D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
To remind those few intrepid forumites who bothered to read Parts 1 and 2, we had got ourselves to the harbour of Fornells on the north coast of Menorca
The morning of our planned departure from Fornells dawned grey and breezy with about a F4 from the south east. There was’nt much moving in the harbour despite it being a Saturday morning and perhaps I should have taken this as a sign. The wind was off the land so I reasoned that the sea state would’nt be too bad. I was wrong again. The plan was to head west and south towards Cuitadella some 25 nm away, try to get an overnight berth there but, if that was’nt possible, find an anchorage for lunch and then cross the Menorcan channel back to Alcudia on the north coast of Mallorca, a further 35nm away.
Once again as we idled out of Fornells, we were met by the north easterly swell that we had experienced on previous days but with the wind mostly behind us, we felt comfortable, that was until the starboard engine alarm started off again
We rounded the very unprepossessing most northerly headland in the Balearics
and then the wind suddenly changed from southeasterly to southwesterly and increased to something like a F5-6. This was not good because the wind was now on the nose and setting up a confused sea against the northeasterly swell and I knew we would’nt get any shelter on the west coast of the island either. The sea conditions worsened as we approached the west coast and Infinito ploughed on gamely albeit under manual rather than pilot control so that we could avoid the worst peaks and troughs and the lobster pots littered about.
We saw only 4 other pleasure boats that day,, all British flagged, 3 yachts and this big mobo which I think was the same boat we had seen previously coming out of Fornells
Mad dogs and Englishmen. Perhaps I should have taken note that no local boats were moving in Fornells. The locals seem to know the weather better than the forecasters. Anyway, it was a very wet and salty Infinito that finally made it in to Ciutadella
We had previously checked out Ciutadella by car and we were looking forward to exploring the town. Cuitadella was the old capital of Menorca before we Brits, occupiers of Menorca for a while, moved the capital to Mahon on the other side of the island because Mahon’s harbour was so much better. The town has a laid back colonial feel to it with many fine buildings and upmarket villas.
Unfortunately, Ciutadella is not at all set up to receive boating visitors. There is a yacht club with permanent moorings
but the only visitors moorings are along a short length of quay where the Alcudia ferry berths and these moorings have to be vacated twice a day to allow the ferry to berth. As we entered the harbour, the Alcudia ferry was leaving but all the moorings were occupied by yachts already and none looked remotely interested in allowing us to raft up so, with some regret, we decided not to stop in Ciutadella and carry on to Alcudia. We think that Ciutadella is missing a trick by not catering better for visiting boats; when we visited by car, there were few tourists about and one local complained about lack of business. Maybe if the local council developed the harbour area as Mahon has done, that would attract more visitors
The wind and swell made dropping the hook in an anchorage on this side of the island unwise so, after a light snack of boiled sweets , off we went on the 35nm crossing of the Menorcan channel across to Alcudia on the north coast of Majorca. Once again we had the northerly swell on our starboard side and about a F4-5 wind, which had now returned to a southeasterly direction, on our port side, making another lumpy sea. By now I was fed up with being soaked on the flybridge so I retired to the lower helm where I have to say I didn’t see a lot except seawater covering the windscreen. Luckily we have a good Furuno radar but we did’nt spot any other vessel other than the aforementioned Alcudia ferry. We made it to Alcudia without mishap, tried anchoring in the bay but we dragged on the weedy bottom in the wind. We were’nt too unhappy about that as we were pleased to get into the marina after a fairly fraught day. That night we treated ourselves to a Chateaubriand at one of our favourite restaurants in Majorca, Mecon Dulcinea in Alcudia and I felt we had deserved it.
