Hurricane
Well-Known Member
I haven't done one of these photo reports for a long time.
But, having just got back from 2 months on the boat (over a month in the Balearics), I thought it might be interesting to document our summer cruise. This is our 7th summer with the boat. The first was in Torquay, the rest has been in the sunny Mediterranean. Previously, during the hotter July/August months, we stayed at our home berth in Sant Carles. It is easy to just pop out onto the Lagoon and drop the hook, crack open a bottle of the local Spanish cava and enjoy fresh prawns whilst watching the sun set over out local mountains. We usually do a couple of longer cruises to the islands (Mallorca, Ibiza or Menorca) during either the early or late season. The thought being that it is less crowded but this year we decided to try the peak season and head over during July and return at the end of August.
We all know boats can be funny things - we use them hard and things break or fail. This year we had three main incidents - the ship's Simrad radio failed, a difficult to diagnose engine alarm and a shaft seal. These incidents require extra explanation so I will post a separate thread on the engine and shaft seals. Suffice to say, we had excellent support from Princess and MTU.
EDIT - this is a link to our shaft seal problem
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ands-not-what-you-want-to-see-on-your-holiday!!!
The plan this summer was to head for the south of Mallorca and gradually work our way round to Cala d'Or where different family/friends could join and leave us. En route, we planned to "take in" anchorages like Es Trenc that we have been to before and this year the plan was to get to Cabrera (a small group of islands) off the south of Mallorca. According to Wikipedia, Cabrera is a group of un-inhabited islands which was used to house French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars. Of the 9,000 prisoners sent to Cabrera, only 3,600 survived. It is now a National Park - so no anchoring and in the height of summer, you need to book buoys 3 weeks in advance. By carefully planning, I was able to book two sessions so that the two different groups of family/friends that were joining us could get the opportunity to see the place. In all, we managed to stay 4 nights in this beautiful archipelago.
Anyway, in the middle of July, we set off from Sant Carles. GSL on these forums who keeps his Sea Ray at Sant Carles was planning a similar cruise so we both left at the crack of dawn to cross the 120 miles to the south side of Mallorca.
The weather wasn't fantastic for the crossing but was very "do-able". We didn't have anywhere particular to in Mallorca to head to so we "plugged" Dragonera into the plotter and off we went. On arrival we did a quick "swing in and out" of Andraitx. It looked a bit busy and exposed so we moved on to a favourite anchorage of ours - Santa Ponsa. Weather in the Western Med this year has been very strange. The north of Mallorca and Menorca seem to have been hit by several Mistrals but when we arrived, the wind was generally from the east with the forecast for the following days changing to a southerly or south south west. This made Santa Ponsa a safe bet for the first few days but we fully expected to move on when the wind changed.
Santa Ponsa - a friend's Nauticat in the foreground
The north side of Santa Ponsa is full of night clubs and Irish Pubs - Yuk - but the south side of this excellent anchorage has some good restaurants in a nice street and a reasonable sized marina. With such a good anchorage, we have never used the marina - JW is probably a too big anyway.
After a few days in Santa Ponsa we set off for Cala Portals (thats what we call it - I believe it is also referred to as Vells. Well, at that time of the year, it was manic. It seems that all the big chartered yachts from Palma "pop out" for the day. During the evening, it settled down but we decided that the next day we should move on.
Cala Portals
Beautiful isn't it - shame everyone knows it!!
We needed to find somewhere that would be out of the swell that was going to be generated by the freshening southerly winds. We needed to call into Puerto Portals for repairs (see another thread) so we headed towards Palma. We like anchoring in remote places and it sounds like a contradiction in terms that we ended up in Palma Nova - right next to Magaluf!! But we have been there before and if you "tuck in" close to the Magaluf side of Palma Nova, you can get clear of any southerly swell. The restaurants in Palma Nova aren't bad - in fact a Thai called "Mau Thai" is excellent - we will definitely go back there.
Daytime on Palm Nova - "tucked in" away from the swell
When you are in the bay, on the anchor, you wouldn't know that Magaluf is just round the corner. Water is clean and clear enough for swimming and, of course plenty warm enough.
