Cala de Addaya 40:00.28N 04:11.98E
Red Skies
David Alexander
Sat 22 May 2010 09:34
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Tuesday 19 June. As the weather forecasts for the
next few days are unpromising- Force 5-6 from the North with swells and gale
warnings further out to sea, we are staying put in Cala La Taulera.
The fortress of La Mola dominates the anchorage, so
we had to pay a visit. We took a leisurely audio tour and marvelled at the
immense construction, most of it tunnelled out of the rock, and the spartan
conditions of its inhabitants. It is dedicated to Queen Isabel 11, who paid two
visits during its constuction between 1848 & 1873. Sadly,by the time it was
completed, warfare and weaponry had moved on a pace and fixed gun emplacements
were no longer effective. However, the fortress was used during the two World
Wars and the Spanish Civil War. A 381mm Vickers Gun was erected overlooking the
Eastern Seas in the 1930's taking 10 years to bring bit by bit overland to La
Mola.
 Entrance to fortress
 Inner moat at La Mola
 The old prison, which was in use up until
1970, but since then, that and the other accomodation buildings have been left
to rot, with broken roofs and windows.  The modern Vickers gun (last fired in
1991)
The area was covered in wild flowers of all
descriptions. We spent a pleasant few hours there before returning to the
boat.
 Red Skies in La Taulera
Wednesday 19th was windy, although bright and sunny
but with strong winds forecast we didn't feel happy about leaving the boat even
though the anchorage although choppy is relatively calm.Yesterday two Norwegian
registered boats arrived- a Malo 39 and a converted fishing trawler which had 3
British people on board. The two seemed to know one another and on Wednesday the
fisher-crew plus the wife from the Malo wernt off in the dinghy. Shortly
afterwards the fishing boat started to drag towards the Malo. Fortunately, the
Malo owner was able to call his wife and the lads returned just in time to
re-anchor and put a line ashore.
During the night the wind got up to at least 26
knots, making for a disturbed night's sleep.
By Thursday lunchtime the wind was dying and the
sun came out, so we risked a wet and choppy dinghy ride to El Castells, a pretty
fishing village on the Southern shore, East of Mahon.We enjoyed a Spanish time
late lunch and a wander in the sunshine.
 General view of moorings at La
Castells
 The waterfront at La Castells
 Another view, sunny and warm out of the
wind
We arrived back to more dramas. A Danish boat had
dragged - its owners were not on board-and had apparently missed us by a foot .
The "fisherboat" lads had managed to assist the Malo guy to bring it alongside
him to prevent it ending up on the rocks, having to re-anchor the two boats
together to save himself dragging. Does this Malo man attract wandering boats we
wondered? The Danish owners returned at around 8.00pm, seemingly not at all
embarrassed or grateful for the rescue. They left at 6.30 am the following
morning. We later learned there are two types of sailor here- the super careful
and the "dump the hook and forget it" brigade.
By Friday it was calm, warm & sunny, so we
broke out our well-dug in anchor, fuelled and watered and set off North in the
direction of Fornells. As it was calm we decided to venture into the tricky
entrance of Cala de Addaya, which had been recommended by Graham & Gilly
from "Gilly B". The approach is through shallows and dog-legs but once inside
the anchorage is delightful. The local community seems to be an-expat British
enclave, with a mixture of tasteful grand villas and small low-rise appartments.
The marina staff are very charming and helpful. We could use the showers for a
small charge and the washing machine despite there being no charge (at this
time) for anchoring.
 Red Skies at anchor in front of the small harbour
at Puerto de Addaya
 Puerto de Addaya
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