We planned 3 nights in Alcudia and I vowed to get to the bottom of the starboard engine alarm. I was convinced the problem was related to the domestic batteries and I arranged for a local firm to change them with strict instructions to test the engine alarm after the batteries were fitted. The following day was spent sourcing the batteries and the next day fitting them whilst we rented a convertible Peugeot car (not unreasonable €80/day from Vanwell), played 54 tedious holes of crazy golf to entertain our brat, hired a sailing dinghy for a couple of hours and drove our favourite mountain road between Inca and Soller. Arriving back late on the boat on our final day in Alcudia and following fitment of the new batteries, I decided to try the starboard engine and the alarm stayed on. [--word removed--]
The following day was our departure day. I had planned a passage to Soller about 40nm away along Majorca’s mountainous north west coast. This trip is not to be undertaken lightly because there are no ports of refuge and only 2 fairweather anchorages on this coast. I’d met a chap in a chandlery who described how it had taken him 13hrs to make the trip from Soller to Alcudia in heavy seas in a 30ft mobo on the previous weekend which did’nt exactly fill me with confidence. The morning brought a light southeasterly so I was itching to get going before any seabreeze set in and certainly before the following day for which strong winds had been forecast. So I went ballistic with the maintenance company and they promised me an electrician in 30mins. Needless to say, it was 2 hrs before he turned up with tales of toothache and a further 2 hours before he finally located the problem – a short circuit between 2 wires leading to the gearbox oil pressure sensor. Bugger. In other words, not a problem at all and worse, I had noticed one of these wires loose a few months previously and asked a local man in Palma to re-solder which obviously he’d done a bit too cackhandedly
No time for recriminations and glad that at least we’d fixed the problem, we set off for Soller zooming out of Alcudia bay in calm water with the wind up our backside. Halfway across Pollensa bay, the wind promptly switched to a southwesterly and freshened which once again meant that we would get the sea on the nose as we rounded Cabo Formentor
and headed southwesterly to Soller. Again we had this somewhat strange sea with a swell from behind and a chop on the nose but the sun was shining and at least I didn’t have an engine alarm blaring in my ears
I had planned a late lunch stop in Cala sa Calobra which is one of our favourite spots in the Balearics and a spectacular anchorage cut into the steep coastline
View of north side of Calobra with mini beach
View of south side of Calobra
Unfortunately, the swell entering the cala meant that it would be impossible to anchor and in any case we did’nt fancy swimming with these critters about
Jellyfish are a problem in the Med wherever you go and this year, they were reported to be worse than ever. There are differing stories as to how dangerous they are. Some people say that they are’nt dangerous and only sting lightly, others say that you can tell the dangerous ones by their colour and others have stories of victims being hospitalised after serious reactions to the stings. We were’nt willing to jump into the water knowing they were about but I had noticed that most bays and calas having had a couple of days of offshore winds were clear of them and vica versa so it seems to me that they drift on wind induced currents. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, we did our fair share of larking about in the water always with half an eye on the lookout for jellyfish
Part 4 (final part, yippee) to follow
The morning of our planned departure from Fornells dawned grey and breezy with about a F4 from the south east. There was’nt much moving in the harbour despite it being a Saturday morning and perhaps I should have taken this as a sign. The wind was off the land so I reasoned that the sea state would’nt be too bad. I was wrong again. The plan was to head west and south towards Cuitadella some 25 nm away, try to get an overnight berth there but, if that was’nt possible, find an anchorage for lunch and then cross the Menorcan channel back to Alcudia on the north coast of Mallorca, a further 35nm away.
Once again as we idled out of Fornells, we were met by the north easterly swell that we had experienced on previous days but with the wind mostly behind us, we felt comfortable, that was until the starboard engine alarm started off again
We rounded the very unprepossessing most northerly headland in the Balearics
and then the wind suddenly changed from southeasterly to southwesterly and increased to something like a F5-6. This was not good because the wind was now on the nose and setting up a confused sea against the northeasterly swell and I knew we would’nt get any shelter on the west coast of the island either. The sea conditions worsened as we approached the west coast and Infinito ploughed on gamely albeit under manual rather than pilot control so that we could avoid the worst peaks and troughs and the lobster pots littered about.
We saw only 4 other pleasure boats that day,, all British flagged, 3 yachts and this big mobo which I think was the same boat we had seen previously coming out of Fornells
Mad dogs and Englishmen. Perhaps I should have taken note that no local boats were moving in Fornells. The locals seem to know the weather better than the forecasters. Anyway, it was a very wet and salty Infinito that finally made it in to Ciutadella
We had previously checked out Ciutadella by car and we were looking forward to exploring the town. Cuitadella was the old capital of Menorca before we Brits, occupiers of Menorca for a while, moved the capital to Mahon on the other side of the island because Mahon’s harbour was so much better. The town has a laid back colonial feel to it with many fine buildings and upmarket villas.
