Not wanting to bounce around in the anchorage in the wakes of all the revellers a minute longer than necessary, we opted to go ashore for lunch, choosing the Calvia Beach House on the waterfront; a club sandwich for Elaine and a Lebanese lamb kebab for Roy, but what a completely tasteless meal it was. Oh how we miss the flavours of the South Pacific and SE Asia!
Disappointed in general with Palma Nova, we returned to Paw Paw and felt our blood pressures rise as every jetski, water-skier, banana boat and speedboats of all shapes and sizes raced through the anchorage, not to mention the numerous “gin palaces” that squeezed in between the sailing yachts, of course entering at full throttle until the last second, all having complete disregard for the impact their wakes were having on the anchored yachts. It was complete mayhem until around 2000 before all the noise mysteriously ceased, making for a very unpleasant day.
It didn’t help matters then that the slight southeasterly swell and light wind that had been present all day too, increased in intensity just before sunset. Annoyed with ourselves at holding out rather than moving to a different bay, we weighed anchor and raced over to an anchorage east of Palma Nova and tucked in behind Illa de sa Torre, something we should have done in the morning and saved ourselves a lot of unpleasantness and annoyance.
While bouncing around at anchor, though, Roy used his time wisely to complete the permanent installation of the new windlass control, crimping wires as needed, since yesterday’s solution was a temporary measure just so we could drop the anchor. When the windlass didn’t work after his efforts, though, despair and confusion set in, only to remember we needed to have the port engine switched on. This is the second time this year we’ve forgotten about this incy wincy little detail. Relieved that we actually didn’t have another issue, he also checked the oil of both engines and saildrives, given that we’d had a few more days of motoring since leaving Port de Pollença.
Today we were up with the alarm and had weighed anchor by 0615. As soon as we left the bay, we raised the mainsail and set a course for Ibiza Island; we were sailing, yes sailing, at last! This was our first proper sail in the Mediterranean, under full sails, on a beam reach in 10-13 kts of wind out of the east, giving us a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 6.5-7 Kts. It was simply wonderful to be sailing again after months of motoring or motor-sailing.
By 1300 the winds had picked up to 15-20 Kts; it was time to reef the mainsail, given that we were flying along by this stage at 8.5-9 Kts and approaching a cape. Unfortunately Roy had barely gone down for a quick nap when Elaine had to wake him to reef. She had fortunately enjoyed an uninterrupted nap earlier, though, and had started to collate our Passage Meal Plan for our Atlantic Ocean crossing in an attempt to simplify the variety of dietary requirements we will have onboard for the crossing.
Under reefed sails, we cruised into Cala Xarraca. We’d improved our anchorage selection by the additional use of Google Maps to search for resorts, hotels, jetski outlets, speedboat hire, etc and then ruled those bays out entirely; we were in desperate need of peace and tranquility.
By 1500 we were securely anchored in sand, in a large bay, surrounded by crystal clear turquoise waters and a stunning natural scenery.
We’d thoroughly enjoyed our sail, which definitely helped test our new standing rigging and polished some of our rather rusty sailing skills; sailing with our navigation lights on for most of the day, after our early morning departure from Mallorca Island, was definitely a rookie’s mistake. Then getting one of the mainsail reefing lines wrapped around the iridium antenna and a second around the wind generator reminded Roy that he needed to pull in the reefing lines while reefing. Oh the joys of sitting in a marina for a year followed by months of motoring.
Elaine also had her first proper swim for the season, which was then followed by sundowners. Life was good again after three miserable days / nights on the south coast of Mallorca Island.
