Balearics & Spain
It took us three nights to motorsail from Gozo to Menorca, 530 nautical miles in 72 hours, the longest stretch we have ever done, again Skip and I spelling each other every three to five hours. We had initially thought to call into Tunisia to get cheap diesel, but after talking to a couple of other sailors, decided it wasn’t worth the extra distance to visit a dirty, disorganised marina and get fuel that possibly had a high sulphur content. On our first night we encountered many fishing boats and cargo ships and had to take evasive action several times but after that it was plain sailing, very little traffic (which was fortunate as our radar stopped working), no moon, clear skies and shooting stars, beautiful bioluminescent balls and sparkles, and terrible Arabic music on channel 16. The sunrises and sunsets were spectacular and we were joined by a wee hitchhiker on the third day, always nice to have someone else to talk to. So, what do we do during the day on passages? Well apart from the occasional catnap, maintenance and cleaning are never ending and on this passage I also made chicken stock and passata to freeze, caught a small tuna, defrosted the three freezers and made bread.
Spain, it was wonderful to be back again, it had been four years and we had forgotten how lovely Spain is - long white sandy beaches, limestone calas, such clear turquoise water, and hola another language. We had planned to land in Mallorca but after four days and three nights, with the days growing shorter, Mellorca was the best landfall in daylight hours, back to Cala Taluera, muddy and crowded last time we were here in September 2018, but it was now late October so, very different this time. Our arrival was not without its stress however, entering the channel we lost all our 12 volt system, and with one engine, managed to head back out to sea to troubleshoot and determine that our underspecced 100 amp circuit switch had melted, merde.
Two days and another anchorage later we headed across to Mallorca, it’s east coast of flat greenness, white houses, limestone caves and hidden calas not dissimilar to Menorca. Another two anchorages later we arrived in Palma, just out from the Catedral, cruise ships and ferries coming and going behind us. It was Halloween and our first night we wandered through the old town, admiring the decorations and costumes before finishing up with a nightcap at the most splendid Bar Adaco – an opulent converted 17th century house, with baskets of overflowing fruit baskets, large vases of flowers and very generous cocktails, magnificent.
We had stopped briefly in Mallorca in 2018 to pick up some of our kids and because their time was limited and they wanted to get going and see as much as possible in the time they had, we only went ashore to provision, so we knew where the Carrefour was at Portopi but very little else.
The weather was unseasonably warm, five degrees higher than usual and clear blue skies every day, so much easier to traipse around the supermarket and chandleries, load up the tender and head back out to NOETA when it’s relatively calm and not raining.
Eight days in Palma, our top priorities were getting our satcomms sorted, locating a backup Lecombe & Schmitt autopilot system, troubleshooting our Quantum radar which had stopped working on the way to the Balearics, finding a door latch for our LG microwave which had broken on the way to Malta, locating sodastream refills, buying a breadmaker, filling up our gas cylinders and provisioning specialty Spanish items.
Several of the marine electronic specialists we contacted could not help us, most of their technicians were down in the Canaries helping ARC boats prepare for their Atlantic crossing. But fortunately Enaval could fit us in and Tallamar were keen to help. Rafa at Enaval really knew his stuff, came on board, sorted out our Raymarine issues, showed Skip how to install a new autopilot motor and managed to locate one that could be delivered within a week. Likewise Kitti at Tallamar, loaned us an Iridium Go unit and SIM so we could determine that it was in fact our unit that was causing the problem. Many phone calls and hours online searching we managed to find a new unit in Spain, that also could be delivered to Palma within the week.
El Corte Inglès sold sodastream refills, the Mercat de Santa Catalina had padron peppers, Mercanautic looked after Skip with a submersible pump and boots, and Carrefour had a great selection of chorizo and manchengo cheese. We got to know the best places to tie up the tender, the three chandleries extremely well, we found a specialised sheet (rope) supplier Pachi at Trabajos en Cabos (with his two dogs Chimi and Churri ) and spent a morning out in the commercial centre at Marratax which had a Leroy Merlin (hardware) and Decathalon (sports equipment). But best of all I managed to find the radar, Raymarine autopilot electronics, door latch and breadmaker online, and companies in Gibraltar who could order and take delivery a week later, phew.
All work and no play?
We had some great meals out - prawns swimming in garlic olive oil (not literally), seafood paella, padron peppers, Mallorcan aioli, live music, and the captain gave me an afternoon and morning off to wander through the old town, the Arab baths, the Jewish quarter, and visit the Gerhardt Braun Galleries and the Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma. The Art Museum is housed in an old fort, a sympathetic blending of old and new with large outdoor sculptures and, because he was from Palma, a Miro collection. The three exhibitions were thought provoking and dealt with identity, spatial perception and migration.
Onwards to the mainland, via Formentera. And it wasn’t much fun. It took us 11 hours to get to Formentera, where I slipped turning the watermaker off in the anchor locker and cracked a rib. Then another it was another 31+ hours to Almerimar, through thunderstorms and torrential rain, the wind picking up to 30 knots at times and with an easterly current creating interesting breaking waves, I felt seasick and sore. However despite everything I but did manage to catch my first dorado and it was delicious.
It was a good time of the year to be travelling along the Costa del Sol and Costa Plastico, it was still warm, there were very few people and it was easy to find good anchorages. That is until we got to Málaga. I had set my sights on visiting the Picasso Museum (Picasso was from Malaga) and a private glass museum, so we anchored in a spot just east of the port; it was marked as an anchorage on the chart and in the pilot book, but, as soon as we dropped our pick we got a call from the port on Ch 11 - no anchoring at all in the entire nine nautical mile Malaga Bay. What the? So with the light fading we headed for the nearest anchorage at Benalmádena. It was unexpectedly great. An expansive shallow sandy bay with good holding, we had dinner ashore in the surely Dr Seuss inspired marina - Arabic, Indian and Andalusian design with islands of houses seeming to emerge and float on the water. There were plenty of eating places to choose from and our chosen, Jack's Smokehouse, was an excellent choice – smashed wasabi pea tuna salad and a basil gin cocktail for me.
Then after two more nights in Spain, it was onwards to the Rock.