Unfortunately, Ciutadella is not at all set up to receive boating visitors. There is a yacht club with permanent moorings
but the only visitors moorings are along a short length of quay where the Alcudia ferry berths and these moorings have to be vacated twice a day to allow the ferry to berth. As we entered the harbour, the Alcudia ferry was leaving but all the moorings were occupied by yachts already and none looked remotely interested in allowing us to raft up so, with some regret, we decided not to stop in Ciutadella and carry on to Alcudia. We think that Ciutadella is missing a trick by not catering better for visiting boats; when we visited by car, there were few tourists about and one local complained about lack of business. Maybe if the local council developed the harbour area as Mahon has done, that would attract more visitors
The wind and swell made dropping the hook in an anchorage on this side of the island unwise so, after a light snack of boiled sweets , off we went on the 35nm crossing of the Menorcan channel across to Alcudia on the north coast of Majorca. Once again we had the northerly swell on our starboard side and about a F4-5 wind, which had now returned to a southeasterly direction, on our port side, making another lumpy sea. By now I was fed up with being soaked on the flybridge so I retired to the lower helm where I have to say I didn’t see a lot except seawater covering the windscreen. Luckily we have a good Furuno radar but we did’nt spot any other vessel other than the aforementioned Alcudia ferry. We made it to Alcudia without mishap, tried anchoring in the bay but we dragged on the weedy bottom in the wind. We were’nt too unhappy about that as we were pleased to get into the marina after a fairly fraught day. That night we treated ourselves to a Chateaubriand at one of our favourite restaurants in Majorca, Mecon Dulcinea in Alcudia and I felt we had deserved it.
We planned 3 nights in Alcudia and I vowed to get to the bottom of the starboard engine alarm. I was convinced the problem was related to the domestic batteries and I arranged for a local firm to change them with strict instructions to test the engine alarm after the batteries were fitted. The following day was spent sourcing the batteries and the next day fitting them whilst we rented a convertible Peugeot car (not unreasonable €80/day from Vanwell), played 54 tedious holes of crazy golf to entertain our brat, hired a sailing dinghy for a couple of hours and drove our favourite mountain road between Inca and Soller. Arriving back late on the boat on our final day in Alcudia and following fitment of the new batteries, I decided to try the starboard engine and the alarm stayed on. [--word removed--]
The following day was our departure day. I had planned a passage to Soller about 40nm away along Majorca’s mountainous north west coast. This trip is not to be undertaken lightly because there are no ports of refuge and only 2 fairweather anchorages on this coast. I’d met a chap in a chandlery who described how it had taken him 13hrs to make the trip from Soller to Alcudia in heavy seas in a 30ft mobo on the previous weekend which did’nt exactly fill me with confidence. The morning brought a light southeasterly so I was itching to get going before any seabreeze set in and certainly before the following day for which strong winds had been forecast. So I went ballistic with the maintenance company and they promised me an electrician in 30mins. Needless to say, it was 2 hrs before he turned up with tales of toothache and a further 2 hours before he finally located the problem – a short circuit between 2 wires leading to the gearbox oil pressure sensor. Bugger. In other words, not a problem at all and worse, I had noticed one of these wires loose a few months previously and asked a local man in Palma to re-solder which obviously he’d done a bit too cackhandedly
No time for recriminations and glad that at least we’d fixed the problem, we set off for Soller zooming out of Alcudia bay in calm water with the wind up our backside. Halfway across Pollensa bay, the wind promptly switched to a southwesterly and freshened which once again meant that we would get the sea on the nose as we rounded Cabo Formentor
and headed southwesterly to Soller. Again we had this somewhat strange sea with a swell from behind and a chop on the nose but the sun was shining and at least I didn’t have an engine alarm blaring in my ears
I had planned a late lunch stop in Cala sa Calobra which is one of our favourite spots in the Balearics and a spectacular anchorage cut into the steep coastline
View of north side of Calobra with mini beach
View of south side of Calobra
Unfortunately, the swell entering the cala meant that it would be impossible to anchor and in any case we did’nt fancy swimming with these critters about
Jellyfish are a problem in the Med wherever you go and this year, they were reported to be worse than ever. There are differing stories as to how dangerous they are. Some people say that they are’nt dangerous and only sting lightly, others say that you can tell the dangerous ones by their colour and others have stories of victims being hospitalised after serious reactions to the stings. We were’nt willing to jump into the water knowing they were about but I had noticed that most bays and calas having had a couple of days of offshore winds were clear of them and vica versa so it seems to me that they drift on wind induced currents. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, we did our fair share of larking about in the water always with half an eye on the lookout for jellyfish
Part 4 (final part, yippee) to follow
