Mallorca Recce Booked!

[freddy the frog]

We have just returned from our third visit to Cala d'Or in our first season at the marina, so have now seen it in late February late March and early May.
In February the place is deserted. The town itself is practically shut down and you realise that it only really functions for the tourists. (We understand that nearby Portopetro has more year round local inhabitants). However, even then there were two decent restaurants open on the marina and the Spar shop in town, which was all I needed!
In March things were starting to wake up a little, a few more shops open, but still dead by all standards.
The last two weeks have seen a significant step up in activity. It appears that there is a magic wand waved over the place on 1st May. All the marina restaurants are open and most in town. But Freddy is right.... we did expect a lot more activity on the boats themselves, but there are still not many owners there! We were told that the weather was not as good as usual for early May, which makes it even more surprising that not more owners had booked to come out at this time of year. For us an extended season is all part of the reason we are there.
Freddy, FWIW...So far we couldn't be happier with our choice of Cala d'Or for our first Med season.

Yes nice marina just digesting the berthing prices at the moment and the pros and cons that go with it.
staff at restuarant at yacht club really freindly, great poole and sunbeds to use as well, was one family on their boat for about 3-4 days princess i think called JONES couple of abandoned early sunseekers in the yard with canvass blown out, towards the end of the week they were covered over by yard staff so didnt look too unatractive which i thought was a nice touch by them. Will be interesting to see how much space between the boats once new berths fill up, they were just tarmacing the road when i left so was looking really together

Enjoy your season in the sunshine for the time being i shall be blown around the solent in the showers

 

[julians]

We have just returned from our third visit to Cala d'Or in our first season at the marina, so have now seen it in late February late March and early May.
In February the place is deserted. The town itself is practically shut down and you realise that it only really functions for the tourists. (We understand that nearby Portopetro has more year round local inhabitants). However, even then there were two decent restaurants open on the marina and the Spar shop in town, which was all I needed!
In March things were starting to wake up a little, a few more shops open, but still dead by all standards.
The last two weeks have seen a significant step up in activity. It appears that there is a magic wand waved over the place on 1st May. All the marina restaurants are open and most in town. But Freddy is right.... we did expect a lot more activity on the boats themselves, but there are still not many owners there! We were told that the weather was not as good as usual for early May, which makes it even more surprising that not more owners had booked to come out at this time of year. For us an extended season is all part of the reason we are there.
Freddy, FWIW...So far we couldn't be happier with our choice of Cala d'Or for our first Med season.

The 1St of may is when all the daily flights from the UK regional airports(and presumably other European airports) start. That's typically my first trip of the year.

 

[julians]

Will be interesting to see how much space between the boats once new berths fill up


You won't be able to fit a cigarette paper between them by June.

 

[jrudge]

Yes nice marina just digesting the berthing prices at the moment and the pros and cons that go with it.
staff at restuarant at yacht club really freindly, great poole and sunbeds to use as well, was one family on their boat for about 3-4 days princess i think called JONES couple of abandoned early sunseekers in the yard with canvass blown out, towards the end of the week they were covered over by yard staff so didnt look too unatractive which i thought was a nice touch by them. Will be interesting to see how much space between the boats once new berths fill up, they were just tarmacing the road when i left so was looking really together

Enjoy your season in the sunshine for the time being i shall be blown around the solent in the showers

Bear in mind that the Yacht Club facilities are for members and it is expensive!

You can eat and drink there but you cannot swim. Yes we have done it and yes we have got caught. We have succeeded in the kids swimming once, and got caught once!

There are never many owners about to be honest. Yes there are times there are more people or less people but there are never than many boats with people on. There are hoards of tourists who walk round the marina!

The boats have all been moved for winter to allow the work to be done. They have also filled the visitors pontoon in the middle at the end with resident boats - so move that lot, put a few boats in the water and it will be a bit fuller.

The berths at the end ( where we are) are on a curved bit of pontoon so you get more space as you can't fit side by side.


Jeremy

 

[jrudge]

Freddy, FWIW...So far we couldn't be happier with our choice of Cala d'Or for our first Med season.

Its the neighbours that make it!

 

[Hurricane]

Bear in mind that the Yacht Club facilities are for members and it is expensive!

You can eat and drink there but you cannot swim. Yes we have done it and yes we have got caught. We have succeeded in the kids swimming once, and got caught once!

There are never many owners about to be honest. Yes there are times there are more people or less people but there are never than many boats with people on. There are hoards of tourists who walk round the marina!

The boats have all been moved for winter to allow the work to be done. They have also filled the visitors pontoon in the middle at the end with resident boats - so move that lot, put a few boats in the water and it will be a bit fuller.

The berths at the end ( where we are) are on a curved bit of pontoon so you get more space as you can't fit side by side.


