New Balearic Islands law effective from today.

Yep about 17c...surprisingly found a lot of jelly fish, am there next week so will find out how active the Posedonia 'police' are ! Last week came across what appeared to be a large sewage spill in the bay at Son Caliu (near Palma Nova), annoyingly these rarely get publicised....:disgust:
 
pan said:
...OK to anchor, as long as one stays clear of the sea grass. This is for all boats, regardless of size. ...
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So is this seagrass endangered during the day too nowadays? We'd always thought that it was 'special' due to it being nocturnal:
A number of years ago we arrived one Sunday morning in a bay near the SE corner of Mallorca, I suspect that it was either Cala d'Or or Porto Petro? and dropped anchor in the south side of it. Through the day there were never less than 20-30 other boats anchored around us, the majority being small motor boats coming out from the nearby marina - it was rough/windy out at sea. Come late afternoon almost everything departed back to its marina berth and it was just on dusk - too late to be heading elsewhere - when a launch (from the marina) circulated the remaining four or five boats, noting their names, nationalities, etc. and explaining that the area was a 'seagrass protection zone' and that we could take a berth at their marina for €100+/night, pick-up one of their €60/night moorings or leave the bay. But this had to be done immediately as anyone still anchored there in 30 minutes time would be reported to the relevant authorities and subject to a heavy fine - I don't recall it being €2000, but it was certainly several hundred.
Now someone more cynical than I might've thought that the marina were just drumming up business for themselves, whereas we thought that this must be a very special type of nocturnal seagrass that only came out and became subject to damage at night, after all the locals were safely tucked back up in their home berths.
 
pan said:
Yep about 17c...surprisingly found a lot of jelly fish, am there next week so will find out how active the Posedonia 'police' are ! Last week came across what appeared to be a large sewage spill in the bay at Son Caliu (near Palma Nova), annoyingly these rarely get publicised....:disgust:
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17c!! Am sure it is usually over 20c by now. Cannot believe they are concerned by anchors on seagrass when they dump raw sewage. Not heard of a spill their before, always thought it was in/around Palma. Guess I will find out myself over next few weeks what areas are being policed.
 
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Just adding info from yachtie friends who have been cruising the islands for the last couple of weeks.
No weed police seen.
This was the last report from a friend this morning from Ibiza

Mike, we haven’t seen any Posidonia weed police about, well maybe one girl in a rib but I wasn’t quite sure so far we haven’t been anchoring in any weedy Carla’s so sorry I can’t report back yet but I will keep a eye out.

Interestingly, this friend has just spent the last couple of days in Roig which is covered by red and yellow areas on the map.
 
So after almost a year since the authorities introduced this law and have also policed it quite aggressively at least as reported in certain areas, has the volume of boats visiting decreased, and as a consequence have the local restaurants and bars seen lower custom and takings ?
 
We were in Pollença bay anchored behind lighthouse yesterday no sign of the enforcement officers this is a favourite spot for them usually.
We are currently in Pollensa on the town quay and the enforcement rib has just gone out !
 
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Judging from the amount of dead Posidonia on the beaches in Ibiza after the winter and Easter storms it looks as though nature is doing far more damage than anchors.
 
superheat6k said:
So after almost a year since the authorities introduced this law and have also policed it quite aggressively at least as reported in certain areas, has the volume of boats visiting decreased, and as a consequence have the local restaurants and bars seen lower custom and takings ?
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I dont think it is as simple as that.

Cala Ferrera just north of Cala Dor is now effectively closed to all but 1 or 2 small boats. It is the same all the way up the coast.

Anchoring is getting hard and it is only June.

Mallorca costs a lot. E31500 to moor a 18m boat. You don’t pay that for having hassle ! Over time people will just move on

Some places have lots of bars that rely on the boats to a large extent. Portal vels for example near palma. I have not been there this season but per the maps it is a no anchoring zone. The bars will suffer big time.

I would not mind if I felt it was genuine but it isn’t.

They don’t care about holding tanks, about jet ski going fast round boats ( specially illegal on Mallorca). The enforcement person could enforce all sorts of legitimate things but they just focus on weed - and there is no shortage of the stuff
 
The weekend before last, I was in Cala Serena and asked (by the the same black rib) to reset my anchor along with another vessel. All very amicable, no mention of fines etc.
 
Yes completely agree the posidonia is just something else that will push us away .we are seriously looking at moving in September not sure where yet but Mallorca is certainly not the boat friendly place it was.
We are out of Alcúdia. For a few days as the dust and noise from the “improvements “ make the place a noisy dustbowl we may we’ll make our way down to Cala d’Or next week but the situation with the calas doesn’t make it that appealing. And the state of the water in Cala d’Or picking up lazy lines is to be avoided if your hepatitis jabs aren’t up to date .......
 
jrudge said:
Weed police in Cala gran next to Cala Dor about 30 min ago. I see them every time

Black rib with Vigilante down the side. Very 007 !
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Are they making boats move away if they are on the weed or just asking them to be more careful next time?
 
Yikes. Is Cala Ferreira out of bounds now then? That’s one of our favourite places - get there early and tuck in as close as possible.
 
Just a short report this morning from a yachtie - sent this from his iPhone

For information
Now in Pollença. Whilst weed police active there appears still quite a few areas of sand in which to anchor albeit a way out from the dinghy dock in the corner The main stern to marina wall under Re construction and no boats now on it.
 
PEJ said:
Are they making boats move away if they are on the weed or just asking them to be more careful next time?
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Not sure.

People have got true message and try to avoid weed. They gave one sail boat a brochure who was near me and I was sure was on sand. There were another two who I thought given their location were on weed but nothing said.

Someone on here did say the other day it depends on the type of weed - but I have not idea what weed is what
 
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