D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
We arrived in Soller in the late afternoon. Puerto de Soller is an almost perfectly horseshoe shaped bay cut into the coastline; the town of Soller is a few miles inland having been established there to protect the population from marauding pirates
The intention was to drop the hook in the bay for the night but the swell coming in to the harbour made it very uncomfortable. Luckily I remembered that a friend had told me that Soller now had some visitors berths in the marina so a half hearted call on Ch9 got an unexpected reply that, yes, of course there was a berth available which we gladly took. In fact the visitors berths comprised a new marina project partly in the old military harbour and the berths are excellent with good leccy and water supplies and easy access to the town although subject to swell from passing trip boats
Infinito berthed next to a fine old wooden yacht, Kim of Lahore, whose owners and crew studiously ignored us for 2 days
The promised northeasterly high winds arrived the following day making me glad we were tied to something solid so we took the oppurtunity to visit the somewhat disappointing maritime museum but were rewarded with a fine view over the sea which confirmed our decision to stay put
and the harbour
which we followed with an interesting tram ride up to Soller itself
The next day was our last full day of the holiday so it was Palma or bust. This time, we did manage an early morning start and once again we experienced a northerly swell up our bum and a southeasterly nearly on the nose but it was a glorious morning
followed by a rather boozy lunch stop in Santa Ponsa bay
where the forum burgee flew proudly over the bay but fell off later
My son, Andrew, helms us across Palma bay back to Palma, looking pleased because 3 weeks of being ordered about by his Daddy are nearly over and he can get back to his telly and computer
What are the memories of our trip and the lessons learnt? Well, first off, although we enjoyed Menorca and thought it to be an excellent destination for a holiday, we would’nt want to berth our boat there permanently. It is quieter and more laid back than Majorca but the corollary of that is we feel it would be dull out of season unlike Majorca where you can always find something to do. However a definite plus point was the fact that none of the harbours and anchorages felt as crowded as the rest of the Balearics Then there is the weather; the pilot book makes reference to the fact that Menorca is more affected by weather patterns emanating in the Golf de Lion and certainly we experienced higher winds and lumpier seas than anywhere else we’ve been in the Med. We learnt something about Balearic weather as well. On a number of occasions, we experienced an unforecast wind shift on passage which turned an offshore wind into an onshore one. It seems to me that the topography of the islands tends to modify the wind direction such that the wind will tend to blow parallel to the coastline and which is then modified by seabreeze effects to become an onshore wind. As has been said before, Med passages are best done early in the morning before the wind pipes up
Thanks to all who’ve got this far
The intention was to drop the hook in the bay for the night but the swell coming in to the harbour made it very uncomfortable. Luckily I remembered that a friend had told me that Soller now had some visitors berths in the marina so a half hearted call on Ch9 got an unexpected reply that, yes, of course there was a berth available which we gladly took. In fact the visitors berths comprised a new marina project partly in the old military harbour and the berths are excellent with good leccy and water supplies and easy access to the town although subject to swell from passing trip boats
Infinito berthed next to a fine old wooden yacht, Kim of Lahore, whose owners and crew studiously ignored us for 2 days
The promised northeasterly high winds arrived the following day making me glad we were tied to something solid so we took the oppurtunity to visit the somewhat disappointing maritime museum but were rewarded with a fine view over the sea which confirmed our decision to stay put
and the harbour
which we followed with an interesting tram ride up to Soller itself
The next day was our last full day of the holiday so it was Palma or bust. This time, we did manage an early morning start and once again we experienced a northerly swell up our bum and a southeasterly nearly on the nose but it was a glorious morning
followed by a rather boozy lunch stop in Santa Ponsa bay
where the forum burgee flew proudly over the bay but fell off later
My son, Andrew, helms us across Palma bay back to Palma, looking pleased because 3 weeks of being ordered about by his Daddy are nearly over and he can get back to his telly and computer
What are the memories of our trip and the lessons learnt? Well, first off, although we enjoyed Menorca and thought it to be an excellent destination for a holiday, we would’nt want to berth our boat there permanently. It is quieter and more laid back than Majorca but the corollary of that is we feel it would be dull out of season unlike Majorca where you can always find something to do. However a definite plus point was the fact that none of the harbours and anchorages felt as crowded as the rest of the Balearics Then there is the weather; the pilot book makes reference to the fact that Menorca is more affected by weather patterns emanating in the Golf de Lion and certainly we experienced higher winds and lumpier seas than anywhere else we’ve been in the Med. We learnt something about Balearic weather as well. On a number of occasions, we experienced an unforecast wind shift on passage which turned an offshore wind into an onshore one. It seems to me that the topography of the islands tends to modify the wind direction such that the wind will tend to blow parallel to the coastline and which is then modified by seabreeze effects to become an onshore wind. As has been said before, Med passages are best done early in the morning before the wind pipes up
Thanks to all who’ve got this far
