Mahon, Menorca to Puerto Soller, Mallorca

GIBRALTAR

 We arrived at Gibraltar early in the morning on Thursday 18th August after a long 3 night, 4 day passage. Light SE winds blew us along til the last 24 hours when they petered out completely. The 2 knot current was against us so if we continued sailing we would go backwards; also we were aware of a gale forecast to blow up the next day, so we motored to get to Gibraltar in the calm and just as well; some friends who decided to keep sailing arrived in the midst of the storm and were flattened by 50 + knot winds as they motored into the bay; even the large tankers and cargo ships at anchor were having problems.

We didn't stop at Ibiza as we were running out of time and the thought of beer swilling drunken Brits didn't inspire us much. We had good winds behind us and sailed all the 120nm to Cartegena in 36 hours.

We stayed in a fancy marina (60 euros a night) at Cartegena which was a pleasant change after all our anchoring. The old town was very pretty with a lovely walking street which turned into a tapas bars and restaurants at night.

Menorca to Mallorca


Miss Molly sailing along the NW coast of Mallorca


The scenery along the North Coast of Mallorca was spectacular with sheer, rugged cliffs plunging into the sea; nestled in between were tiny sandy and pebbly calas (coves). A lot of this coast is inaccessible by road. In fact much of it is a world heritage site of biosphere and cultural interest. All the vilaages are built of stone and tone walls hold the terraces in place on the steep hillsides. 

Puerto Soller is the only harbour on the north coast offering a protected anchorage, so very crowded in summer. Makoko was surrounded by boats which was a bit of a problem; in flat calm because of the currents and the differing  weights of boats we had yachts drifting into us as well as anchors dragging when a gale blew up and the wind was piping in at 30+ knots, creating a very uncomfortable swell; so it was fun and games the first few days til the weather settled down.



Despite being a tourist town, Puerto Soller still has its traditions. The little harbour is full of these fishing boats which brave the swell and at times inhospitable seas.



Puerto Soller harbour




Until the tourists moved in Puerto Soller was an idyllic, small fishing village. Now the old historic town with colourful buldings and narrow cobbled streets is completely over whelmed by hotels, apartments, restaurants and shops. The sandy beaches around the harbour were packed with umbrellas and sunburnt, overweight Poms and Germans.                                                                

Tourist train from the port to the old town of Soller



To get away from the beach scene we decided to take a trip inland over to Palma, the capital on the south coast of Mallorca. We caught a little tourist tram which chuffed 4 kms uphill to the old medieval town of Soller built inland from the port to protect it from pirates. A large cathedral dominated the leafy square which had a real old worldly feeling about it. From there we caught a traditional old victorian train to Palma. For an hour we lapped up the luxury of sitting in a small carraige with old leather high backed seats; the scenery was stunning as we climbed up the mountain pass,deciduos forests and lower down the slopes,stone walled terraces of olive trees.

Enjoying the trip tp Palma on old Victorian train



Street scene Palma


Palma was an exciting place to visit. It was very atmospheric with lots of buskers, musicians, artists all competing for your attention and money. We enjoyed expolring the old medieval part with its narrow cobbled streets, brightly painted buildings and historic churches. The Cathedral was very impressive with its cream white washed walls, soaring vaulted ceilings and little chapels. The chandelier over the altar and the wrought iron balustrades were designed by Gaudi and gave the Cathedral a unique modern feeling.

Even in Church Dave has to play with his eyepad!



Magnificent Gaudi chandelier in Palma Cathedral



The spires of Palma Cathedral



The young model was beautifull but painfully thin

Model shoot in Palma near the old harbour

Friday 21th July: Early morning start  to sail 53 nm from Mallorca to NE Ibiza
in light winds

Monday 8th July: We are now at Puerto Soller on Mallorca anchored with lots of boats riding out a 7 knot gale. So we have been on the boat all day, watching others drag their anchors; it has been mayhem as it is so crowded. Luckily Makoko is rock solid.

Town Hall, Es Castells, Mahon, Menorca

 On our last day before leaving Mahon we dinghied across the bay to the quaint small fishing village of Es Castells formerly known as Georgetown when the British occupied thtis area in the 18th century The main buildings around the big squar, once military barracks, are Georgian in style and painted British miliitary red. The town has a distinctive English feel about it and many of the buidings have English architectural details such as bow and sash windows.

