Porto Cristo 39:32.39N 03:20.08E

Red Skies
David Alexander
Sat 4 Jun 2011 17:37
Friday 3rd June.   The forecasts have been unpromising - rain and storms, so yesterday we stayed in Colon but, today, decided to brave whatever was thrown at us and move on.
 
As D left to row ashore and pay for our stay (37 euros for 6 nights) thunder and lightening were around. However, by the time he returned, A counted 17 seconds between lightening and thunder and guessed the storm was moving away. Trouble was it was moving North and so were we.
 
We motored the 8 miles to Porto Cristo (wind on nose - as so often the case, but it enabled batteries to be recharged and domestic water to be heated) and entered the river with fingers crossed that there would be space on the town quay. We learned in Colon that we were registered with the Port Authorities' centralised system and that we should ask for an authority berth, quoting our reference numbers, as they were considerably cheaper than the 'Club Nautico' private ones. Last year we had paid 64 euros at the Club Nautico in Porto Cristo for just one night. We were delighted to find the town quay had a number of spare places and, apart from concern about an underwater cill against the quay wall, we are now in civilization with walk-ashore facilities - no more rowing for D for a while, with electricity, water, showers, shops and restaurants and even a wifi cafe. Being a town quay, there were no helpful marineros to help us berth and, in order to get close enough to tie the stern to mooring rings on the quay, before taking a mooring line to the bow, it meant getting perilously close to the aforementioned cill. D says he wants to anchor in a bay and dive to inspect the rudder as he is concerned there may have been a 'touch'. There was no mention of a cill in either of the two pilot books we have, indeed they refer to mooring stern to the quay, but now we wish we had moored bows to.
 
Charges here are much cheaper for mooring - about 20 euros a night but then a whopping 5 euros a night each for electricity and water, plus 20 euros deposit for shower keys and a water hose connector. You may imagine that we have have now thoroughly washed the boat, our clothes and ourselves and cooked with electricty to try to get some value from these charges.
 
The river harbour at Porto Cristo
 
The port further excelled itself by having a ferreteria (an ironmongers) within reasonably easy reach which sold bottled gas, as our previous container ran out after only 15 days of use. We had thought that we would have to make a stop at Alcudia, as we found last year that there was nowhere in Pollenca (our next proposed stop) that sells gas. The only disappointment is our failure, so far, to find a good, and reasonably priced, restaurant, so it's Chez Red Skies once again (and that will use some more electricity).
 
Porto Cristo is famed for its caves and, in particular, the Cuevas del Drach, or Caves of the Dragon, an impressive collection of stalag tites and mites, with an underground lake, on which musicians in lighted boats play light clasics. Although it sounds tacky, it actually is very effective and the rock formations reflected in the still water are beautiful. No photos are included here as (a) they are not allowed - one needs to buy the operator's exclusive ones, and (b) we didn't go in this year as we did the tour last year.
 
A 'dragon' in a cave - taken by George
 
The Torre de Falcons with cave underneath just prior to the entrance to the river.