We have been aboard Pandora since late March and after all of the gear issues and weather delays, there has been a near constant underlying anxiety that we would not make it to Sardinia by early June, when we are scheduled to fly back to the US.
While the winds in the Caribbean are consistent, nearly always from the East, the winds in this part of the Med are very fickle, constantly changing with hardly a 12 hour window to count on and yesterday we sailed for a few hours on our run from Palma to this lovely little cove on the eastern shore of Majorca. And, after basically motoring everywhere since leaving Almerimar, it was a great feeling. And, as the winds never got much above the low teens, we even had an opportunity to try out the new code zero sail. Even if it is a bit small (as I mentioned in earlier posts) it moved us along smartly.
Now that we are on the eastern side of Mallorca, only about 50 miles from Minorca, our last stop in the Balearics before we cross to Sardinia, our destination in less than two weeks, somehow the stress of “will we get there in time” is a lot less. Sure, there is still 250 miles between us and Bosa, where Pandora will be hauled for the summer, we are fairly confident that we will get there in time to catch our flight to Rome on June 2nd.
Finally, we feel like we are getting into the groove of cruising after spending so many nights in marinas and always worrying about how far we still had to go.
We had the place nearly to ourselves when we arrived in the early evening.
This morning we awoke to a sunrise over a very foggy harbor, our first fog of this season. I have no idea how common fog is in the Med but it seemed otherworldly as the sun rose over the nearby cliffs.
The water is an unreal color of blue and in the fog, ethereal with our dink seemingly suspended above the sandy bottom.
After sharing a drink up on deck…
We took a harbor tour in our dink. This ancient stone boathouse looked magical in the glow of the setting sun.
And the cliffs ringing the harbor.
There are a number of sizable caves big enough to pull our dink into.
It is hard to describe how clear and blue the water is. I never saw water this clear in the Caribbean and it rivals what we saw in the Bahamas.
We went ashore for lunch. The beaches are jammed with sunworshippers, some even wore swimsuits.
And speaking of lunch, this group reminded me of hotdogs on one of those gadgets you see in truck stops that cooks them on rollers. Turn me over before I burn. Sorry, too late.
There was a pathway along the cliffs between the two beaches.
By the time we got back from lunch, Pandora had plenty of company.
One rather large tour boat arrived, put out a ladder, slide and left as quickly as they arrived. No rest for the busy day tripper.
It’s a beautiful place, the sun is out and it is high time that we should be able to just sit, enjoy the scenery and relax.
No wait, we still have 250 miles to go and a deadline.
I won’t think about that today…
I’ll enjoy the scenery. Yes, that’s a good idea.
