39.53.230N 4.17.118E

Last nights anchorage was very bumpy. Skipper Yoyo managed the best and acted as though nothing was wrong, still balancing on impossibly small bits of the boat interior demanding tuna. First mate Koshka was wobbly on his paws as he walked about. 2^nd mate Stephen (demoted from Skipper) and 3^rd mate Anne were ok and slept through most of the night. Mates 2 and 3 were woken at 02:30 when the anchor watch alarm went off – we had it set a bit too accurately – we had just swung round due to the wind changing direction.

We were up early and set off to Puerto de Mahon. We had a lovely motor sail along the south coast of Menorca. Menorca is very low lying and flat – especially compared to Mallorca’s north coast – which is very mountainous. We arrived in Mahon before siesta (we are finally getting the hang of it). The only problem was all of Mahon decided to go out in their boats about the time we arrived. It was like driving down the wrong side of the M25 (this may be a bad comparison as the other boats were actually moving).

There is a “Tramontana” due on Friday – a very strong northerly wind that can be quite nasty with the swell. Hence we wanted to moor somewhere for a few days. It better be a really bad wind as the mooring fees are the most expensive we have paid anywhere. Oh – we can’t actually afford the real marina. Instead we are on a floating pontoon next to an island in the middle of the estuary. It is a very sheltered place however only water is provided – no power or showers or toilets, and we need to use the dinghy to get anywhere. The marina is 3 times the price so it could be worse!

However after this evenings entertainment we decided it is almost worth the mooring fee. Firstly at 6pm lots of boats decided it was time to come in to moor and the wind picked up a little to make it even more exciting. We had boats almost side on to the pontoon, the bow thruster being used in vain. Eventually 3 marina staff including one in a rib, another boat crew and the crew of 5 eventually moored the boat. Meanwhile charter boats waiting for the marina staff to be available to help them into a space, getting it wrong, loosing fenders and then once finally moored deciding the price was far too high and leaving. We watched all this over a bottle of rose wine.

After all that excitement as we were cooking our dinner there was a lot of noise from a helicopter and sirens from the emergency services. There was a fire just over the hill and the helicopter was filling a bucket in the estuary to drop it on the fire.

Hopefully all the excitement is over and we can get a good nights sleep!!