 Restaurants and little boutique shops lined the old fishing harbour; the quay was closed to traffic and so it was very relaxed and peacefull except for the local lads jumping of the quay into the water.

 On our last night in Mahon we decided to go out to dinner at Es Castells. Monica and I decided to sport a new look in life jackets rather than the cumbersome, hot, heavy sea worthy ones!

We had a fantastic meal at Restaurant Irene; 18 euros for a 4 course meal including wine, plate of local olives and bread. Not only was it good value but of Michelin quality. Starters of dates wrapped in proscuito were followed by shrimp, mussels and roasted pepepper in a light consommecold soup; then  the girls had wonderfully succulent lamb shanks and the boys TB steaks from Argentina, the size of a dinner plate. To end with strawberries and lemon sorbet.

We had a wonderful 6 day stay exploring Mahon

and its surrounds.

The anchorage was delightful but at times very

crowded, hence the fenders out on the side of

Makoko. But it was time to move on as there was a good weather forecast for sailing along the NW coast.

We were interested to see the huge Vickers Gun camouflaged on top of the cliff.

We had a great afternoon sail in light SE winds; for 22 nautical miles the wind was behind us so we had a mizzen stay sail which we call Claudie ( a name inherited from the previous owners) and the head sail poled out the other side ( a uniques Amel design). Unfortunatley there was no one around to take a photo.

We spent the night in Cala Rotja a big bay with a lovely long red/golden sandy beach.

Next morning an early start for the 34nm passage to Mallorca. again the gods were with us and we had a good sail, although at times a bit rolly polly withl a SE wind pushing us along at 7+ knots.

 

 We arrived at Cala Figuera, a spectacular small cove surrounded by high cliffs just inside the headland of Cabo de Formentor.

Our friends Phil and Monica on Good Golly Miss Molly sailed around from Pollensa to join us and we celebrated with a wonderful shrimp curry cooked by Phil as the moon rose behind the cliffs; unfortunatley I didn't have my camera with me to record such an amazing sight.

The wonderful scenery inspired us to have an early morning exercise session. We climbed the steep path to the saddle and then ran along the road to the summit.

I wasn't as energetic as Dave as I stopped to take lots of photos.

Dave trying to race the cyclist through the tunnel in the cliff

 

Spectacular sunrise at Cala Figuera



Mountain goats grazing in the saddle and lovely pine forests in the background

After climbing the mountain, I had a lovely long swim out to Makoko in crystal clear water.

we then set off to sail 25 nm to Puerto Soller.

 The coastal scenery was spectacular; sheer cliffs and rugged mountains interspersed by the occassional little sandy Cala.

Again the wind was behind us so we had Claudie and the poled headsail to move us along.

   Cala de la Calobra one of the iconic scenes on Mallorca. We are unlucky that we are here in August as most of the calas are very crowded with Spanish and French boats.

We arrived at Puerto Soller late in the afternoon to find the bay very crowded; we managed to squeeze in and anchor next to a big gin palace.

 



Crowded anchorage in Puerto Soller harbour





                                                        

                                                                          





Crowded anchorage in Puerto Soller harbour







Voyage from Sardinia to Mahon,Menorca, 28th July 2011

We left Sardinia early in the morning to face a strong NW wind; we avaeraged 7+knots for the first 24 hours and then the wind died away; so we had 2 options; use the motor and arrive at Mahon in the middle of the night (not recommended) or sail at 0-3 knots and spend another night at sea. So we chose the latter although must admit the lack of wind and the rocking and rolling in the swell was a bit frustrating and at times made us feel a bit seasick. However the spectacular sunset and sunrise  made it all worthwhile. Luckily on my sunrise watch the wind strenghtened to 15 knots.

 We arrived early in the morning at Capo Teleura a small cove inside the narrow entrance to Mahon Harbour  which the locals say is the second biggest after Sydney Harbour. Luckily we managed to find an achorage amongst the 30+ boats; it is August and the locals are on holiday and they love this bayas do the cruising yachts as it is very sheltered from all winds, so it is quite a playground and a great place to people watch; yesterdaywhen a strong SE blew some of  boats dragged thier anchors and one of the motor launches ran aground and had to be hauled off by the water police.

It is  2km dinghy ride in to the old town of Mahon then a 100 + step climb up from the port. It is a very picturesque town with narrow windy cobbled streets, colourfully painted medieval buildings and treelined placas (piazzas).

