mjkinch1
New member
Apologies for the time it takes to put these up, but it seems to take ages to pick the pictures, resize them and then get them online. I am sure there must be a quicker way. I got myself a camera that takes multiple shots, and in the end I calculated I took over 1000 pictures - great way to do it, but takes ages sifting through them.
We had been stuck in Ibiza longer than planned, around 6 nights in all, great weather, but winds quite high but the final day still looked OK, a SW at F2-3, which was the right direction for us, so off to Palma for the next leg of our trip. Bye Bye Ibiza
Have you ever seen flying fish? Well it took us a couple of times to figure what they were - I never got a camera to them, but seeing these little fish flying along for 20-30 yards was quite amazing. We also saw Dolphins and Porpoise, but they generally just passed us taking very little notice.
The trip was around 65 miles, which given the bumpy sea, we averaged around 18 knots, and in the end it took around 4 hours given a few breaks, we also had the wind behind us, which made the journey much easier.
The journey between the isla togomago on Ibiza and the pt Cala Figuera was pretty uneventful, except it was a useful lesson to learn that the direct and shortest route I chose was also the same route all the ferries and container ships used, so whilst no traffic lane, we did ease out slightly more than planned to avoid some fairly big wakes.
For many years before we purchased our boat we stayed in an area called Illetas, and always admired the boats in the bay, never thinking one day we would have our own, so its was great to take a spin into the cala, and see it from the other side.
Finally It was nice to arrive in Palma, and they even laid on a pilot to guide us in /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Deleted User is berthed here, so he is probably used to the entrance, but I still found myself in awe of the backdrop of Palma Cathedral - it is something else to arrive into such a big harbour, with (I think) over 6 separate marinas. Having said that we still struggled to get a mooring, with only the RCNP picking up the telephone and helping. Club De Mar with its 600 berths was full, and this was June.
There is a huge breakwater as you come in, with all the liners on the port side and commercial on the starboard side, and somewhere in the middle thousands of yachts and boats. The RCNP is quite good location wise, as its easy enough to walk directly into Palma.
Despite having trouble getting a berth, there were three ships delivering boats the day I arrived, and all pretty big in most cases.
We got a good mooring, or at least I thought it was until the wind blew in along with every ripple caused by boats in and out hit us, but hey ho, we were in Palma, and that was great.
This was our view during the day...
and by night...............
..and you could always just make out Palma Cathedral in the background through all the yachts.....
There were some pretty high winds that kept us in Palma for nearly a week, peaking at 24knots on the Sunday - even all the raggies came in to shelter, some arriving in full weather gear. So in the end we stayed around 5 nights, but it was a great place to be. I think it worked out around 62E a day, and the showers were nice and clean.
On one of the days we took an open top bus tour stopping at the Castell de Bellver, a great spot but unfortunately also the name of the oil tanker that polluted the oceans back in 1983 when it broke up near Cape Town!
This is the view from the top and if you look carefully you can see my boat (The black arrow may be a good clue) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Anyway eventually we found our weather window, a gentle F3 SW, which was behind us, and in the entrance were 3 or 4 large ships waiting to dock.. My thanks to Deleted User and Meddreamer for their help and advice on picking the right weather and day to get away.
The journey to Alcudia is around 85 miles, and I estimated we could keep up a good speed of around 20-22knots, and given the next day was predicted NW F4, we decided against stopping overnight at Cala Dor, which was the first idea, and going on direct to Alcudia. This is us passing Cabo Blanco, which left Palma bay behind, and gave us a much improved sea state.
The advantage of the South Coast route was the number of ports, the idea being we could take refuge if the weather changed. The North coast would have been around 5 miles quicker, but only had one port (soller). After a couple of hours, we did fancy a stop and coffee, so next on the map was Porto Petro, realtively undeveloped with a small marina, although we chose to anchor in the bay. This is the entrance to the bay. After you have been chopping along at 20+knots it feels really to sit there with no noise and watch the world go by.
and what looked a lovely little town, if we had more time.
Looking forward once we had moored you can see the entrance to the cala, nicely protecting the moorings
Anyway quick coffee and toast and on our way again, the sea state was improving as we rounded pta de ses Crestas, which protects Porto Colom - said to be the best natural harbour in Majorca.
Nearly home, and the rather large Cabo de Freu marking the home stretch for us.
Once round the Cabo Farrutx, which marks the start of Alcudia Bay (Which is pretty much 12 miles across) we started to relax, as we had the shelter of land and home was in sight!
We did take a slight detour, and decided to head on to Pollensa, just round the corner, and moored up tucked inside the bay at a place called Esta d'en Ros, which is beautiful. The Government have stopped people anchoring there and have laid around 20 fixed bouys, which had some available - the water was the clearest I have seen, and the fish were in abundance (well for the Med anyway). This is the view of the Military installation opposite. There are planned to be 50 moorings altogether, and they will be able to be booked by phone or internet, for a maximum of 2 nights. The disadvantage was the swell from the large boats (Mainly british I hasten to add) that left Pollensa at maximum speed ignoring all the moored boats over in the corner - so more than once we had to hang onto everything as we rock and rolled. Thankfully it stopped after 6-7pm as everyone went home for their tea.
and a slightly different view
We had a pretty good night, a great sunset and the stillest waters we have seen when we woke up.