Jeremy

When we were there for a couple of weeks, we were able to get daily membership of the yacht club and then use its facilities.
As you say, it isn't cheap - and IIRC the sauna and steam rooms weren't working - bit of a cheek really but the "pain machines" in the gym were working.
Pool and bar are nice though.

Are these the berths you are referring to?

 

[freddy the frog]

When we were there for a couple of weeks, we were able to get daily membership of the yacht club and then use its facilities.
As you say, it isn't cheap - and IIRC the sauna and steam rooms weren't working - bit of a cheek really but the "pain machines" in the gym were working.
Pool and bar are nice though.

Are these the berths you are referring to?

I assume these must be last years pictures before the work started, incidently how much is the yacht club membership, is it worth it other than use of pool and sunbeds. do you find joe public a pain walking and gawping past the stern like i did last week, i did say to my wife i bet its choca with tourists in the season, but that may just give it a bit of a buzz

 

[Hurricane]

I assume these must be last years pictures before the work started, incidently how much is the yacht club membership, is it worth it other than use of pool and sunbeds. do you find joe public a pain walking and gawping past the stern like i did last week, i did say to my wife i bet its choca with tourists in the season, but that may just give it a bit of a buzz

Yep they are old pics - it would be interesting to see what they have done in that area of the marina.

Why not you or your wife making up something like this:-
A privacy screen - just slides into the cockpit cover screen "luff rope slot"
Dead easy to make

 

[CLOUD9]

Did you get the heavy rain that we had in the north last weekend?

Sorry we didn't pop in - we had to get back and there was a 6 hour window on Sunday evening - so we "hammered it" home - Alcudia to Sant Carles in a tad over 5 hours.
Opened her up to WOT in the last mile - 32.4 knots (with all our clobber on board) - fantastic for a boat in her 9th season.

Yes, it was a very varied few days of weather. We were basking in the sunshine in Cabrera on Tuesday 3rd May but had to resort to a drive to Palma in the pouring rain for shopping by Saturday. We managed a swim in Cala Mondrago on Sunday morning, but by the time we had had lunch it was raining again. There was a big swell coming in by Monday morning. An S65 went out and unsurprisingly came straight back in.
I was keeping up with events via one of your guests on Facebook. If the weather had been more settled it would have been good to see you. Next time....

 

[CLOUD9]

Its the neighbours that make it!

Couldn't have put it better myself... In all seriousness we have found the whole place to be exceptionally friendly.

 

[jrudge]

Yes those are the berths. The last picture is basically our berth.

You can pay daily for the club but the money is daft. At the head of the Cala as you head out to sea there is a resteraunt with a pool that is e6 per subbed. For a pool day we do that !

 

[jrudge]

And yes I got a privacy screen made up in Antibes last year just like that one. Given I am in the middle of s divorce the wife defo won't be making one !

 

[petem]

I'm sure JFM could know one up on his Singer Sewer .

 

[DougH]

Just back from Cala,d,or yesterday short break stayed in hotel not far from the marina, wow lovely marina and i see they are putting in more berths, fantastic yacht club cracking restaurants and great views accross the marina.

Did some research on berthing my 37ft boat not cheap £8,000 anual berth, spent few hours each day walking and observing what goes on, first thing i noticed is to keep the boat looking sharp you have got to have a regular cleaner on board polishing etc as that what was the most activity i saw on board , not many owners around maybe early in season at the moment, 50mins from the airport cheap flights from ryanair into bournemouth, food for thought

They are not putting in more berths but are finishing off what are fairly major repairs to the dockside.

Boats that are berthed in those positions are all over the marina on a temporary basis and are being moved back currently.

The whole marina is undergoing a complete refurbishment with the final phase carried out at the end of the current season.

There are now very few berths available.

 

[petem]

Could someone remind me if Cala D'Or berth bandings have a tolerance for LOA and whether an allowance has to be made on beam for fenders?

 

[Steruth1]

Hi Pete
I have just got a berth there and mine was a 16m loa the next one up was a 18m.
The width is also a factor to get your true cost for the year.

 

[petem]

Thanks. If I ask the question another way, what's the maximum LOA and beam allowed for 11m x 4m and 12m x 4.3m berths? is there a rule of thumb for all Mallorca berths or does it vary by marina?

 

[julians]

Adriano allow 10% over on the length,but nothing on the width. No idea if that 'rule' is common across all marinas on the island

 

[Whitelighter]

Adriano allow 10% over on the length,but nothing on the width. No idea if that 'rule' is common across all marinas on the island

It's pretty common across the med - a lot of places expect you to be under the max width as well to allow for fenders

 

[petem]

Jez, remind me, how much do you normally need to allow for fenders?