Mahon

The wind changed in the early hours and was now on the nose as we continued to head SW towards Menorca. We seemed to be making very little headway in the direction that we wanted to go, so at 08.00 I turned on the engine and we motorsailed at about 3.5 knts into what had by now become a lumpy sea.

Luckily the sea began to calm as we got into the shelter of the island and with the fuel gauge showing we still had enough diesel to motor the rest of the way, we increased speed as the seas calmed.

The weather had also improved and was now nice and warm again so we were back in t-shirts and as a result the mood aboard had greatly improved. We were looking forward to getting ashore after two nights at sea.

We reached to mouth of the Mahon Harbour which reminded me much of Cork Harbour. It had a narrow entrance, widening inside with a couple of islands and protected by gun emplacements. It's a large harbour and about five kilometres in length with many forts.

We motored slowly into the harbour taking in the sights as we headed towards our berth.
I had booked a berth before I left Ireland as I had heard that it's a very busy place but when we called on the vhf we got no answer.
We motored up and down the quay hoping to attract the attention of someone from the Club Maritimo. Well, it was a Sunday and it was during the siesta, what did we expect!

From the pilot book I had a rough idea where the club's berths were so I picked an empty spot and reversed into the space and we tied onto the quay.
It was now 15.00 so we had a bit of lunch as Paul rang Laura his wife, to let her know we had arrived. Laura had flown in from their home in Spain and had joined her sister and brother in law who were already holidaying on the island. She would be joining us till we reached Alicante.
Also joining us later today was my sister in law Máirín O'Donovan and her friend Chris Browne who are both experienced sailors.

Alex our marinero arrived as the siesta finished. He proved to be very helpful during our stay and had a great sense of humour. Best of all, he was happy to leave us in our berth so we didn't have to move.

We went to the club to book in and to freshen up.
Later Laura arrived and stowed her gear aboard before she and Paul went to join her family for dinner.

Mick and I picked a restaurant close to our berth and had a nice dinner.
He had decided rather than stay till Mallorca that he was going to head home the following morning which I was sorry to hear. I tried to change his mind but he had it made up.
I had noticed that he had got very tired on this leg which was probably the reason. It's easy to forget that none of us are as young as we once were.

After dinner I got a taxi to the airport to pick up Máirín and Chris. Once back aboard I found space for everyone. Luckily there are seven berths on Eureka as we had six bodies that night which is the most I've ever had aboard.

The crew had the cabins while the skipper slept in the saloon among the baggage. Something was not right!

Leg 2 - 224 mls. Total 398 mls.Read more