1. 1 September.to La Sabina, Formentera. 64 nm (38° 44'3 N 1° 25'.5 E)

Another hard day at the office!

We left Calpe anchorage from behind a huge rock that reminded us of the rock fort at Sygyria in Sri Lanka - apparently it's a similarly hard climb to the top - at 0730 into a rolly sea for the trip across from the mainland to our first Balearic Island - Formentera. By 1200 we were in full flight, sails full and roaring along at 5.5 knots.  bloody marvellous!  Arya Tara left with us, but as soon as we started sailing, they shot off into the distance on a similarly satisfying sailing day (They are a lot bigger, so cruise at 7-8knots compared to our 5). We dropped anchor right next to them at 1900 200yds off the long beach at La Sabina and felt very satisfied. The beach looked perfect. We soon noticed a growing crowd gathering on the shore - had they come to welcome us to Formentera and share our pride at reaching the Balearics at last? We could hear music from ashore and wondered whether a dreaded all night rave was about to begin, but when we spoke with Phil on the VHF and asked him if he had spied the crowd, he said that they had noticed them on their last visit; they come to watch the sunset, which they did, cheered and clapped, hung around for another couple of hours and disappeared only to re-appear the following evening.

There's not much to La Sabina other than a busy ferry port from Ibiza and numerous bicycle and scooter hire shops, with the odd cafe and shop. We took our bikes ashore and explored further to Es Pujols - a ridiculously pretty spot on the east side of the island, full of bars and restaurants. Formentera is a beautiful island, probably one of the coolest and hippest places I have ever been, but my word, it's expensive! We went to a beach bar with Joyce and Phil and had 2 rounds of 2 small (very) and 2 large (not very) beers. The bill came to €34!!!! 23 quid for 2 round of beers! Most of the other cafes and restaurants were similarly priced. i have no idea how the young holiday makers were able to afford such prices.

After 4 nights, the dreaded parting of ways took place. Joyce and Phil were heading back to Portugal where Arya Tara has had a winter berth for several years and to meet family arriving to visit on 1 October. We were heading on to Ibiza and Mallorca. It's the worst bit about this life; you meet great people, share time and experiences with them, but your different objectives mean you have to say 'goodbye' or at least 'au revoir' (or should that be 'hasta luego') at some point. We hope we will meet up with them again next year in Turkey, perhaps.

2. 5 Sept. Cala Tarida, Ibiza. 17nm (38° 56'4 N 1° 14'.0 E)

We waved our farewells to Arya Tara and crew and set off to Ibiza. A nice beam reach to the SW corner, between Ibiza and Isla Vedra and on to Cala Tarida. Initially we had picked Cala Badella, but it was crowded with moorings and had little protected space left, so we continued north for a few more miles. We dropped anchor in the wide bay and dived in to the clear blue sea for a refreshing swim. Perfect.

3. 6 Sept. Cala Portinatx, 21nm  (39° 06'6 N 1° 30'.9 E)

A motoring day to the surprisingly nice resort of Portinatx on the northern tip of Ibiza. It was not as crowded as we had expected and the town was relatively low key. the thumping music stopped at a reasonable hour and allowed us a nice night's sleep before starting off again the next morning to Mallorca. We did debate about staying another day here, but the weather is good for the 50nm crossing and although the outlook was reasonable, you have to take the opportunities as they arrive.

We went ashore to check the weather on the internet in a bar, that also happened to be showing the European Qualifying game of Macedonia v England. It was a messy match which we barely won 0-1. more notable was that Northern Ireland beat Spain 3-2!!

4. 7 Sept. Port Andraitx, Mallorca. 49nm (39° 32'8 N 2° 23'.3 E)

Off we go again, making the crossing of the Canal de Mallorca between Ibiza and Mallorca. An uneventful crossing other than the quick visit of a small pod of dolphins which included one very large one - about 4m in length. We managed to sail about a third of the way, using the engine the rest of the time. Our landfall at Porto Andraitx was very pleasant; a small town with a posh 'Club de Vela' on the west and the harbour authority yachts and fishing vessels on the east. We dropped anchor at the head of the bay in 3m and went ashore for pizza and beer. the town has many German restaurants, bars and real estate offices - so much for the Brits taking over Spain!

The following day we went into Palma on the bus to scout for a winter berth for Roam. We were very disappointed. The Real Club Nautico flatly said they were full without taking any details, and then we spent some time locating the offices for the charter quays (the charter boats tend to move to the Caribbean for the winter season there), found they were at least €500 a month (with no showers or wcs!), another offered €800 (with the luxury of wcs and showers). Last year we paid around €200 a month. We had asked at the Cub de Vela in Andraitx if they had space. They said they might, but to come back next week to see the Capitania. Their rates were a lot more reasonable at €260 per month.

