Mallorca I: Portals Vells ⚓

We had a beautiful sail from Ibiza to Mallorca. We initially planned to leave the 13th but we didn't trust the forecast of 40+ knots of wind and local thunderstorms. Boy were we happy we waited. While we started with high waves and not a lot of wind, after only a few miles the sea calmed and the wind started to blow. We cruised, reaching, all the way to Mallorca.

Our first anchorage: Portals Vells. We were welcomed by the Noordster where we were immediately invited onboard for a drink and eventually dinner right when we dropped an anchor. We gladly accepted the invitation. Can't really think of anything better after a day of sailing than to be able to join for drinks and dinner 😍 Well, as it turns out it can get better. Because we suddenly heard violin music. Apparently our neighbor boat is a travelling and sailing violin artist! It was magical. He even tool requests, so Bart asked him if he could play Fragile by Sting. It was really cool!!

The next day we worked a bit in the morning before exploring the beautiful caves and cliffs. The caves were dug out to use the stones for the cathedral in Palma de Mallorca. Legend has it that a ship from Genoa once got caught in a storm and promised to build an altar once they found a safe haven. They did so in the anchorage of Portals Vells and there does still seem to be some remains of an altar in the caves. We were able to enjoy the anchorage for two days before the swell started to come in and we decided to move on to the next stop on Mallorca.Read more