As long as we stayed put and not get tempted to move on, we were safe and comfortable. Boating friends of ours joined us here. They had planned to fly out to meet us but didn't know where we were going to be until they landed at Palma Mallorca Airport. So, a quick taxi ride and trip in the dinghy and they were with us. It is scary making plans like this - anything can happen in boating!!
We stayed in Palma Nova for three days until the wind and swell died down. In the old days when were cruising in the UK, we would have moved on but Med cruising is about being comfortable and taking time. We could have moved into Palma itself but we were comfortable so we stayed put.
Finally, the wind on the south side of Mallorca died down so of we went to Cabrera via a lunch stop in Es Trenc - more on Es Trenc later. The thing I like about the Balearics is that everything is close - Palma to Cabrera is only 27 miles.
Cabrera is beautiful.
The entrance to the anchorage is defended by a fort, high up on the hillside.
A natural harbour with protection from nearly all weather conditions.
And a very small port - mainly for tour boats and holiday visitors.
After a couple of days here, we set off to Es Trenc again. The weather now being perfect for a couple of days stay. In the past, I have referred to this place as Rapita but, in fact the good anchorage is mid way between Rapita and San Jordi.
Time to get the toys out
and after the day trippers had gone home we were able to get the best out of the Jetski.
And the following day, this guy showed up
Two days in the Trenc and it was time to head for Cala d'Or. Thanks to contacts on here (DougH) I had pre booked into Cala d'Or and we were already a day late. Just like Menorca, the south tip of Mallorca, has some fantastic turquoise water. The water round these volcanic islands is so deep that algae doesn't seem to get a hold - thus the water is very clear and any sand reflects these impressive colours.
Cala d'Or is lovely
The owner/manager and his dock masters really made us feel at home. We called on the radio and went straight to a berth. Later, whilst doing the paperwork, they said that we could have a choice of berths so we chose to go right up the creek to the end where the Yacht Club overlooks the marina.
JW was berthed right under the Yacht Club
Complete with infinity swimming pool.
And bar
Couldn't be closer
With the electric bikes unpacked we explored the area and restocked for our next visitors.
Photo limit reached....
Continued on next post
But, having just got back from 2 months on the boat (over a month in the Balearics), I thought it might be interesting to document our summer cruise. This is our 7th summer with the boat. The first was in Torquay, the rest has been in the sunny Mediterranean. Previously, during the hotter July/August months, we stayed at our home berth in Sant Carles. It is easy to just pop out onto the Lagoon and drop the hook, crack open a bottle of the local Spanish cava and enjoy fresh prawns whilst watching the sun set over out local mountains. We usually do a couple of longer cruises to the islands (Mallorca, Ibiza or Menorca) during either the early or late season. The thought being that it is less crowded but this year we decided to try the peak season and head over during July and return at the end of August.
We all know boats can be funny things - we use them hard and things break or fail. This year we had three main incidents - the ship's Simrad radio failed, a difficult to diagnose engine alarm and a shaft seal. These incidents require extra explanation so I will post a separate thread on the engine and shaft seals. Suffice to say, we had excellent support from Princess and MTU.
EDIT - this is a link to our shaft seal problem
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ands-not-what-you-want-to-see-on-your-holiday!!!
The plan this summer was to head for the south of Mallorca and gradually work our way round to Cala d'Or where different family/friends could join and leave us. En route, we planned to "take in" anchorages like Es Trenc that we have been to before and this year the plan was to get to Cabrera (a small group of islands) off the south of Mallorca. According to Wikipedia, Cabrera is a group of un-inhabited islands which was used to house French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars. Of the 9,000 prisoners sent to Cabrera, only 3,600 survived. It is now a National Park - so no anchoring and in the height of summer, you need to book buoys 3 weeks in advance. By carefully planning, I was able to book two sessions so that the two different groups of family/friends that were joining us could get the opportunity to see the place. In all, we managed to stay 4 nights in this beautiful archipelago.
Anyway, in the middle of July, we set off from Sant Carles. GSL on these forums who keeps his Sea Ray at Sant Carles was planning a similar cruise so we both left at the crack of dawn to cross the 120 miles to the south side of Mallorca.