Dave as always fiddling with his eye pod trying to get wifi; at least it keeps him happy while I go shopping and exploring.

Dave enjoying the views



Yesterday we spent many hours wandering around La Mola a huge fortress spread over 80 acres, built in 1850 on a headland at entrance to the port of Mahon to protect the Baleriacs and Spain from the British and the French. It was used by the military until 1975 and sadly  most of the buildings are now in a state of ruin.Dave was fascinated by design and workings of  the 15" Vickers gun which were brought from England and put in place in 1930. They are manily used on battleships and weigh 250 tons, have a 17 metre barrell and a range of 35 kms. 

Dave was fascinated by design and workings of  the 15" Vickers gun which were brought from England and put in place in 1930. They are manily used on battleships and weigh 250 tons, have a 17 metre barrell and a range of 35 kms. 

Goodbye Sardinia: 28th July

Sailed west from Malfatano to Porto Pinno a beautiful large bay with sandy beaches and even sand dunes.

Sardinia has limited develpoment to within 500 metres of the coast so it is unspoilt compared with Turkey, Greece and Italy.

Porto Pinno

Today we begin our voyage across to the Balearics as good winds are forecast.

Sardinia: 12th-28th July 2011

Passage to Sardinia:

The passage across was slow as there was little wind; our average speed was 3-4 knots so we took 2 nights and 3 days to reach  Carbonara Bay on the south coast of Sardinia. Ashore were lovely sandy beaches with outcrops of big granite boulders. We enjoyed swimming in the crystal clear water and catching up on some sleep.

Makoko anchored in Carbonara Bay across the isthmus

Sadly it was time for Jan and Cathy to leave us so we sailed along the coast to Cagliari the capital of Sardinia. We spent 3 days in a pretty rickety old marina that was 60 euros a night! Cagliari has had a very interesting history which is reflected in the interesting architecture, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Moors, Spanish, and Italian all occupied the island. Narrow medieval cobbled streets and alleyways climb up a hill from the port to the cathedral. It was a great place to shop so the wallet suffered a bit.

Cagliari

We rented a car for 2 days  so we could explore the island. The first day we headed inland up into the mountains.  In 12,000 BC the Nuraghe people inhabited this area. They built sophisticated round stone structures enclosed by 4 towers. I particularly liked their little bronze statues which were used as burial icons; they were naïve and IPicasso like in their simplicity. The mountain flora was so lush compared to the coast and there were even pockets of broadleaf forest. We stopped for lunch in one of the mountain villages. Impatient to explore I went off to take some photos and was befriended by some locals who invited me to join them in their wine cellar for a drink.

Enjoying a vino with the locals

The mistral was blowing and there was Aussie style surf rolling in, looked as if there was a very strong current so we didn’t brave the surf.

Surfers at Buggeru

Buggeru situated in a spectacular setting on the coast was very interesting; it was an old mining town where they mined alum, silver and tin from the cliffs and then poured the ore into chutes for processing before loading by hand into ships; backbreaking work to say the least!

The local market at San Archittu beckoned us to stop; a short stroll to the coast revealed an unusual sight; fishing boats and small leisure craft moored in a small calm lagoon protected by a reef while outside the mistral was blowing at force 7

Harbour at San Archittu 

Tony and Claire from SY Hai Mei Gui with Dave enjoying the scenery at San Archittu

We enjoyed a great lunch at a local taverna in the little town of Magomados  I had the local speciality, Spaghetti Battarda which is fish roe fried with breadcrumbs ,garlic and herbs. We also visited the local winery where we stocked up with wine and Mirto, a liquer made from myrtille berries. We continued north stopping at  Bosa Marina to admire the old port and lovely sandy beach protected from the westerly gales by a huge sea wall. The old town 3 kms inland was a colourful of 3 storey narrow buildings all painted different colours

  The town of Alghero once a Catalan colony is an impressive sight sitting on a small promontory surrounded by a high rock wall with medieval fortifications and towers Although very touristy the town has a great atmosphere and we enjoyed wandering the old cobbled streets that felt more like Spain than Italy. Our visit to the Cathedral was made even more inspiring by an organ recital

Sea wall and fortifications at Alghero

Dave avoiding the shops!

It was a long 3 hour car trip back to Cagliari. We cut across to the motorway and  for 60 kms enjoyed the interesting scenery rolling hills, little villages olive and cork tree orchards.