Then off Home, and it was nice to get back - Alcudia still remains one of the best managed and most sheltered marinas on the island. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Martyn
We had been stuck in Ibiza longer than planned, around 6 nights in all, great weather, but winds quite high but the final day still looked OK, a SW at F2-3, which was the right direction for us, so off to Palma for the next leg of our trip. Bye Bye Ibiza
Have you ever seen flying fish? Well it took us a couple of times to figure what they were - I never got a camera to them, but seeing these little fish flying along for 20-30 yards was quite amazing. We also saw Dolphins and Porpoise, but they generally just passed us taking very little notice.
The trip was around 65 miles, which given the bumpy sea, we averaged around 18 knots, and in the end it took around 4 hours given a few breaks, we also had the wind behind us, which made the journey much easier.
The journey between the isla togomago on Ibiza and the pt Cala Figuera was pretty uneventful, except it was a useful lesson to learn that the direct and shortest route I chose was also the same route all the ferries and container ships used, so whilst no traffic lane, we did ease out slightly more than planned to avoid some fairly big wakes.
For many years before we purchased our boat we stayed in an area called Illetas, and always admired the boats in the bay, never thinking one day we would have our own, so its was great to take a spin into the cala, and see it from the other side.
Finally It was nice to arrive in Palma, and they even laid on a pilot to guide us in /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Deleted User is berthed here, so he is probably used to the entrance, but I still found myself in awe of the backdrop of Palma Cathedral - it is something else to arrive into such a big harbour, with (I think) over 6 separate marinas. Having said that we still struggled to get a mooring, with only the RCNP picking up the telephone and helping. Club De Mar with its 600 berths was full, and this was June.
There is a huge breakwater as you come in, with all the liners on the port side and commercial on the starboard side, and somewhere in the middle thousands of yachts and boats. The RCNP is quite good location wise, as its easy enough to walk directly into Palma.
Despite having trouble getting a berth, there were three ships delivering boats the day I arrived, and all pretty big in most cases.
We got a good mooring, or at least I thought it was until the wind blew in along with every ripple caused by boats in and out hit us, but hey ho, we were in Palma, and that was great.
This was our view during the day...
and by night...............
..and you could always just make out Palma Cathedral in the background through all the yachts.....
There were some pretty high winds that kept us in Palma for nearly a week, peaking at 24knots on the Sunday - even all the raggies came in to shelter, some arriving in full weather gear. So in the end we stayed around 5 nights, but it was a great place to be. I think it worked out around 62E a day, and the showers were nice and clean.
On one of the days we took an open top bus tour stopping at the Castell de Bellver, a great spot but unfortunately also the name of the oil tanker that polluted the oceans back in 1983 when it broke up near Cape Town!
This is the view from the top and if you look carefully you can see my boat (The black arrow may be a good clue) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Anyway eventually we found our weather window, a gentle F3 SW, which was behind us, and in the entrance were 3 or 4 large ships waiting to dock.. My thanks to Deleted User and Meddreamer for their help and advice on picking the right weather and day to get away.
The journey to Alcudia is around 85 miles, and I estimated we could keep up a good speed of around 20-22knots, and given the next day was predicted NW F4, we decided against stopping overnight at Cala Dor, which was the first idea, and going on direct to Alcudia. This is us passing Cabo Blanco, which left Palma bay behind, and gave us a much improved sea state.
The advantage of the South Coast route was the number of ports, the idea being we could take refuge if the weather changed. The North coast would have been around 5 miles quicker, but only had one port (soller). After a couple of hours, we did fancy a stop and coffee, so next on the map was Porto Petro, realtively undeveloped with a small marina, although we chose to anchor in the bay. This is the entrance to the bay. After you have been chopping along at 20+knots it feels really to sit there with no noise and watch the world go by.
and what looked a lovely little town, if we had more time.
Looking forward once we had moored you can see the entrance to the cala, nicely protecting the moorings
Nearly home, and the rather large Cabo de Freu marking the home stretch for us.
Once round the Cabo Farrutx, which marks the start of Alcudia Bay (Which is pretty much 12 miles across) we started to relax, as we had the shelter of land and home was in sight!
We did take a slight detour, and decided to head on to Pollensa, just round the corner, and moored up tucked inside the bay at a place called Esta d'en Ros, which is beautiful. The Government have stopped people anchoring there and have laid around 20 fixed bouys, which had some available - the water was the clearest I have seen, and the fish were in abundance (well for the Med anyway). This is the view of the Military installation opposite. There are planned to be 50 moorings altogether, and they will be able to be booked by phone or internet, for a maximum of 2 nights. The disadvantage was the swell from the large boats (Mainly british I hasten to add) that left Pollensa at maximum speed ignoring all the moored boats over in the corner - so more than once we had to hang onto everything as we rock and rolled. Thankfully it stopped after 6-7pm as everyone went home for their tea.
and a slightly different view
We had a pretty good night, a great sunset and the stillest waters we have seen when we woke up.
Then off Home, and it was nice to get back - Alcudia still remains one of the best managed and most sheltered marinas on the island. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Martyn
