Difficult economic time in Spain

Blue Note
Marco M.
Fri 1 Aug 2014 22:03
All of us are aware of the difficult time in Spain and the marinas have adopted a new tactic to lure (or force) boats to their dock.

1)
After 2 nights anchored in Cala Teulera, together with 20+ other boats on the morning of the third day we were approached by a
motor boat, no special ensign. They hand out the paper below indicating that is not possible to anchor anywhere in the  bay of Mahon including Cala Teulera.
Where according to the paper provided is possible to anchor only when either all marinas are full (and they told us they are not) or in case of bad weather.
We asked if we could stay few more hours since we wanted to do some shopping in town and also visit the fort of La Mola, because the other day when we walked other was too late for a visit. Unfortunately, they told us they knew we already have been there the day before (I guess they did come when we were in town) and they gave us only one hour but encourage us to call one of the local marina that for sure they had room for us.
We calle Marina deportiva de Menorca for a place on their floating pontoon in Cala Llonga. They had room but they could not provide us with a price over the VHF. We had to call them on the phone (obviously everyone can negotiate a different price). We called an ask if we could stay only for 3-5 hours. No we had to pay for one whole night and the cost was 80 euro. (when in Carloforte at a nice marina we paid 45 per night). Upset by we the whole thing I did not even wanted to start negotiating and we left for the next destination. Too bad for the income of the museum and for the shop where we could have spent several euros.  To verify that the whole thing was not just a scam, I also called the port authority of Mahon to ask if I could anchor in Cala Teulera and thye confirmed only in case of bad weather. I was tempted if 10-15 kts of wind and a bright blue sky did qualify for bad weather but I did not.

2)
After one night anchored in Cala Salada (just in front of the village and marina of Fornells) around 3pm we were approached by a dinghy and a guy who asked to speak to the skipper. He informed us that at 5pm was to expect a strong wind from the south at 20-25 kts. I asked if this was a good holding ground and he reply "you are the skipper, you make your decision .."
So we went for a swim and check the anchor with snorkeling gear. All the bottom looked thick posidonia (not such a good news after what happen anchored outside Carloforte) but the anchor looked at least half buried into.   Went to the near bye beach did some more swimming.
Around 5pm the wind increased to 15-20 kts with few peaks above 20. Anchor monitoring by GPS shows no movement of Blue Note and now at 8pm the wind is already back to 8 to 12 kts at 10pm was a calm.