mjkinch1
Well-Known Member
We had a great trip from Majorca to Menorca the other weekend. Medreamer and SWMBO joined me and Heather (plus Son no. 1) for pretty much our first long distance trip, stopping over in Mahon. It was great going in convoy, and gave us a lot more confidence.
For the first time since I have been in the med, there was no wind whatsoever, and the trip started great with the sea like a lake.
With not another boat in sight we slowly left the marina for our great escape..This is my boat taken by Medreamer as we got under way
Medreamer is behind me, but the nimble engines of the Sealine 34 soon leave me trailing, until the Phantom can get the turbo's kicking in!
The plan was to go to Son Saura on the south coast for lunch, and I guess it was about two hours at 20knots before we arrived. The sea was so flat that aprt from the odd (well marked) lobster pot, it was pretty trouble free.
This is the Phantom cheerily trotting along, autopilot on, tracking medreamers S34.
And of course the Sealine also performed faultlessly (using about half the fuel I was as well!)
We eventually Reached Son Saura, which was a little busy, but still plenty of room to anchor. The Sea was so clear and warm, and the fish came from nowhere whenever we threw bread in. Most of the yachties were naked, which I guess must be a 'wind in the hair' thing that has escaped me.
SWMBO not trusting me without a swimming aid..
Nice lunch and onto Mahon. We cut across in a straight line for Isla de Aire, but it was a bit more bumpy, so we slowed progress to about 13-14knots, and in fact I dropped into Medreamers wake to smooth the journey!
This is as we made our approach to Mahon, which is quite an amazing sight, much bigger than I had thought, plus lots of traffic around. Mahon is the second deepest natural harbour in the world next to Pearl Harbour, and its a pretty impressive sight, stretching some 3.5 miles inland. You can still see Canons mounted at the entrance, and many hundreds of years of building defences
Lots of fishing boats, thank goodness we missed the liners, more of that later
We booked the Sunseeker moorings, which I think worked out about 70e a night, we stayed 2 nights, and Medreamer stayed on another couple of nights. This is the view from the top looking down over the harbour.
Beacuse its a commercial harbour, it took some getting used to the large boats in and out. This liner passed some 50-60 yards away as we had a drink
After a nice couple of days, we were at the fueling berth first thing, topped up (ouch!) and away, although there was a slight southerly forecast.
We came out of Mahon, and it was a little wavy to say the least, the anchor was touching the water on the dip, and we decided to go round the North of the island, as in theory it should have been protected. Once we got around the point, it was great, the wind was behind us, and the swell was fairly manageable at about 18 knots. Medreamer had mentioned Isla Colom, so we decided to stop over for breakfast, and what a lovely place it was, with hardly any other boats
We took the dinghy ashore for a walk, and this is a view of the bay we moored in, the only boat on this side. We did swing a bit in the wind, so I used a second anchor for the first time, holding the boat into the slight swell, and it worked really well.
and this was our other neighbour...looked like a liveaboard, or he had been there a while. Nice people
After this we decided to stop over in Fornells, which looked another great harbour, and it had a market on, plus plenty of shops.....however through a number of reasons that only people who have boats can understand, we cocked up grabbing a bouy, and ended up with it under the boat. I grabbed the goggles, straight in the water to see the rope wrapped 3-4 times around my prop. Terrific. The pressure of the wind meant I couldnt loosen it off, and I was reluctant to cut it. I did try using the dinghy to pull the boat backwards so son no. 1 could loosen it, but the bubbles from the outboard meant he couldnt see what was going on, as they streamed directly back over the rear of the boat. So we radioded the HM, and in fairness they were out in 20 minutes with a diver. I was worried about the pressure on the prop, but all seemed OK. The HM did what I tried but with a more powerful engine, and the diver released the rope without cutting it. We were fairly shaken up, so decided enough was enough and decided not to stop. Such was my fear, that I forgot to take any pictures! Anyway it was 100e, but I cant complain.
After this we pretty much kept going, just stopping off in Cala del Pilar for a sandwich, then a direct line to Cabo nati, round to Cabo Binicous (actually a bit far, I should have turned starboard earlier) and across to Alcudia. The swell was on the beam, so again we took it easy at about 16-18knots, and a couple of hours later we had the welcom sight of Alcudia and its twin chimneys.
Quite a trip, I wish we had faired better in Fornells, but the rest of it was magic, and it has given us a taste for longer trips away, and I feel so much more confident in the boat, the handling was great, the engines smooth, the fuel consumption horrific, and we will do it again.
