Monday 1^st September – Cala de Fornells, Menorca – Mahón, Menorca

39:53.517N 4:16.753E

Today we decided to move on to Mahón, the capital of Menorca – the forecast for the afternoon was fair; from the North to push us South, F3-4 becoming F2-3.  Overnight there had been some thunderstorms come through over Mallorca but fortunately missing us, and this morning there had been a bit of a blow from the north.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out from our mooring, once the wind had eased.  We hadn’t realised just how well sheltered it was until we got to the entrance to Fornells.  Despite the wind and swell coming from the North, and the open end of cala Fornells facing North, nothing was getting through the narrow bottleneck entrance. 

Outside the sea was boiling, the swell was coming from everywhere, reflecting off the headland, and we thought at one point that we might need to head back as the swell on the port beam was testing our stowage.  The wind though was just F3-4 as promised.

We carried on for a while and then the sea settled and by the time we reached Mahón the swell had eased.  At first we motored sailed while the sea was rough but as we turned the headland to run downwind we stopped the motor and sailed down on wind and current.

As we entered the long cala of Puerto de Mahón, we first went up and looked at the sheltered anchorage at Cala Taulera.  There were quite a few yachts anchored there but still some space to squeeze in if we wanted.  We then motored on up to Mahón itself.  The anchorage is some way from town and so we decided to pick up one of the port authority mooring buoys next to the town.

This evening we took the dinghy ashore and parked by a seafront restaurant – they didn’t seem to mind - and we had a walk around the harbour, which seems to consist of restaurants, plus a chandlery or two, before coming back to Pyxis for dinner.

Puerto de Mahón

© Pyxis 2008