July in Palma, Mallorca
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Wed 28 Jul 2021 10:47
| 39:31.881N 002:35.157E UTC 1014 Opened the blog today, and found no posts since July 5th, as we — the boat and myself — arrived on Mallorca… Everyday I’ve been telling myself — ‘Michael, you should update…. ‘… And everyday, ‘ a good reason’ arrived to postpone… A lot of things has happened over those July days. We moved to Palma. We are on anchor in a small harbour/bay — illetas. We are probably the only boat, which has not lifted the anchor for more then 3 weeks now… There is nothing special of that place. As the saying going in the Real-Estate business, there are 3 the most important things about your property — location, location, and location. To degree, it is probably true about your anchorage. In my case, the Illetas are very convenient — the water is clean enouph, the sand bottom provides good holding and welcoming waving from the Pacedonia grass patrols, the bus is taking you to the downtown of Palma in a few minutes… The life has fallen in a rhythm, slow in the first glance, but relatively intense after watching for a wihle… Everyday — some maintenance/improvements on the boat, exchange messages with friends all around different timezones, reading, learning, meeting new friends, welcoming old ones, who are passing by, swimming, cooking, making small contribution to the world fight with alcohol… Suddenly, the days became full, with a few free moments early morning, on the Sun rising, and the other few — on the Moon arrival… Probably, the most noticeable improvement on the boat — the new controllers for the solar panels. Finally, the modification of the Solar charging system — started on Antigua, in spring 2018, by putting the supports for the panels — is completed. And what the change it made! We have enough energy now to fully charge the batteries, running all electronics and appliances… The most noticeable — the water marker is capable to run from the solar panels now ( even though the batteries are still charging… )… Consequently, at the moment — the veteran and lifesaver, Honda generator — is decommissioned, and has been put in long time storage for the future cleaning and general maintenance… ( It is a great device, saved us multiple times, spend 5 years at the back of the deck, being washed and bitten by salty waves of all the oceans and the seas we went through… ). The next — by its impact — is computer integration between different devices… The result of this one — is two folded… First, I got better understanding — again, next level! ;-) — how things have been done and installed on Eleonora… The program I’m using for navigation — SOBv360 — is kind of open ended… and the possibility to talk directly to the developer of the program leaded to the second change — I started to program again after 6+ years… To my big surprise, I still remember something… and those small exercises are bringing fun… The next, but not the last — by long time significance… I started to understand better the weather of the Med… I becoming capable to adjust the ‘generic weather forecasts’ to the local conditions… I’m holding my breath on that, since it is still its early stage of development… Occasionally, on the full Moon arrival, the quotes from one of my favourites — the Piorates of the Caribbean — is crossing my mind… Similar to Jack, we are sitting in Illetas, not moving… The local charters started to bring tourists to show the Canadien flagged boat, with a strange aborigine on her… Some started to drop the anchor further away, some started to drop the anchor closer and closer… Waving on arrival, waving on departure… ‘ Ok, Michael! But what about sailing ? What about the plans to see Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc, etc, etc ? ‘… A very good question! The detailed answer — diserved another long post. I can only say at the moment that the Ibiza to Mallorca crossing has highlighted a lot… Shortly before and during the trip, I’ve been receiving a lot of photos from friends from Greece, Malta, Caribs… With notes — ‘we have been there, we have been seen those… ‘… In short/simple form — it bring the old question for me, ‘What is next?’… — the one, illustrated next by the following 2 pictures:   A bit less then 5 years ago — I remember that day well, the trip from Grand Case to Marigot, St. Martin — the understanding arrived that I’m going sailing… On a trip from Ibiza to Mallorca, the similar feeling — Eureka! — arrived… Yes, I can see a lot of new places — there are no shortage of them, each different, each has its own charm! But with each new Cathedral seen, with a new hot spring found, with archaeological sites visited… What makes them really unique — is… actually not them… But the crossing… I can watch endlessly the blue sky, the clouds, the endless horizon… the water… listening to the sound of the boat moving through…. Five years ago, the ‘discovery’ made it clear what to do next… And brought me to the Med, eventually. I wonder, what is going to happen this time! ;-) ( But as I said — the whole story is deserved more thinking, clarification, absorbing, and preparation! And most probably the separate set of posts! ;-) For now — we are OK, in good shape! Enjoying the summer in Palma, Mallorca! Talk soon. M. Phone, whatsapp, & text: +1(514)609-5645 |