The weather wasn't fantastic for the crossing but was very "do-able". We didn't have anywhere particular to in Mallorca to head to so we "plugged" Dragonera into the plotter and off we went. On arrival we did a quick "swing in and out" of Andraitx. It looked a bit busy and exposed so we moved on to a favourite anchorage of ours - Santa Ponsa. Weather in the Western Med this year has been very strange. The north of Mallorca and Menorca seem to have been hit by several Mistrals but when we arrived, the wind was generally from the east with the forecast for the following days changing to a southerly or south south west. This made Santa Ponsa a safe bet for the first few days but we fully expected to move on when the wind changed.
Santa Ponsa - a friend's Nauticat in the foreground
The north side of Santa Ponsa is full of night clubs and Irish Pubs - Yuk - but the south side of this excellent anchorage has some good restaurants in a nice street and a reasonable sized marina. With such a good anchorage, we have never used the marina - JW is probably a too big anyway.
After a few days in Santa Ponsa we set off for Cala Portals (thats what we call it - I believe it is also referred to as Vells. Well, at that time of the year, it was manic. It seems that all the big chartered yachts from Palma "pop out" for the day. During the evening, it settled down but we decided that the next day we should move on.
Cala Portals
Beautiful isn't it - shame everyone knows it!!
We needed to find somewhere that would be out of the swell that was going to be generated by the freshening southerly winds. We needed to call into Puerto Portals for repairs (see another thread) so we headed towards Palma. We like anchoring in remote places and it sounds like a contradiction in terms that we ended up in Palma Nova - right next to Magaluf!! But we have been there before and if you "tuck in" close to the Magaluf side of Palma Nova, you can get clear of any southerly swell. The restaurants in Palma Nova aren't bad - in fact a Thai called "Mau Thai" is excellent - we will definitely go back there.
Daytime on Palm Nova - "tucked in" away from the swell
When you are in the bay, on the anchor, you wouldn't know that Magaluf is just round the corner. Water is clean and clear enough for swimming and, of course plenty warm enough.
As long as we stayed put and not get tempted to move on, we were safe and comfortable. Boating friends of ours joined us here. They had planned to fly out to meet us but didn't know where we were going to be until they landed at Palma Mallorca Airport. So, a quick taxi ride and trip in the dinghy and they were with us. It is scary making plans like this - anything can happen in boating!!
We stayed in Palma Nova for three days until the wind and swell died down. In the old days when were cruising in the UK, we would have moved on but Med cruising is about being comfortable and taking time. We could have moved into Palma itself but we were comfortable so we stayed put.
Finally, the wind on the south side of Mallorca died down so of we went to Cabrera via a lunch stop in Es Trenc - more on Es Trenc later. The thing I like about the Balearics is that everything is close - Palma to Cabrera is only 27 miles.
Cabrera is beautiful.
The entrance to the anchorage is defended by a fort, high up on the hillside.
A natural harbour with protection from nearly all weather conditions.
And a very small port - mainly for tour boats and holiday visitors.
After a couple of days here, we set off to Es Trenc again. The weather now being perfect for a couple of days stay. In the past, I have referred to this place as Rapita but, in fact the good anchorage is mid way between Rapita and San Jordi.
Time to get the toys out
and after the day trippers had gone home we were able to get the best out of the Jetski.
And the following day, this guy showed up
Two days in the Trenc and it was time to head for Cala d'Or. Thanks to contacts on here (DougH) I had pre booked into Cala d'Or and we were already a day late. Just like Menorca, the south tip of Mallorca, has some fantastic turquoise water. The water round these volcanic islands is so deep that algae doesn't seem to get a hold - thus the water is very clear and any sand reflects these impressive colours.
Cala d'Or is lovely
The owner/manager and his dock masters really made us feel at home. We called on the radio and went straight to a berth. Later, whilst doing the paperwork, they said that we could have a choice of berths so we chose to go right up the creek to the end where the Yacht Club overlooks the marina.
JW was berthed right under the Yacht Club
Complete with infinity swimming pool.
And bar
Couldn't be closer
With the electric bikes unpacked we explored the area and restocked for our next visitors.
Photo limit reached....
Continued on next post
Last edited:
