39 53.5N 004 16.7E Mahon, Minnorca

Pipedream
Sun 4 Apr 2010 11:12
We arrived in Mahon, Menorca early this morning.. Very windy (20 - 25 kts)
and bumpy passage. Too much wind right on our nose most of the way. Glad
we fueled up before leaving
Barcelona or we would still be out there tacking high and low.

After returning to BCN at the beginning of March, I was able to install most
of the suitcase full of parts I brought with me. I literally came in with
just
the clothes on my back.

One of the biggest things was to get the chart plotter (the gismo that runs
the GPS positioning and also has all the maps of the Mediterranean loaded
into it) talking to everything else on
the boat, especially the auto pilot. It makes a big difference when you have
the correct cable! I also relocated the chain locker because we were having
a lot of trouble getting the chain to go in and out without getting stuck.
Very bad when you are trying to anchor and the thing gets stuck either half
way up or down and there are lots of other boats around you to hit.

It was hard leaving Barcelona! I was making friends and on the verge of
being able to speak some real Spanish. Another couple of months there and I
don't think I would have made
it out. I even had a library card! Mary came out on the 28th and brought
my last batch of parts. It was great to see her after a month by myself.
Mary's sister Kathi also flew in for a couple of days to see us off. George
joined us on the 31st and with the crew complete, it was time to move.
Unplugging the shore power cord made it all real.

We left on the 1st ( April fools day). We probably should have stayed in
port a few more days for better weather but Mary has to make a plane in Rome
on the 10th and George and I have to pick up Antony who will be
joining us in Rome on the 12th. Sailing and tight schedules don't work well
together.

Note to myself: April is probably too early to plan to go sailing in the
Med. I had originally planned on leaving in March but Bill Stellin
suggested
I wait at least until April. At night we all had on every piece of warm
cloths we could find, long johns, gloves, and wool hats. I have a drawer
full of shorts and tee
shirts... no cigar. We were supposed to get out of BCN around 9 am...but
didn't make it until around 2 after fuelling
and stowing everything away. That put us late into Mahon and we had to wait
outside the harbor for day light. We entered the harbor at sunrise and
found a yellow visitor's buoy (a float you tie onto with a huge piece of
concrete anchoring your boat down) just like the book said. About an hour
later the harbor master comes out to tell us we should really go to his
pontoon to tie up as these buoys are being phased out. He charged us 22
euros to tie up to the buoy.(his cheapest off season rate) When we came
back
from breakfast one to the two lines we had tied up to the buoy with had
chaffed through in about two hours. Glad we had used two! I switched to
chain. I hope to get some sleep tonight but.... expect to have a few bad
dreams about what could have happened if the second line would have parted.

Menorca is the least developed of the Balearic island group. Something
about taking the wrong side during the Spanish civil war. Mahon is built
around a natural harbor which is just super. The town looked clean and
bright in the rising sun. We will talk more about that in our next update.
Looks like the weather is calling for 37 knots of wind tomorrow so I think
we will likely spend Easter here. Mary and I are going to try to attend
services at the local Cathedral tomorrow which was built in the 13th
century.