 The mistral had blown itself out so we left Cagliari and sailed south amongst the yachts racing in the Audi Cup.

Racing machines; Audi Cup

We spent a very uncomfortable night rolling around in a swell in a bay near Pula and the ancient ruins of Nora. So the next day we moved on to Malfatano and anchored in a little bay near a lovely sandy beach with crystal clear water; during the day the beach was full of people parading around and relaxing under their colourful beach umbrellas. We stayed there for 4 nights with a lot of other yachts sheltering from the mistral which at one stage blew 46 knots.

THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS: 4th - 7th July 2011

After leaving Milazzo we sailed across to the Aeolian Islands. We spent 2 nights at Isola Volcano and climbed the still bubbling volcano admiring the view of Makoko moored in the bay below. The brilliant yellow sulphurous rocks on the rim were quite spectacular.

We explored the islands of Lipari and Filicudi before heading back to Cefalu on the Sicilian coast. The town has a spectacular setting nestling below a cliff on a headland with a long sandy beach stretching west. The cobbled streets led up to the cathedral which glowed like gold in the late afternoon sun.

   The remote island, Isola Ustica was our jumping of point for our passage to Sardinia. We moored up to the ferry jetty which was very rolly when ships went past. Dave got up in the middle of the night when the fender on the  boat beside us knocked the lid of our barbie. As he was going ashore to adjust the ropes, a swell rocked the boat and he overbalanced on the gang plank and despite all his exercising could not hang onto the back shroud and fell into the water dropping an expensive coil of rope which sunk to the bottom Luckily, with a successful dive for the rope the next day there no damage other than pride and small lacerations on his hand.

With strong north westerly’s forecast later in the week we decided to set sail for Sardinia. Unfortunately no wind meant motor sailing the first 50nm then when the wind freshened to 8 knots from the stern we put up the sails and used the unique Amel pole system to hold out the headsail. We plodded along at 3 & 4 knots; the slow speed was made worthwhile when the fishing line suddenly went buzz; we all thought it was just a piece of plastic as we could not see any fish jumping out of the water! But a silver glistening shape proved us wrong and Jan managed to land a 12 kilo yellow fin tuna. Being the fisher woman I had the job of cleaning up the bloody mess on the deck and preparing the fish for eating. As an experiment I marinated some flesh in lemon juice, garlic and ginger which was quite delicious.

SICILY: 22nd June - 3rd July 2011

Syracuse was a very interesting place to spend a week. We were anchored in the bay in front of the old medieval town of Ortiga and took the dinghy in each day to explore. The streets of Syracuse were festooned with oleander trees in full bloom. The local market was to die for with fresh fruit and vegetables at such cheap prices and such good quality; tomatoes and nectarines both 1 euro a kilo were so full of flavour compared with what we get in the UK and Aus



Dave enjoying the sights of the medieval quarter of Ortiga in Syracuse during an early morning jog. caption



A new boat Hai Mei Gui withTony and Clare on board joined the clan. Nights were spent exploring local restaurants or getting together for drinks, barbecues, musical evenings on each others boats with guitars, harmonicas and violin and lots of beer and wine.



Stewart and Phil accompanying Dave









Dave and Tony jamming the blues



As well as having fun there was also work to do.



 One of the many highlights of our stay was a visit to Noto a baroque town in the hills south of Syracuse. The town was rebuilt in 1693 after an earthquake and was designed by a top Sicilian architect. All the buildings were a soft salmon/ terracotta/ cream sandstone; the soft colour of the buildings was contrasted by espaliered fig and oleander trees.

Noto Cathedral

After a week of fun it was hard to leave our friends behind but it was time to move on and do some more exploring. We sailed up the Sicilian coast to Taormina and anchored in a cove below the historic town high up on the hill above. The view, the ambience, architecture, trendy shops, and restaurants made the climb up the hill well worthwhile.



The eddies and whirlpools in the Messina Straits

 Messina Straits then beckoned us; we had great fun sailing between ferries, cargo ships, speed boats and windsurfers, not to mention the charybidis, bastardi, whirlpools and eddies. It was relatively calm so the renowned sword fish fishing boats were out; they look so unseaworthy with their 50 ft steel lattice masts and bowsprits; the captain sits on a chair at the top of the mast and contols the boat; when a swordfish is spotted sunning itself they sneek up on it the harpoonist walks along the bowsprit and fires the harpoon. In the picture below you can just see the harpoonist standing as if suspended about 10m in fromt of the boat.

