Days 457 to 461: 23rd to 27th September 2018 - Porto Cristo, Birthday Party in Palma and one long day's road trip!

Sunday 23rd September 2018

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!

Days 454 to 456 : 20th to 22nd September 2018 - Cala Coves, Mallorca, Mrs Chippy and Porto Colom

Thursday 20th September 2018 - Cala Coves

By the time we got up, Mrs Chippy had already left and we very soon were lifting anchor ourselves and doing a drive past "No Plans" to say goodbye. Our plan was to head to Cala Coves as recommended by Paul on Mrs Chippy, and although hopeful that No Plans would join us there, we knew they were feeling a little in need of a quiet day.

It was a quiet 3 hours motor round and we did a little school on the way. The views were amazing... I quite like Menorca!

 Once in to Cala Coves we anchored with long lines back to the rocks and had a swim before a late lunch. Then, after a brief chill out Esmé went for a row which was punctuated by the excitement of the Poseidon Police coming and inspecting everybody's anchors to ensure we weren't illegally anchored over the Poseidon Grass which is protected here in the Balearics.

It was a good opportunity for a little learning as I talked to Esmé about the fact that we protect our environment and try to anchor on sand rather than the Poseidon which both reduces carbon monoxide and produces oxygen.

Some people seem to think that the Poseidon Police are a little over zealous but I am really impressed that this area is doing something so positive to protect our beautiful environment.

I then took the kids out to explore while Patrick had a rest as he had been feeling a little under the weather. They donned walking shoes and I dropped them off, suggesting that they explore the windows, doors and holes in the rocks.

I have to say I was enjoying the peace and quiet perhaps a little too much as when I heard the kids call I noticed I had inadvertently drifted a little close to the nudist in his secluded spot on the beach (I never know what's appropriate when people are naked.... it seems polite to give them a bit of distance but then this beautiful environment is there for all of us to share!)

I was somewhat concerned to see that the kids had gone "a little" further than I expected and I called for them to make their way back, reflecting on how much more confident they are now than at the beginning of the trip as I rowed back to pick them up off the rocks.

Next up was a change into swim stuff and another dip before heading back to the boat for tea and an early night.

 Friday 21st September 2018 - Onwards to Mallorca (Porto Cristo)

The morning was actually a little chilly, with the decks damp with dew even at 8:30 when we started to get ready to leave, first collecting the long lines and then hauling up the anchor. It was to be a 40 mile trip to Mallorca and we had identified a Cala just north of Porto Cristo we thought we might be able to anchor in overnight, with the fall back plan of Porto Cristo if it didn't work out.

There was a fair amount of breeze in the morning but predictably it was on the nose and, being unsure of our anchorage for the night, we didn't want to waste any time. We motor sailed for a while but eventually dropped the main and rolled the headsail away leaving just the mizzen up to steady us.

It was a long day.... we'd got into the mentality that 40 miles wasn't much after our long 1 and 2 night passages, but this day's 40 miles seemed endless. Towards the end the sea built into some short sharp chop which although didn't slow us considerably, was certainly uncomfortable and annoying. Disappointingly the Cala we had hoped would provide a nice overnight anchorage proved a little too exposed for our liking so we headed south to Porto Cristo and anchored there instead.

Everybody anchored on the south side of the inlet despite the marked anchorage being on the north so we followed suit. There was plenty of space to free swing and it was just fine for an overnight pit stop. The boat next to us decided to take a long line ashore which surprised me as it would mean if the wind went easterly we could swing into them... they didn't seem concerned when I spoke to them about it and there was nowhere for us to tie a long line too so I decided to leave it, our boat has a big wooden rubbing strake round the outside which protects us!

A real treat of mince, avocados, and wraps for tea before reading to the kids and enjoying some quiet time on deck.

Saturday 21st September 2018 - A surprise meeting with Mrs Chippy

We decided to head for Porto Colom for the night (hopefully on a pontoon but perhaps picking up one of the mooring buoys there) before heading back to the Porto Cristo Anchorage for Sunday night and into Porto Christo Town Quay on Monday to hide from the forecast winds. It was only a couple of hours away so we did a little school before leaving to make up for the lack of school on Friday.

About an hour after setting off we were surprised to hear Mrs Chippy calling us on the VHF. Despite not having AIS at the moment due to a second lightning strike, they had spotted our orange mast and called us. They were heading further south than us but were planning a lunch stop so we agreed to meet at Cala MitJana, a tiny place about 2 miles south of Porto Colom. There we rafted up alongside them and enjoyed a lovely 3 or 4 hours playing in the water and generally having fun. It was such a joy to meet up again. (Thanks to Jessica and Doug for some of the pictures!)

By about 3pm it was time to depart so we headed for Porto Colom and found that if we hadn't pre booked a berth on the public quay we would have to wait until 7pm to find out if they had space. We opted to take one of the mooring buoys instead which cost us 19 Euros but included showers, water, and a safe space to leave our dinghy ashore.

We then rested up a while before having showers and heading out for dinner. I did my usual trick of checking out TripAdvisor for the best "Cheap Eats" options nearby and found a tiny restaurant in the old town near the church. It was a little walk but the kids didn't complain as there was a playground en route.

The old town was just perfect. The first time in the Balearics that we had felt like we were seeing the real authentic island. Old people were sat out on deckchairs on the pavement, chatting away in the cool of the evening, looking on as kids ran around the square. We found the restaurant and got the last table that wasn't reserved... always a good sign when a place is busy with locals. I ordered my first Spanish Cava of the trip whilst Patrick opted for a beer before contemplating the menu. At this point my heart dropped as the first few items were "Pigs snout" "Tripe" and something else that neither I or the kids would fancy trying. However after a more in depth investigation we selected some bread and olives, goats cheese salad, Spanish omelette, mini chorizo and Serrano Ham on Toast.

The food was amazing, and although not really to Esme's liking, she tried lots of new things and then filled up on the bread. The rest of us loved it!

As we meandered back to the boat we passed the church, now with its doors open and kids playing inside while the service was ongoing. We walked along the waterfront in the old town, the kids stopping to play on rope swings hanging from trees before heading off for a last play at the playground and a night time dinghy ride back to Laurin.