Apologies ofr so many pics, but you should have seen how many we took!
Martyn
For the first time since I have been in the med, there was no wind whatsoever, and the trip started great with the sea like a lake.
With not another boat in sight we slowly left the marina for our great escape..This is my boat taken by Medreamer as we got under way
Medreamer is behind me, but the nimble engines of the Sealine 34 soon leave me trailing, until the Phantom can get the turbo's kicking in!
The plan was to go to Son Saura on the south coast for lunch, and I guess it was about two hours at 20knots before we arrived. The sea was so flat that aprt from the odd (well marked) lobster pot, it was pretty trouble free.
This is the Phantom cheerily trotting along, autopilot on, tracking medreamers S34.
And of course the Sealine also performed faultlessly (using about half the fuel I was as well!)
We eventually Reached Son Saura, which was a little busy, but still plenty of room to anchor. The Sea was so clear and warm, and the fish came from nowhere whenever we threw bread in. Most of the yachties were naked, which I guess must be a 'wind in the hair' thing that has escaped me.
SWMBO not trusting me without a swimming aid..
Nice lunch and onto Mahon. We cut across in a straight line for Isla de Aire, but it was a bit more bumpy, so we slowed progress to about 13-14knots, and in fact I dropped into Medreamers wake to smooth the journey!
This is as we made our approach to Mahon, which is quite an amazing sight, much bigger than I had thought, plus lots of traffic around. Mahon is the second deepest natural harbour in the world next to Pearl Harbour, and its a pretty impressive sight, stretching some 3.5 miles inland. You can still see Canons mounted at the entrance, and many hundreds of years of building defences
Lots of fishing boats, thank goodness we missed the liners, more of that later
We booked the Sunseeker moorings, which I think worked out about 70e a night, we stayed 2 nights, and Medreamer stayed on another couple of nights. This is the view from the top looking down over the harbour.
Beacuse its a commercial harbour, it took some getting used to the large boats in and out. This liner passed some 50-60 yards away as we had a drink
After a nice couple of days, we were at the fueling berth first thing, topped up (ouch!) and away, although there was a slight southerly forecast.
We came out of Mahon, and it was a little wavy to say the least, the anchor was touching the water on the dip, and we decided to go round the North of the island, as in theory it should have been protected. Once we got around the point, it was great, the wind was behind us, and the swell was fairly manageable at about 18 knots. Medreamer had mentioned Isla Colom, so we decided to stop over for breakfast, and what a lovely place it was, with hardly any other boats
We took the dinghy ashore for a walk, and this is a view of the bay we moored in, the only boat on this side. We did swing a bit in the wind, so I used a second anchor for the first time, holding the boat into the slight swell, and it worked really well.
and this was our other neighbour...looked like a liveaboard, or he had been there a while. Nice people
After this we decided to stop over in Fornells, which looked another great harbour, and it had a market on, plus plenty of shops.....however through a number of reasons that only people who have boats can understand, we cocked up grabbing a bouy, and ended up with it under the boat. I grabbed the goggles, straight in the water to see the rope wrapped 3-4 times around my prop. Terrific. The pressure of the wind meant I couldnt loosen it off, and I was reluctant to cut it. I did try using the dinghy to pull the boat backwards so son no. 1 could loosen it, but the bubbles from the outboard meant he couldnt see what was going on, as they streamed directly back over the rear of the boat. So we radioded the HM, and in fairness they were out in 20 minutes with a diver. I was worried about the pressure on the prop, but all seemed OK. The HM did what I tried but with a more powerful engine, and the diver released the rope without cutting it. We were fairly shaken up, so decided enough was enough and decided not to stop. Such was my fear, that I forgot to take any pictures! Anyway it was 100e, but I cant complain.
After this we pretty much kept going, just stopping off in Cala del Pilar for a sandwich, then a direct line to Cabo nati, round to Cabo Binicous (actually a bit far, I should have turned starboard earlier) and across to Alcudia. The swell was on the beam, so again we took it easy at about 16-18knots, and a couple of hours later we had the welcom sight of Alcudia and its twin chimneys.
Quite a trip, I wish we had faired better in Fornells, but the rest of it was magic, and it has given us a taste for longer trips away, and I feel so much more confident in the boat, the handling was great, the engines smooth, the fuel consumption horrific, and we will do it again.
Apologies ofr so many pics, but you should have seen how many we took!
Martyn