When we gave up in Palma we tried to get the bus back; simple enough you might think. We first tried for the 16.10 bus and eventually managed to get on the one at 19.40! All the buses sailed past the bus stops as they were all full! We had to go to the Bus Station to ensure we got a seat!

5. 10 Sept. Arenal. 22nm (39°29'9 2°44.7E)

After 3 quiet nights at Andraitx, we set off on the quest for to find a winter berth to Arenal that had been recommended. We motored nearly all the way other than a small drift in the Bahia de Palma near Arenal. Next day we filled up with fuel and water (now have to pay for drinking water) and asked at the office about wintering. They said the best they could do was add us to the list and let us know. oh, and it's €420 per month. Oh well, back to Andraitx then and see what they can offer.

6. 11 Sept. Port Andraitx, Mallorca. 49nm (39° 32'8 N 2° 23'.3 E)

Back to Andratx to see about the winter berth at the 'Club de Vela' but first we had to set the anchor. The official anchorage is outside the breakwaters, but is a little exposed to any weather from the SW-W direction, the sea bed is also very weedy - notoriously bad for holding the anchor. After 1½ hours and 6 goes later (each time winding in the chain and anchor manually in the humid heat), we finally let the anchor rest, but were not that happy with the holding. Later that night as the thunder and lightning started, the wind got up and a big catamaran swung close to us (he was there first), so we upped anchor and moved into the inner harbour, where the harbour authority doesn't like boats anchored - even though there is plenty of room - but the holding is much better and it is much more sheltered. The following night, the thunder and lightning was amazing, the lights went off in the town following 2 massive strikes (it's very un-nerving sitting in a thunder storm with a 30' metal pole sticking up in the air).

A couple of nights later we had another real howler, this time with tremendous winds. There were gale warnings out, so the inner harbour anchorage got very busy, with one big German ketch very close to us. We tried to persuade them to move while there was room...they did, but not far enough for our comfort. We were about to have a late supper after having had sun-downers with Clive and Mel on Anny Ann, a gaff rigged boat from Salcombe, when a humungous gust blew up the harbour. We rolled on our beam ends as the chain finally snubbed. The water turned white with spume and boats were dragging all over - fortunately not the German ketch ahead of us. The rain came down in bucket loads. My knees wobbled with fear as I got the engine fired up in case we needed to move in a hurry. A catamaran sheared from side to the other about 5m from our bow at one point. Apparently they had 2 very small anchors and were struggling to retrieve them both before they went alongside a vacant marina pontoon. About an hour later the wind subsided, but continued to gust all night, which kept me awake for most of it.

Tinkerbelle came in a few nights ago and is also anchored here - at 67eur a night, they thought the charges at the Club de Vela were a little steep for them. We compared horror stories the following morning, but glad to say the damage was only one broken snubber between us.

We wanted to take a spot on the Transit Moll, one of the harbour authority moorings which you can use at a much cheaper rate than the marina, but only for a limited time. 2 days after the blow we noticed a boat leave so we were at action stations to move in and take the vacant slot before anyone else. As I was weighing anchor, the last 10 meters were incredibly heavy, it was obvious we had fouled on something, hopefully not another boats' anchor or chain. As it came into view from the murk below, we saw it was a huge piece of chain, the kind used for mooring pontoons, encrusted with barnacles. With the help of a kind chap in harbour launch we managed to free ourselves of the chain, but had to cut the warp we were holding it with. Ironically, we would have been safe as houses in the storm the other night as we could not have dragged anywhere with all that huge chain holding the anchor down! Fortunately, by the time we had cleared the anchor, the spot on the Transit Moll was still vacant. The next surprise was that the winter rates began that day, so the bill for 3 nights mooring was only €9!

7. 19 Sept. to Soller. 25 nm

We motored all the way to Soller in increasingly rolly exposed seas around the western side of Majorca. the scenery is terrific; the tall mountains of the Cordillera de Poniente fall right into the sea. Half way along the coast is the much recommended port of Soller, with the actual town of Soller a few kms inland, as is the tradition around here - to protect the locality's riches and population from invading pirates (and tourists perhaps?). We were able to take the last spot on the Moll Transit, but were advised we would have to leave the next day at 9am as the pontoon was being removed! We looked around the town and found it very uninspiring - most of the tourist hotels were sparsely populated with glum looking holiday-makers and the only place with more than 20 people in it had a guy playing cha-cha-cha music on his electronic keyboard. we stopped for a beer and were over-charged. Welcome to Soller! We would have liked to have gone into Soller town, but the little train/tram stopped running at about 7pm. We debated about staying another night in the anchorage, but the westerly swell was making for an uncomfortable berth on the moll and a horrendous-looking one for the boats in the anchorage rolling form gunwale to gunwale.

