We left LaGrande Motte for an overnight sail (240NM) to Fornells, on the North side of Menorca in the Balearic islands and were accompanied along the way by our friends Anja and Patrick from Anam Cara. I had just become a little more comfortable with some French words and now I had to switch to Spanish….
We had a wonderful, but short, visit with them, including a hike around the peninsula to the east of the anchorage. But then it was time to push off (20 NM) to meet our daughter and her finance Chris in Majorca (the largest island in the Balearics. It’s always a little bittersweet when you have bit “adieu” to people that you’ve spent time so much time with and we sincerely hope our paths cross again in the near future.
We arrived on Friday, Aug. 14th and dropped anchor in a small bay near Ciutadella (west side of Menorca, close to the airport). The holding was good in sand although there was a lot a boat traffic and boat wakes that made the anchorage a little lively. There were a couple of interesting sights too, like the golden lab trying to swim between boats but requiring help from people to board, and the fully nude sunbathers who where highly likely to get a sunburn that they wouldn’t soon forget.
Chris and Andrea took the “fast ferry” over from Barcelona (4 hours) and arrived about 8:30 pm on Sat. (8/15). Ideally, we would have stayed a few nights in a marina to make it easier for guests to board, but this was high season and marina fees were about $400/per night!!! So, we took our dinghy across the cala (a bay), hopped out in water up to our knees, and pulled it up on the beach to collect them. It was high season, when meant the beach was packed with swimmers and onlookers from nearby restaurants. We have not seen either of our children since the 1st week of April (and we still have 2 more weeks before we see Ian)! FaceTime and texting have certainly helped “shrink” the distance, but it’s not a substitute for the real thing!
The next day we sailed southwest to Mallorca (30NM) since we weren’t sure whether Chris would get seasick, Ironically, it was Andrea, the Pisces, who felt a little queasy, and needed a Dramamine tablet. This is the result on the right …
Unfortunately, this is probably the hottest place we have spent overnight since getting the boat – it was 96 in the cabin at one point. Andrea and Chris got out the paddle boards to explore the anchorage which probably had 60 boats, mostly local motor boats. Several local kids came over and asked if they could swim under our boat.
They seemed to get quite a kick out of it and then started to ask lots of questions about where we were from, and how long we’d been sailing. They were shocked to hear that we lived on the boat and were planning to sail it back to the US. Interacting with the people from each country is what I like best about this lifestyle.
Anthony loves the actual sailing, but for me, it’s a “means of transportation” to places I would never visit otherwise. It also allows us to be travelers, rather than just tourists.
Having to shop, buy food, do laundry, get fuel, etc., provides a much different perspective than staying in a hotel and eating out every night… although I must admit, at this point in our trip… that sounds like heaven!
We had to keep moving because the forecast called for a strong northerly breeze the next couple of days. This meant we need to be somewhere on the south shore of Majorca. So the next morning the crew was up before dawn, and slipped out of the anchorage and headed north and then east around the point. Seas were lumpy until we were able to turn south again along the east side of Majorca, where we had a great sail with Genny (gennaker). We picked off (passed) a dozen or so cruisers or charter boats going the same way (heh heh).
The captain screwed up on the first anchorage and had us anchor over rock (it kinda looked like sand but wasn’t). The anchor eventually bit – and hard – but when we decided we needed to go elsewhere, the anchor was fouled (stuck). We decided to have a bite to eat, while we devised a strategy to free the anchor. Fortunately, it was only about 12 feet deep, so we dove down to check out the problem.
The tip was stuck in a crevice and pulling up on the shank during a typical raising of the anchor was a no go. Andrea and the lousy captain tried to free it by hand and were partially successful, but the anchor reset in the same spot 30 seconds later. We eventually freed the anchor by hooking a trip line to the front of the anchor and motoring up with the boat. It was a bit tricky given the nearby boats, the gusty wind, and the fact that Moxie’s bow blows off very easily when not on a bridle. All in all we lost about 3 hours, but found a much better anchorage with a sandy bottom and lots more space about 2 miles further west.
We were able to dinghy ashore, grab some ice cream, and found an open grocery store (on a Spanish holiday) to get some fresh food. We had extra hand for schlepping the groceries back to the boat.
Although we would have liked to have seen more of Mallorca, we needed make our way towards Cartegena by August 21st to reconnect with sailing friends from our circumnavigation (Wolfgang, Olga, Albert, and Alicia from Wetnose).
After a quick stop at Formentera (the southern-most island of the Balearics), we pulled up anchor at dawn and headed to Alicante on the Spanish mainland.
We put our crew to work right away and cleaned the boat while underway! Anthony’s distant relative Captain Bligh would have been proud!
We docked at Marina Alicante late Wednesday afternoon after a long day’s sail. The last 4-5 hours of sailing were magic! We had Kobe aka “the black mamba” aka the code 0 sail up and were doing 7-8 knots in 10-12 knots of wind and flat water!!!
Side note…. As we were hovering waiting to be told where to dock, someone from a nearby catamaran (Lagoon) called out “Hey, are you from Colorado?”. We said “yes, Boulder/Denver area”. Turns out they were from Colorado Springs and had just picked up their new boat to cruise the Med this fall. What are the odds!
Alicante was lovely and we really enjoyed some time on land and walking around. The only drawback was that all of the Dramamine caught up with Andrea and she scared the hell out of her parents when she fainted at dinner. We were looking at the menu when she said she felt light headed, leaned her head against the post, and then just slumped over. She was out about 10 seconds and then came to… only to faint again for another 30 seconds…. I was freaking out by that time, yelling “Is there a doctor in the house? Someone call a doctor! Medico?! Doctor!! 911?!! Finally, the wait staff came over and said the ambulance was on the way…. They moved us inside (not a good look for the passers by…) and we laid Andrea on the floor using the seat cushions as pillows and the tablecloths for blankets. I wish I had taken a picture of her on the floor, but I thought it would have been rude and I had no idea about the outcome at the time.
Andrea was alert enough to talk to the medics when they arrived – which was fortunate because they didn’t speak much English (she’s fluent in Spanish). They took her vital signs, stayed with us for about 30 minutes to make sure there were no more fainting spells and then went on their way. They were wonderful! We gulped down our dinner while she rested on the floor, and then headed back to the boat. We had barely gotten out the door when Andrea threw up all over the sidewalk. After further research, we surmised that she had too much Dramamine in her system (it can lower blood pressure) so no more Dramamine for her!
We left Alicante for Cartegena early Friday (8/20) morning for another long day of sailing. Andrea was feeling much better and our crew were getting really good at putting up and taking down sails.
We arrived in Cartegena about 5:00 pm and the Wetnose captain and crew joined us onboard shortly thereafter for a quick toast to our new home. Even, from 3T, flew in the next day to join the reunion!
We toured a little bit of Cartegena including the remnants of a very old Roman Amphitheatre (built between 1 and 5 BC and being “refurbished”) and a 13/14th Century medieval Castillo de la Concepción, but mostly we hung out at the Wetnose’s house in San Javier.
They have a lovely yard with a pool, barbecue, big kitchen (with air conditioning). There really was no better place to be. They wined and dined us, lent us a car, took Andrea and Chris to the airport to catch their flight, and generally spoiled us. Those 4 days were magic and just the break from the boat that we needed. There are moments in life where you have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming… After all these years, to be sailing another boat, in Spain, and meeting up with friends from a sailing adventure 14 years ago…. Wow… pretty amazing when you think about it….
Winds were favorable for a Tuesday departure, and although we would have loved to have stayed longer, we needed to head off to Gibraltar (240NM) to pick up our Spinnaker before heading off to the Canaries. We left early Tuesday morning (8/24) and rounded the Rock of Gibraltar (yes, that famous Rock) on Wednesday evening (8/25).
In this video, you can see all of the tankers and cargo ships because this is a very busy channel for moving goods between Europe and the US.
After safely docking at Alcaidesa Marina (on the Spanish side) we were off to dinner and looking forward to a good night’s sleep. We’ll have a closer look at this area in the next few days while we wait for our sail….
It’s so wonderful to meet up with your sailing friends from years back! I love the pics!
Miss you but your wonderful stories make me feel like your not too far away😘