Formentor

The weather conditions are perfect to explore the north west coast of Mallorca and we continue to be blown away by its beauty. There are so many places to see so today we stop for lunch at Cala Figuera before moving on to Cala Sant Vicenc for the night.
The current light wind we are experiencing makes it less daunting to sail close to the looming headlands and to anchor under the enormous hills and cliffs of Cala Figuera. It is a deep anchorage with the occasional rocky outcrop emerging from its depths. Looking up at the surrounding hills, we see numerous hair pin bends on the road down to the beach here - steely nerves required.
I explore this spectacular bay on the paddle board while the other 3 dive in for a snorkel. At lunchtime they are brimming with enthusiasm for what lies beneath. I feel I have missed out so Colm kindly volunteers to be my tour guide and we hop in. Swimming over to a pinnacle shaped rock that comes up 10 metres for the seabed we see lots of different plant life and fish.
There appears to be a jellyfish infestation around this coast today. They are small with brownish spots and are called ‘Mauve Stingers’. They aren’t an issue for us because we can see them clearly through our masks and just avoid them.
Later this evening I am swimming ‘sans snorkel’ in Cala Sant Vincenc when I get a very stinging sting on my arm. We treat it with seawater and bread soda and after a while the stinging subsides and I am left with a 3 stranded welt.
Incredibly the next morning all the jellyfish have disappeared. We make the most of the clear water and swim over to the rocky promontory that comes out from the holiday town. There are steps up from the water here that people jump and dive from. We climb up and pick a step that suits our individual level of bravery and jump into the turquoise water below. We interpret the goats’ bleating from across the water as wild applause.
We are moving on again today as there is much more to see. The final task to undertake before leaving is to recover our stern anchor. In these mild conditions we take the lazy man’s approach. Ruby dives down to free the anchor from the sand and Ronan pulls the line from Regal’s stern. Half an hour later, after several tweaks and repeated attempts it is finally recovered. During our cool down swim we all agree that the lazy man’s way is never to be repeated.Read more