8. 20 Sept. to Port Pollensa. 35.5nm

...so we left...and made our way to the mooring field about 1nm NE of Port de Pollensa in a very scenic spot close to the Sea Plane Port. A load of mooring buoys have been laid to stop anchoring to protect the weed growing on the sea bed. the buoys are free for one night a week June-September, but there was hardly anyone there the night we stayed and the 'caretaker' seemed not to worry if we wanted to stay longer. We tied up to the buoy and i had a quick swim. The weather forecast was showing some strong wind from the SE, which unfortunately the mooring field is open to, so the next morning we went into the harbour to find some more moll transits for €3/night. We then got the bikes out and rode the 6km to Alcudia and Port Alcudia.

We did start out to Minorca yesterday 24 Sept, but 5 miles out we were hit by a massive thunder and lightning storm. The wind went from 5kts to 50kts in about 30 seconds and we were bucketed with rain for about 40 scary minutes (at least it gave the sails and the deck a good wash off!). Once the rain and wind eased off, the lightning continued and the thunder rumbled around us, so we limped back to take a mooring buoy nr. Pollensa to dry out and recuperate. The wind howled all this morning and by lunch time we had retreated back to the harbour having seen a water spout on the far side of the narrow Formentor peninsular. There is a big gale in the south of France sending wind, waves and rain to us which will keep us here tomorrow too. Hopefully, we'll try again on Wednesday.

9. ? Sept. to Mahon, Minorca 65 nm.

Early Bath

Just a couple of notable events on this passage, the first in the initial 30 seconds of the trip.  Usually, when we depart from the 'med-moor' berth, Terry first drops the lazy line that is securing our stern and then I take in the bow lines holding us to the quay and fend off any other boats alongside as Terry reverses out of the space. So, per normal procedure, I was at the bow, Terry said 'OK', I replied 'Ok, i'll let the lines go', then told him when the lines were clear. He engaged reverse gear, we went back a couple of feet and then 'THUD' and the engine stalled. Terry re-started the engine and the same thing happened as soon as he engaged gear. Then he realised that he had not removed the stern lazy line and it was now wrapped around our propeller! With the help of a couple of nice chaps on the boat next to us, we tied ourselves back to the quay and Terry had to go in the water to remove the line. Fortunately, it unwound relatively easily and our second attempt to depart was ok.

The second incident was with a high-speed ferry between Minorca and Alcudia on Majorca. Since we were sailing, it is supposed to give way to us, but we realised we were on a collision course and it took no avoiding action (usually a ship will turn a few degrees, just enough to show that they have seen us and will avoid us). So we had to bear away and got caught in the heavy wash about 100yards behind. The short waves crashed on our decks and for the first time we shipped water below through the forward hatch, even though it was closed. It's impossible to say whether they were not looking out and did not see us, or they chose to scare us and force us to give way.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, other than seeing a big catamaran that was wrecked on the shore. It cannot have been there that long as it still had sails on the mast lying alongside it. Perhaps it was wrecked in the storm that hit us a few days before? . We arrived at the cosy anchorage behind Isla ? and La Mola at dusk and had a very peaceful night. Next day we motored through the little canal behind the island into Mahon harbour. it was much more peaceful than we imagined. We took a buoy opposite the town at Cala Rata for about €11 a night. We could get water from a little floating pontoon, 50litres for 50c - quite enterprising really. We went ashore and had a look round and started to enjoy Mahon - lots of history, nice town, local flavour and not too touristy, certainly at this time of year. Later a couple of GB yachts came by and took the buoys next to us. They came over for a chat and we found we were all headed for Sardinia (in fact someone had told them that we were headed that way, so they were looking out for us).

10. 2 October. dep Mahon to Porto Conte, nr Alghero, Sardinia. 195nm. 36 hours.

We went back to the anchorage at Mahon with our new friends Pat and Tony on 'Full Flight' and Colette, Martin and Jazz, the cocker spaniel on Hejira the night before we started out to Sardinia and enjoyed an afternoon on the small beach having a barbeque. We crept out of the anchorage at 4am into a very dark moonless night and motored towards dawn. Just as the sky was lightening, the engine went thud with a big vibration - something around the propeller again! We could not free it with the rope cutter, so had to drift around for 1½ hours until it got light enough for Terry to have another early bath and cut the offending nylon bag away. That over, we continued eastwards. By 1130, the wind had increased to a SE3, just enough to sail. It continued to increase for the next few hours until by 2130 we had a double reefed mainsail and genoa  and still doing 5-6 knots. The sea also became much heavier and it made for an uncomfortable ride, but Roam took care of us beautifully, shouldering the waves and keeping course. Special mention must go to Mildred, the self-steering windvane, who steered all night and the next day until we were off the very impressive cliffs of Capo Caccia. Full Flight and Hejira also made the crossing with us and we kept in VHF contact throughout the trip, which was very reassuring.

Logbook 5: Sardinia