Sula Mac departed Cabrera early as they headed back down to Santa Ponsa to drop off their daughter, who had been visiting for 10 days and to meet some old acquaintances.  We also had an arrangement to meet our friends, Dick and Jan on Blue Elixir from the Royal Southern, in Port Sant Jordi.  Although it was only a short distance from Cabrera, about 12 miles, we had an absolutely fabulous sail in NE F4/5 winds, which necessitated a couple of reefs in both sails.  Coincidentally, both Blue Elixir and Nimue arrived at the entrance within minutes of each other, so once the anchors were safely dropped, we hooked up for a drink and snacks on Blue Elixir.

Nimue sailing from Cabrera to Sant Jordi

We went ashore in the evening and after a wonder round the very ‘Germanic’ and upmarket town, we stopped to have a lovely fish meal in the Hostel Playa.  Blue Elixir headed off to Palma the next day, whilst we decided to spend another day looking around and visiting the very modern and newly built aquarium.  As well as seeing all the local fish, especially those found near the Cabrera islands, we were also invited to see a 3D underwater display.  It was all very, very impressive and all this for FREE! 

Sant Jordi and Blue Elixir

Next day we headed north up the coast and ended up ‘poking our noses’ into a place called Port Petro. We quite liked the look of it and so ended up picking up one of the buoys managed by the Govern de Illes Baleares.

Needing to spend some time ashore, we took a bus journey on Saturday to Santayni, which was about 10km inland (€4.40 return).  We intended to look around the local market, but as the bus journey took nearly an hour and we were really hungry by then, we ended up arriving, just as the market was packing up!

Back in Porto Petro we were moored about 100 metres from a 5* hotel and for the 2 nights we spent there we were entertained each evening to live music and the Moulin Rouge!  Guests were paying nearly €100 for the privilege, so we didn’t mind having to listen to the music until midnight!

Porto Petro and 5* hotel in background with 5* entertainment e.g. Moulin Rouge!

Michael contemplating (not sure what...) over lunch in Santayni and no market to be seen!!

Although it was only 5nm up the coast to Porto Colom, we had over 20knots of headwind, which in turn created some big seas.  Anyway we arrived in the lovely large sheltered bay in less than an hour and not surprisingly found a lot of boats already anchored, so it took quite along time to find a safe spot.  During our time in Colom we met Brian and Peggy, a lovely Canadian couple who have spent the last 15 years sailing around the Balearics on their Beneteau 37, called Stroller.  They were very good company and keen to impart their knowledge about some good anchorages in the Balearics.

Porto Colom

'Stroller' and owners Brian and Peggy

In fact the next day we followed their advice and headed up the coast to Cala Molto, just around the headland from Cala Ratjada, but just as we were about to put our anchor down in the very beautiful narrow anchorage, a Spanish boat decided to pull up their anchor and hover over the exact place we were going to anchor.  A few ‘words’ were exchanged and after this, we decided we didn’t want to stay there anyway! So we carried on a further 10nm round into the Bay of Alcudia and to another of Brian and Peggy’s recommendations, Cala Es Calo.  This was altogether much a nicer and more peaceful anchorage, which is set against a dramatic rocky backdrop and a sign we were reaching the northern coast of Majorca!

Some stunning scenery from our anchorage in,  Cala Es Calo, Alcudia Bay