Wet Day in Palma

 

So here we are back in Palma again. Rain(!) is sheeting down, so it seems a good time to update the blog.

 

 

Our last blog, on Saturday 8^th September, saw us at anchor for the second night in Cala Portals in the bay of Palma. A pretty spot, but here we had an unfortunate experience. On going on deck just before bedtime we were hailed by a small motorboat which had anchored rather close to us. They claimed both that they were there before us and that we had moved, neither true as a check on our GPS position confirmed. A heated altercation ensued after which they moved off to anchor 100 yards away.

 

The next morning, quite early, the motor boat lifted its anchor but, instead of leaving the cala, re-anchored in its original spot quite close to us. Not wishing to have another dispute at that hour we remained below and a little while later the boat left. It was only a little while later whilst swimming that we noticed that the bow of the dinghy looked a little soft. Peering underneath we saw the blade of a knife sticking through the tube. Sabotage! AMB left cursing that he had stayed below, rather than his more normal reaction to eyeball the enemy!

 

Thence back to the Real Club Nautico in Palma and our favourite slot outside the swimming pool. However not much time for swimming as repairs were needed to the dinghy. In the event it took three patches on the dinghy to staunch most of the leak as the knife had penetrated both the bottom and side of the tube.

 

The next day cousin Dennis and Dereka flew in from Menorca for three days sailing. Conditions were perfect – inevitably a bit of motoring, but mostly a fair breeze for some decent sailing. For the first night we anchored off a deserted beach near San Jordi on the SE side of Palma bay.

 

 

Thence across to Santa Ponsa for the next night and breakfast (above!). Lunch and more swimming in Cala Blanca before a superb sail back to RCN Palma to allow them to catch their evening flight back to Menorca.

 

 

Palma is a most attractive town so we spent the next couple of days exploring. The Palau March, built in a classical style between 1939 and 1945, has an exhibition of some extraordinary Neapolitan 18^thc nativity figures as well as many Dali lithographs and modern sculptures by Hepworth, Moore and others.

 

 

The Arab bath house, with a delightful shady courtyard, is almost the only remaining building from the Muslim domination of the city.

 

Whilst in Palma with a decent wifi connection we had booked to spend a couple of nights on a buoy in Isla Cabrera. The island had been a military outpost and at the time of the Napoleonic wars had been a prison for 9000 French prisoners-of-war, over 5000 of whom died of starvation and disease. Now the island is a nature reserve with anchoring not allowed, and fifty mooring buoys which have to be reserved in advance.

 

Leaving Palma on Saturday, 15^th September we decided to break the passage by spending one night on the Posidonia buoys off Cala Blava – a mistake as we rolled uncomfortably all night!

 

 

Isla Cabrera is all that it is cracked up to be. Peaceful and delightful with beautiful clear water for swimming. There is a single landing stage with a small bar and a group of fishermen’s houses. A tourist boat brings a few visitors by day, but movements are strictly controlled.

 

 

Dawn was spectacular!

 

 

Heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong easterly gusts were forecast for the following couple of days so rather than heading for an uncomfortable cala anchorage we decided to be extravagant and spend a couple of nights in Marina Cala d’Or. Pleasant enough, but not the most inspiring of places and the water from the hose was almost undrinkable. The visitor’s pontoon was almost exclusively occupied by Germans with a few Spanish and we the only Brits. Sitting in the cockpit we played a silly game, bidding ‘buenas noches’ or ‘hola’ to all who passed. 80% of the Spanish greeted us and only 20% ignored us – with the Germans, the ratio was reversed!

 

In the event the threatened thunderstorms did not materialise and we decided that we had not seen enough of Cabrera so booked a further couple of nights. An added incentive was that Reed and Maren Erskine, our American friends on J-42 Cayenne, whom we had not seen since Valencia, had also booked for a night in Cabrera.

 

 

Our delight at being back in Cabrera was tempered by noticing that the steering had become slightly stiff and, on swimming, noticing a slight gouge mark on top of the forward end of the rudder. Further investigation revealed that another of the bolts holding the bottom rudder bearing to the skeg had come partially unscrewed and was fouling the top of the rudder. The bottom bearing, but with the three bolts removed can be seen in the picture above.

 

This was exactly the problem which we had experienced on a different bolt when we arrived in Mallorca from Valencia and as reported in the last blog. After much duck diving we had managed to tighten the bolt enough to ensure that it was not fouling the rudder, but more work was needed to allay our worries and solve the problem permanently.

 

 

The next day, Friday, was too windy to be able easily to dive to the rudder so we sat back and enjoyed the Cabrera scenery. Reed and Maren arrived in the afternoon and we enjoyed a delicious barbecue supper from their gas grill.

 

On Saturday morning with Reed’s help we set to work to tackle the problem. Reed and Maren have a ‘Sea Breathe’ dive set. This is a Canadian piece of equipment consisting of an oil-less air compressor running off a boat’s 12v battery, a hose connecting this to an air bladder and then a further long hose to a diving mouthpiece. This allows someone to work underwater from the boat to a depth of about 5 metres.

 

Despite having never dived before, after a bit of practice Tony found this amazingly easy to use and was able to work on the rudder, unscrewing each of the three bolts in turn, applying an underwater locking mastic and thoroughly retightening them. The whole process took about 1½ hours – during all of which time we forgot to take any photographs! However by the end all bolts were thoroughly tightened and sealed. Had we not been able to borrow this kit we would certainly have had to get the boat lifted out of the water at vast expense. We are now investigating investing in a set for Ione.

 

Feeling much relieved, we set off back to Palma. Our plan was to head to Ibiza but the wind had gone south-westerly and we did not fancy an extended beat. Indeed the week’s forecast has been for either SW winds, and/or gales and/or rain. However Palma is a delightful town, the RCN always welcoming and the berthing rates have fallen.

 

The last few days have been sociable. Initially we were back in our favourite slot by the pool, however we then had to move to make way for an Oyster rally. On their Open Day they were very apologetic that they did not have an example of the 46 – only the bigger boats! On Monday it was Griff’s birthday so this was an excuse for a huge supper in restaurant Carmen with Griff & Jane of Simbaroo, Reed & Maren from Cayenne and Frank & Judy from Shalimi.

 

 

Yesterday, with Reed & Maren, we took the old fashioned ‘Agatha Christie’ train to Soller. It is a spectacular journey, initially through the streets of Palma, then into the countryside and the high hills and finally through 13 tunnels winding down into Soller.

 

 

 

 

 

We had been in Soller a couple of times before, but it was well worth revisiting the market and also the two exhibitions – one of Miro lithographs, the other of ceramics by Picasso.

 

Today – Thursday 27^th September – we are lurking below as the rain pours down, listening to the Oyster fleet set off for a wet race to Andraitx. The forecast for the next couple of days is poor, but things then seem to improve and we will head SW to Ibiza for a week or two. Thereafter we have booked a slot in Cartagena again for the winter.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Sarah & Tony

Ione – Palma de Mallorca – 27 September 2012