Puerto de Cala de Addya, Menorca 40:00.307N 04:12.020E
ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Sun 6 Jul 2014 18:32
We did Mallorca to Menorca today - a brilliant sail in good weather with sparkly blue seas, a fresh southerly beaufort f4 to beaufort f5. We sailed from the anchorage in north Mallorca to a position just outside the entrance to this stunning Cala with speeds of up to 8 knots. We were up and off early this morning with the anchor, together with a lot of weed, at 07:45. The bay at Pollensa was a great stop off. We anchored about 1/4 mile from the shore in 3m - the whole bay is shallow and for the last half mile were were anxiously watching the depth of water as we closed the shore. The passage up from Porto Petro had been a long day, so were both pleased to crash out and sleep! The dinghy was launched on Saturday morning and we were ashore to explore, shop, and dispose of our garbage!! The foreshore at Pollensa is developed right up to the water’s edge and all around the bay, but with a promenade, in part shaded by trees of every shape and kind, together with a shallow but clean sandy foreshore, presently festooned with families and numerous toddlers experiencing their first paddle/swim in the sea. All very safe, pleasant and very enjoyable to watch. Villas lining the inshore side of the promenade varied from modern flats to older style character properties, with one or two really grand stone structures with verandahs and columns supporting their first floor balconies, a style left over from another era, but very lovely and very tastefully refurbished. Everywhere there are shrubs in full glorious colour. At this end of the town, there are no high rise buildings, indeed, even way over on the other side of the bay, although perhaps a little more developed, there’s nothing that really offends the eye. We didn’t venture too much further into the town, but as this is a resort, one has to assume there’s a plethora of shops and bars etc., to cater to the holidaymakers. For all the development that has taken please, the area has not been spoilt and it seemed an ideal week/2 week family holiday destination for young families. There is some night life but not on the scale of Ibiza town and definitely nothing like mainland Spain in high season, when it was all noise, noise, noise. On Saturday night we lifted the dinghy on board and made ready for our early departure. Sunday morning dawned with a light southerly wind and at first it looked like another motoring day. However, as we left the anchorage behind, the wind steadily increased and soon we were romping along at 8 knots toward the North western end of Menorca. It’s about 25 miles across to the island and then we cruised down the north coast. How different from Mallorca! The island is comparatively low lying - not mountainous like Mallorca’s west coast. Habitation was sparse and we passed several deserted beaches with unspoilt golden sand. There is a general lack of trees and vegetation of the flowering type and what houses we saw were somewhat less sophisticated than on the bigger island of Mallorca. We are expecting the tail end of a mistral wind to arrive and pass through here in the next few days, so we have made our way to Addaya which is a fairly tortuous inlet extending southwards into the island with two dog-legs, but which should ensure peaceful nights while we wait for the weather to pass through. The pilot book says we should use buoys laid in the pool at the head of the cala - there are none vacant - local boats seem to be using them as moorings (and it was the same at Pollensa) so another few days at anchor for which there is no charge. That is probably a good thing as Porto Petro was expens/ive at Euro84/night. Yes it was nice and allowed us to fill the tanks, hire a car and leave the boat safety - not to mention three peaceful nights sleep! But marinas are a luxury, so we are bracing ourselves for Italy, where port charges are reputed to be more than a little on the high side!
So it looks like we are here for a few days. We are hoping for weather like today - ideally a South or south westerly 4/5 and settled forecast for 2/3 days will see us gone form here and on our way to Corsica. If the wind is from the north west we will probably end up in Sardinia, (or maybe Italy if all else fails!) We are very conscious that we have to be in or around Olbia in Sardinia on 28 July to meet Matthew who is coming to join us for a holiday.
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