Position: 40:03.04N 004:08.33E - Fornells,
Menorca
Fornells is a
quaint little place. The rows of tiny ancient fishing cottages
have been given a fresh lick of whitewash and new terracotta rooftiles
for their more recent tourist occupants. Perhaps learning a valuable
lesson from other Spanish resorts, the modern buildings have been built
low-rise in the same style. At first glance you can't tell
the place is developed at all and the town features frequently on postcards
and in guidebooks. We managed to nab a good anchor spot with a great view
of the town, and we're close enough to shore to enjoy the entertainment in the
waterfront restaurants from the cockpit each evening. And to row
ashore.
We ventured
ashore for the first time in over a week to wander round the
sidestreets and the ruins of a fortress. We found a restaurant on a
back-street that reminded us of Adega de Marina, our favourite restaurant in
Lagos. Unfortunately, many enthusiastic Tripadvisor reviewers have found
it too, so it's booked up until next week. The fisherman may have gone
from their cottages, but their traditional recipes remain and Chris was
determined to sample 'Caldereta de Pesca', (fish stew). It was very good -
much better than my dish of seafood pancakes, and - best of all - no
cooking or washing up for me!
The only downside
is that it's a little busy here, although I suppose it's to be
expected slap bang in the middle of silly-season. (We never know what
day of the week it is so it's easy to forget it's now August - or maybe it's my
impending 40th this month that's blocking the fact?). Early evening
yesterday, when Chris was mid-way through sausage-singeing on the Cobb there was
a sudden influx of boats in competition with each other; motor-boats trying to
produce the biggest wake possible as they buzzed past, and yachts
seeing who could drop their anchor the nearest to our
cockpit.
We intended to
stay here a little longer and go diving on Monday as this is the closest dive
centre to the marine reserve. However, there's some very nasty looking
Northerlies forecast for Monday, so we need to get out of here tomorrow to find
decent shelter from them. Chris doesn't need to go diving anyway - we
heard a clank this morning and immediately realised the lid of the Cobb had gone
overboard. A Cobb can't cook without a lid so Chris donned mask and fins
and free-dived the 6.5m to rescue it from the eel grass (beating his previous
record of 5.5m). I'm not sure how much extra help he gets from fins - his
feet are size twelve to start with. You know what they say about men with
big feet... Yup, big shoes. Size 46 in local money.
Spanish shoes go up to size 45. Which is a bit of a shame cos his only
pair of sandals were in Tiny Dancer when she went walkabout in
Formentera...
To
follow our progress in real time, track our AIS signal on
marinetraffic.com
To see photos of our journey make
friends with Deca Dance on Facebook
Find out how you can join our adventures
on www.DecaDanceYachtCharter.com.
