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| Not much of a conversationalist...but a welcome hitchhiker |
Well, we were
now on a mission – Lagos or Bust! Our
trip from Stintino (Sardinia)
started out well. We had a friendly
hitchhiker (a little bird) stop with us for some time and a huge whale potted
about (as they do) on the edge of the continental shelf looking for a snack. Our last eight hours turned sour though as the wind and an accompanying swell hit us -
side on. Yes, we could have changed
course but the result would have been an African landing not Spanish. We were set on arriving in the Balearic
Islands, so the Cap’n took charge of the slalom ride whilst GS gripped her
bucket firmly. We arrived eventually at a
wonderful anchorage, Cala Taulela, (Menorca)
and after removing a cuttlefish from the deck and seaweed from the head, calm
was restored sufficiently to sleep soundly.
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| Finding a calm & restful anchorage at Cala Taulela, Menorca |
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| Mahon, Menorca |
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| Town Dock & friendly Mermaid at Mahon |
Next day was
recovery day, so we headed off into town for a “proper” English breakfast,
another of those treats we’d really been missing…
At the dock we came across a big “poser” boat. For the technical minded, it can do 50kts but
uses about 1000L per hour – we use 4L.
It also had the capacity to shoot a rooster tail 10m in the air. Feeling most inadequate, we jumped into Bruce
for a bit of coastal property speculation.
Some rather lovely homes dot Mahon bay, a tempting location where you
might toy with settling– until reality and tyranny of distance hits. Oh, and
lack of funds!
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| Window shopping along Mahon Harbour |
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Those mansions look quite small to me...
You wouldn't like them, I'm sure! |
We crossed
from Menorca to Mallorca in almost perfect calm, heading for an initial stop at
Porto Colom, another well protected
anchorage. Nosing about, looking for an
anchorage we came across one of those crabby boating itinerants, who shouted at
us. Now the Cap’n just thought he was
being friendly, so the GS, up at the bow, translated his Spanglish to English,
much to the amusement of the anchorage.
Having circled once, the Cap’n still uncertain of the intended message
circled him again. Now, that’s really
like poking a pig dog in the eye with a stick – not a good thing! Meaning clear at last, we moved well away.
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| Taking the challenging route into Santa Ponsa |
Our next day
took us (and a whole raft of butterflies) to one of our favourite anchorages, Santa Ponsa. Here we noted an Aussie 80” Oyster "Free Spirit", whose
owner came by and said hello. Nice! This was only the second Aussie boat (the
other, Hugo, at Le Grazie) we had seen this year.
They must all be in Greece? We then
shouted ourselves a dinner out (roast lamb, no less) to sustain ourselves for
an early morning crossing to Ibiza. San Antonio proved to be busier than we
last remembered (3 years ago) and with a wind blowing into the anchorage, we
upped stakes moving further into the bay.
Knowing that San An had supermarkets close at hand, and ahead of us we
had at least 3 or 4 anchorages along the Spanish mainland coast, we wanted the
fridge (or that part still functioning!) full.
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You can get an idea of the size of these cliffs along the coast of
Ibiza by looking for the copper coloured sailboat anchored at its foot. |
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| San Antonio (a thoroughly wild town) & a space-age Spanish ferry |
By now, the
quest for Vinho Verde was driving us on. (Vinho Verde, Portugal’s green wine, or green s**t - affectionately coined I’m sure,
John!) So, with the weather in our
favour and conditions much improved since leaving the Mistral behind, we
started to do big steps, knowing that there were plenty of marinas at hand
should we need to seek shelter. Finally,
the Rock (Gibraltar) came into sight,
so we rested at La Linea Marina until the tide and winds were right to escape
through the Straits (with 25kts pushing us past Tarifa) and pop back out into the Atlantic. Ah, the Atlantic, bringing
back those vague memories of tidal action and swell. A last ditch effort brought us straight to Lagos and we tucked up into a cosy marina
berth just before a rather nasty weather system arrived from the NW bringing
30+kt winds.
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Raging & serious bushfires along the Spanish Coast - the specks are planes
dropping water on the fires - there were 6 planes, all working together. |
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Is it a rock or a prehistoric monster
(after having a sneak peek at Medusa?) |
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| Calm seas at night |
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| And a few friends came to cheer us along the way |
So, here we
are, balanced on the very edge of Portugal, cleaning WJ3 until she sparkles and
getting ready to haul out after 5 years in the Med – with our minds half
wondering what next year will bring.
(After haul
out, we make for Barcelona for a few days sightseeing, so the blog will
continue for a wee bit yet!)
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Finding Moitessier's "Joshua" at La Linea Marina
Or is it just a copy? |
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We're getting close! Early morning calm as we arrived at La Linea to dock.
Then it blew up, reaching 25kts very quickly! |
