As we didn't do desert the previous evening we decided to splash out and treat the kids to Waffles at Creperia Gelateria Es Cucurutxo which were absolutely amazing. The kids got ones loaded with chocolate, cream and ice cream where as Patrick and I shared a Dulce de Leche one to remind us of our honeymoon in South America. I decided I must see if you can get jars of the stuff in the supermarkets here!We then had a lazy Sunday until about 2pm when we left our mooring to return to the anchorage at Porto Cristo. Bad weather was forecast for Monday onwards so we wanted to be close by the berth we had booked for the following 5 days. It was a lovely afternoon and Esmé enjoyed playing with our fly net in the cockpit as we went along. Once in the river we dropped anchor and settled down for a peaceful night at anchor.
Monday 24th September 2018
Monday was mainly a day of jobs. A little school first thing before heading onto the Ports IB berth that we had booked. Then more jobs, checking out bus times and booking a hire car as well as more school and some grocery shopping!
Tuesday 25th September 2018 - Jill's Birthday in Palma
Up, breakfast, scavenge Laurin for some Birthday presents, wrap them up and get ready for off! Several boat families were gathering in Palma to celebrate not only Jill Manzano's birthday but also the birthdays of the many boat kids who had had birthdays over the summer with no kids around to celebrate with, and also Esmé who's birthday is in a couple of weeks time. School books came with us and the kids did great at keeping up with their learning despite us being on the move!When it eventually arrived, the hour or so bus journey to Palma passed quickly and we soon found ourselves in the central bus station. First up was to find out what time and where we could find buses to the airport where we would pick up our hire car later. Next up was to make our way across town to the marina where Mrs Chippy was berthed. Our route took us straight past a McDonalds which delayed us a short while so the kids could get their fix, then we trundled on to the marina via a supermarket to pick up our contribution to spare. We heard from Paul that the big church is amazing.... perhaps we will get there at some point!
We then had a lovely afternoon almost reminiscent of the parties at Marina Di Ragusa, but with a new bunch of friends. No Plans Just Options were there as well as Tatsu plus two more boat families we have been aware of on Facebook but not met yet. Amber Utting and Family are coming to the end of their adventure soon so it was interesting to chat to another family who were in the same position as us.Much Sangria was drunk (not by the kids!) and I felt somewhat guilty about the fact that Patrick had to drive us all the way back to Porto Cristo.
The kids all had a whale of a time but by 8pm things were winding up and it was time to say goodbye. This was a hard one as it may be the last time we see some of our closest sailing friends for a very long time although we all hope to be able to connect again at some point in the future.
We were a little weary by the time we arrived at the airport and Patrick and I looked in dismay at the Gold Car desk which was heaving with people queuing whilst all other car hire desks were empty. Guess that correlates with the extremely cheap deal we got! The kids and Patrick took a seat whilst I worked out that I had to join the longest queue in order to get a ticket so that I could actually talk to somebody about our booking. Once I had my ticket in my hand I had become mates with the people in the queue ahead of me who warned me I had to pay the deposit on the same card that we paid for the car hire on. I frantically checked my booking confirmation as I didn't have this one with me! All good, there was no mention of this on my booking, only that I needed a paper copy of the confirmation which I didn't have! As I finally got my turn at the counter I breathed a sigh of relief as the lady took my phone for the booking number and didn't question my lack of paper copy. Then things got interesting. She then proceeded to ask me to pay approximately 60 Euros in taxes as well as a deposit for fuel and also the deposit because we weren't taking out the excess insurance. No problem with the large excess deposit. Kind of ok about the fuel deposit. Definitely not ok about playing an additional 60 Euros in Taxes!!!!
I showed her my booking which quoted we just needed to pay 1.49 Euros tax at the booking desk but she refused to budge and said I needed to contact my broker so at this point I asked her to write down what taxes she was actually charging me for. We had airport tax of about 6 Euros, a fuel tax and a diesel tax although it took a little persuading to get her to put it on paper. I then rang Holiday Autos who were really helpful and asked to be passed on to her. At this point she announced "I don't want to speak with them" and walked off! Patrick at this point began to loose his rag. It was now nearly an hour after we had arrived at the desk and we wanted to be back on the boat. He was very vocal in saying he wanted to speak to the manager and so another lady came to talk to us to shut him up. She still wouldn't talk to the guy on the phone but agreed that we should only pay 1.49 Euros tax. However our fuel deposit had suddenly increased but as this should be refunded at the end of the hire period I decided to go along with it. Interestingly at this point we were handed the key to a petrol Fiesta which kind of made a mockery of the "Diesel Tax" they were trying to charger us 10 minutes earlier.
Out the car park to spend 10 minutes trying to find the car before Patrick having to walk all the way back to the desk with details of half a dozen scratches they had failed to mark on the car condition sheet. Finally at 10:30pm we headed for the exit and made our way back to Laurin!
Wednesday 26th September 2018 - School, washing and beach!
A low key day of catching up on laundry and school before heading off for a picnic at the beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the crashing waves before coming out to warm up... the days are getting a little cooler now! AJ sat for a while but then decided to head back to Laurin via the showers while Esmé found a new Swedish friend and built an amazing sandcastle for well over an hour. Unfortunately it was almost washed away by a wave but that didn't deter the two girls from rebuilding and finishing their work.
There was quite a lot of swell in the harbour by now and unfortunately one of our rubber snubbers broke so now the snatching motion on Laurin was a little annoying. Patrick had failed to find a replacement at the chandlers in Porto Cristo so I made a temporary fix by weaving bungee cord into an old mooring line which improved matters somewhat but not considerably. I decided it would be a good night to try out the tapas deal at the restaurant on the quay almost opposite Laurin. We had been meaning to go there for a drink so we could get their wifi code and they were doing a "5 Tapas and a litre of Sangria for 20 euros" deal which seemed appealing. Unfortunately the Tapas was really small and I didn't really like most of it but the kids enjoyed bread and pasta before disappearing back to Laurin with the wifi code whilst Patrick and I enjoyed a little child free time with the rest of the Sangria before we all finished off with an ice cream. All in all it was probably worth it to get off the boat and have a little alone time.
Thursday 27th September 2018 - Sa Calobra, Spacegrazer and Boag
An early start for a big one day road trip. First up was the beautiful Sa Colabra which required a long drive up and down a very windy but beautiful road. I really appreciate how good a driver is when we do things like this.... nothing phases him although he was really pleased to have the big green bus in front of him for the first section as it made life a lot easier as he followed it's path and didn't have to worry about cars coming the other way as they would have had to slow down for the bus anyway.
Often when we are cruising we miss beautiful scenery that is away from the coastline so it was a real treat to be able to drive through the mountains of Mallorca. This was road cyclists heaven which made driving even more tricky as we had to negotiate winding single track roads full of cyclists. It became a bit of a sport to look ahead up or down the mountain to spot if there were any cars coming the other way so we could safely overtake.
The scenery was absolutely stunning!
Finally at the bottom we parked up and made our way to the most beautiful beach via tunnels cut into the rock where we had a picnic lunch and the kids enjoyed a swim.
Just as all the other tourists arrived en mass we headed back up the hill, onwards towards Alcudia where we wanted to check out the marina and hunt for an old friend before heading for Polenca to meet up with our kid boat friends on Spacegrazer and Boag.
It was amazing to meet up with yet more old friends and we all enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and early evening on Spacegrazer. We brought drinks and prawns while Bianca prepared Pasta and a great time was had by all, with Boag arriving after dinner to catch up for drinks! No words can describe how good it was to catch up with both these families, something we didn't think we would have chance to do before they headed off across the Atlantic!
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