Balearic Islands

On Saturday we move into Puerto de Alcudia which is a nice tourist town at the top of a beautiful long beach that stretches around the head of the bay. This anchorage has come highly recommended from our Danish friend Kennet who has been here for the last two weeks. We made a connection with Kennet over the winter in Cartagena when we discovered that we had the same boat. They are carbon copies except that Kennet’s has a red cockpit cover and and a TV and we have a blue cockpit cover and photos hanging in place of the telly.
It is great to catch up with him and hear about his recent adventures as a skipper to paid guests. So far so good for his new business venture. He had been a baker for 20 years in Denmark and gave it up to go sailing.
While we are catching up over coffee we are interrupted by a commotion on a neighbouring yacht. A bottle nose dolphin is swimming around their boat and diving underneath proceeds to pull at their anchor chain. It’s harmless curiosity and everyone is very excited about this close encounter. The skipper on board is the most excited and when the dolphin surfaces near his stern he jumps in, nearly landing right down on top of him. The dolphin must have got a fright because the next time we see him, he far away and he doesn’t return.
A baby cormorant is our next close encounter. He takes up residence on our dinghy for a day. We swim nearby and he doesn’t budge, we pull the dinghy into the stern and he looks up at us. It is only when Ronan steps into the dinghy to go ashore that he jumps finally jumps off into water.

Staying at anchor here for several days, we visit the old town which is a few kilometres further inland. This is common in many parts of Mallorca - where the town, often fortified like Alcudia was built away from the port as a defence against surprise pirates attacks. We walk along the top of the 14th century walls and admire the mountain views. We descend out of the sun and walk alongside the beautiful walls, delighted to be in their shade. Temperatures are well above average, hitting over 30 degrees by afternoon.

We are all happy to return waterside and cool down. With lots of water based activities on offer in the port we decide to sign up for one the following day. It’s electric surfing and foiling and it is far more challenging than we had expected. The propulsion is controlled by a device in your hand. When you achieve a steady speed by squeezing the trigger you are then suppose to move from a lying or kneeling position to standing. In all the excitement and attempted movement it is hard to maintain a steady press on the trigger. I either let the trigger go or press it tight with the same result - splash into the water.
After our short session we were bruised, exhausted and exhilarated. It was such fun.Leggi altro