wednesday). WhileBrian was away Itook the tourist busaround the city

which served toidentify good placesto visit and also spyuseful shops. Oneof these was anopticians which Ilater visited and atlast got new framesfor my broken

specs, so the spare pair can go back into storage. It is great to have the reactivesunglass feature back again!

The marinas from Bellver Castle


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Changing the Guard at the Palace


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The local market is about 5 minutes up the hill and is full of seasonal fruit andvegetables. We had pork fillet in cream with ceps on Monday, delicious! Pilot fish onthe menu tonight never had those before! There are crates full of clementines andoranges they are almost giving them away. The park outside the marina hasorange trees in it which are covered in fruit! The local populace is gearing up for Christmas and street lights have been festooned across every road and park.

Illuminated fountains are all over the town..

Palma residents are now wrapped up in boots and overcoats the summer harempants have been packed away (seemed to be the fashion item this year). And weare preparing for our next big hop across to Tunisia, just waiting for a good 5 dayspell of good weather to make the trip. At present this is elusive and we are likely tobe here for another week. The evenings are quite cold now and our fan heater is onevery night while we have shore power. While anchoring we used the recentlyrepaired Eberspacher which works fine.

A formal park outside the Palace

It being Christmas, we have indulged in a bitof a shopping spree already, having foundat last a small LCD TV that works as a 2 nd

screen for the laptop so we can see our electronic charts on deck. But of course it isa TV too, so we are now about to fashionsome kind of antenna. And an antenna toenhance our wifi access is being planned we had some really helpful advice from a


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company in Palma as to what we needed which is next on our list to hunt for. Andyet another invertor had to be bought as our second one gave up the ghost leavingus with only the spare. So we bought a very big one that will run power tools too andactually has a guarantee this time!

I just realised that I should send Christmas cards to those few people who dont knowthat we have left the UK, and try to stop them sending us cards. Please dont sendus Christmas cards! So a big expedition to a shopping mall is planned, and I hadbetter start on another shopping list.

In the meantime, on the recommendation of one of our correspondents, Iexperimented with a website where I can just email the travelogue and it gets put uplike a blog. So if anyone wants to look back at our travel history it is athttp://alixora.posterous.com and I will attempt to add some of the videos we took of dolphins and waves and recently the changing of the guard! The type is a bit smallon the blog site, but there is a Fullscreen link at the top of each section that makesit full size.

The view from our boat the other way windmills in Palma (nightclubs really!)

There will no doubt be another episode to send you before Christmas, so until thenand again thanks for all the emails keeping us in touch with the real world.

All the bestRose & Brian
http://alixora.posterous.com/http://alixora.posterous.com/

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Rose & Brian 03 December 2009 Around Mallorca Hi All