Swordfishing boats

Milazzo was our next port of call; here disaster struck when we managed to foul the propeller on the bow thruster  as we were trying to pick up the lazy lines; as if this wasn’t depressing enough we damaged the electric lead  when the boat lurched in the swell from the ferries. Our friends from the Hunter Valley ,Jan and Cathy came aboard and Jan immediately set about to fix the lead. Dave dived to look at the bow thruster to discover the prop had completely fallen off, unfortunately in too deeper water to retrieve. Luckily we had a spare on board, so after much duck diving and cursing we were ready to set sail again. Light winds blew us to the Aeolian Islands.

Dave and Cathy admiring the colourful houses in Milazzo





Checking out of Turkey and passage through the Greek Islands to the Peloponnese 1st - 20th June

Good winds blew us back to Cesme where we had decided to check out of Turkey; this was a bit of  a nightmare; luckily Dave thought to get the bicycle out so he could get from place to place; first the Harbour Master’s Office, then Bank to pay an 8 euro tax then back to HM to get the paper stamped then to the Port Police and Customs 2kms away on the end of the pier another 2 stamps then back to the HM to get the final clearance; the whole process took 2 hours!

To recover and recuperate we had a great afternoon sail to Emborio a tiny fishing village on the south coast of Chios where we were privileged to be the only yacht anchored in the bay with crystal clear water. The beach just around the point consisted of pitch black shiny, perfectly round and oval pebbles

We hitched to the village of Pygri 12 kms inland; it was the centre of the mastic industry and all the houses including the cathedral were decorated in geometric patterns reminiscent of Arabic art.

We then began our journey south via Tinos and Kea to the Peloponnesus. It was great to visit Hydra again; this time we anchored in a lovely little cove in Mandraki Bay 2kms along the coast from the chora.

  Hydra was buzzing with tourists enjoying a weekend away from Athens. I was thrilled to find the little shop where 5 years ago I bought some embroidered cloth shoes made in Thessalonica; so I indulged and bought 2 more pairs as they are so stylish and comfortable.

We spent a couple of days at Porto Kheli provisioning and doing some DIY on Makoko. A short sail across the bay took us to Spetsai where we  enjoyed a long lunch before heading off to Kiprosis, a pretty little fishing village with crystal clear water and lovely white washed and stone houses built right on the shore beside the pebble beach and tiny harbour.

Strong winds 30+ knots around…… forced us to rethink and rather than head straight into the wind and big seas we decided to sail south to Kithera. We anchored off a long sandy beach near the village of Avelomona. Luckily it was very good holding as we were holed up there for 3 days sheltering  gales from the NW.

A long motor/sail across the bottom of the Peloponnese to Methoni where we anchored  near the ruins of the 14^th century venetian fort on the headland of a large sandy bay; a spectacular setting with the island of Sapientza in the background.

It was here that we met Stew and Steph on Matador an English couple who have been cruising in the Med for the last 5 years. They were a great fount of knowledge and helped Dave with SSB radio and sailmail and also a new computer based chart system that links into a GPS, so he was a very happy bunny as these things had been bugging him. Some friends of theirs Phil and Monika arrived on a catamaran, Miss Molly.

We decided to accompany them to Navarinou Bay we anchored near a long sandy beach with a lagoon behind the beach. It was here in 1827 the British fleet sailed into the maw of a much larger Turkish fleet with bands playing and gun hatches part opened. The ensuing battle was like a hand to hand battle with ships at point blank ranges. Carnage ensured but it was a win for the Brits which said more about the training of their gun crews than the tactics of their Admirals. This was the final nail in the coffin of Turkish domination of Greece and the beginnings of the new Greek state. After 2 days of relaxing, socializing and catching up on boat maintenance   near a long sandy beach with a lagoon behind the beach. An old Venetian fortress on top of the headland beckoned us to an early morning climb. We then sailed across the bay to Pylos where we provisioned up for our passage across to Sicily 230 nautical miles away.

We were lucky with the wind; we had a beam reach the whole way across and except for 5 hours when there was no wind, sailed all the way. Makoko performed well helped by Dave’s persistence in getting the sails right; we arrived at Syracuse on the SE coast of Sicily 10 hours before our friends on Matador and Miss Molly.