Cala de Santa Ponça

We were all up early and once breakfast was cleared away, we departed Cala Nova at 09.00 bound for Andratx.
We headed out into light SW winds hoisting the mainsail on the way.
Even at this early start, it was hot and we were already in in t-shirts and shorts and slapping on the sun protection.

We left the engine on until we cleared the Bay of Palma and changed direction to head NW unfurling the genny and turning off the engine as we did so

Chris, Máirín and Laura had become experts in the furling and unfurling by this stage. It's great when a crew gel together and begin to suggest things before the skipper asks and as I had no shortage of volunteers to helm, I just sat back and enjoyed myself.

We were sailing along on a close reach on flat water going about 4 knots as we sailed along the spectacular cliffs of south west Majorca in the company of other yachts.
The seabed here drops away straight down so there is deep water almost right up to the cliff face and it's possible to sail close in, except you end up losing the wind.

On the way I suggested making a lunch stop at Santa Ponsa which was eagerly agreed to by the crew.

We entered Santa Ponsa bay and passed a monument commemorating the landing of Spanish troops who liberated the island from the moors.
There were a good few yachts anchored in the bay but we found a spot to anchor without interfering with them and having a bit of privacy for ourselves.
We dropped the anchor in five meters of lovely clear water and Chris immediately went swimming while Laura and Máirín made the lunch.

Paul and I as usual were up to our necks in boat stuff, such as opening the odd can of beer as well as watching a yacht race that had started in the bay and looked as if it was heading for Palma.

After a long lazy lunch Laura joined Chris in the water.
The rest of us hid under the bimini, read, snoozed etc. as the afternoon passed slowly.

At 16.00 I decided that we had better get going again if we were going to be arriving in Andratx today.
Paul and Laura got the anchor up and we hoisted the sails on the way out of the bay.Читать далее