Santa Ponsa and Soller

The anchorage at Santa Ponsa
 

7^th May We are now anchored in the bay of Santa Ponsa in south west Mallorca. We set out early from Ibiza  and had a brisk downwind sail until the wind died and left us to motor the rest of the way. Santa Ponsa is an attractive bay surrounded by pine covered hills, but sadly the west side is covered in a sprawl of high rise hotels.

Anchorage in Puerto Soller
 

9^th May Today we set off to sail up the west coast of Mallorca to the bay of Soller. There was little wind so we had to motor sail. An hour or so into the passage I noticed that the automatic bilge pump seemed to be working overtime, and a quick investigation revealed a fountain of water coming from the engine compartment. Needless to say, I had a quick panic, especially when Cliff confirmed that it was seawater! Cliff then looked at the engine and quickly diagnosed the problem as a minor leak in the cooling system which, he assured me, could be fixed once we got to Soller. Panic over!

We last came to Soller 29 years ago, when Cliff accompanied me on a business trip to Mallorca. We took the Victorian train from Palma to Soller and then the old tram out to Puerto Soller. We were quite taken by this lovely bay surrounded by alpine scenery, and agreed that one day we would come back. Now we are here, we aren't disappointed.

The lighthouse at Soller

10^th May. Despite having grown into a fully fledged resort, Soller has retained  its character, and in May it's full of hikers who are making the most of the local coastal walks. The anchorage is surprisingly busy, with a truly international mix of French, German, Dutch, American, Spanish and English boats. A German motor cruiser has anchored  behind us, and when I popped my head out this morning to see what the weather was like I was treated to a full frontal naked view of a rather porky German gentleman who was off for an early morning swim!

Deya

11^th May. Today we took  a breathtaking and slightly terrifying bus ride to Deya, the mountain top village famous for its artists and writers, and home to poet and author Robert Graves. His house is now a museum and has been restored back to its original décor, so it was easy to imagine what it must have been like to live here back in the 1940s. Most of the Deya village houses have also been restored and are beautifully kept, but we saw few Spanish faces as most of the properties appear to be upmarket holiday rentals. We jumped back on the bus to go on to Valldemossa, another beautiful mountain village with a famous monastery, but we were disappointed to find it has been transformed into a strange kind of Disneyland devoid of any real character.

Moors v the Mallorcans

13^th May. Today is the feast day of Nuestra Senora de la Victoria, which celebrates the victory over Moorish pirates who landed in the Puerto de Soller in 1561. Every year the locals dress up and stage a re-enactment of the battle with the pirates. They take the pageant seriously, spending weeks making costumes and dressing the boats.

By early afternoon the harbour was full of locals in jackets and breeches, long peasant dresses or arab headdress and blackened faces. Men were walking round firing shotguns in the air, while Arab ‘dhows’ sailed round the harbour beating their drums. Another English couple in the anchorage, David and Angie, suggested we joined them to head over to the beach in the dinghy and watch the re-enactment. We had a front row view of spectacle, a mock battle with gunfire, pyrotechnics and an awful lot of smoke. Finally the pirates returned their boats and headed to the other side of the bay for a second battle.  This time we opted to watch in comfort, drinking sun downers on the deck of David and Angie’s boat.

We’ve really enjoyed our stay in Soller, but the winds are due to change, so tomorrow we hope move on up to the north of the island.

Ibiza

Anchorage in the bay of San Antonio

5^th May We’ve finally made it to Ibiza! We left Alicante on 1^st May and sailed up the coast to Denia, where we waited for a few days for fair winds for the 50 mile crossing to Ibiza. While we were  there we met up with Mike, another of the cruisers from Cartagena, who has decided to make Denia his summer base.

We left Denia early this morning and were greeted by a pod of dolphins as we sailed out of the bay. After an hour or so the wind got up and we had a cracking sail on a broad reach all the way to Ibiza. We are now anchored in the bay of San Antonio, which is described by Time Out as ‘the clubbing capital of the Universe’. Luckily the clubbers haven't arrived yet, and all is very peaceful here.



Portinatx

6^th May Our plan was to sail south west to the island of Formentera today, but the winds were against us. They were forecast to blow from the south west for the next few days so we decided to make the most of them and head north east.

We had a lovely, gentle, downwind sail in the shadow of towering cliffs and pine covered mountains and are now anchored off the beach in the pretty bay of Portinatx on the north of the island. The water is crystal clear and we were tempted to go for a swim, but on closer inspection we saw that the sea is full of small red jelly fish with very long tentacles, so we settled for a walk ashore instead.

Alicante

 

Santa Barbara Castle Alicante

 

21^st April We’ve finally left Cartagena. We had very little wind, so ended up motoring through a sloppy swell for 7 hours to get to Torrevieja. I had hoped our bouncy winter mooring would help me keep my sea legs, but sadly not, the swell on the beam soon made me feel queasy, despite having taken sea sickness tablets. Torrevieja feels slightly depressing out of season, so we will be happy to leave for Alicante tomorrow.

 

Sandpiper in with the big boys at Alicante

 

22^nd April  We arrived in Alicante to be told that the marina is officially full, but they managed to squeeze us in with the ‘big boys’ between two 60ft motor yachts. The forecast for the next  few days is high winds and torrential rain so we’ll be staying put. We did a quick trip into town today for provisions and it looks like there’s plenty to do here.

Santa Barbara's battlements



View from the castle

24^th April We visited Santa Barbara Castle today,  which sits above the town on Mount Benacantil. It looked like a long walk up so we took the easy option – a lift built deep inside the mountain. It was worth the visit just for the views, but we also discovered it has a fascinating history, including being blown up by the British in the early 18th century after they tunnelled deep into the mountain to lay gunpowder kegs.

 

 

Barrio Santa Cuz

 

 

Spring colours

 

 We had a very pleasant walk back downhill through the narrow alleys of the older part of the town, the Barrio Santa Cruz. Many of the whitewashed houses are finished with intricate tiling and their window boxes and balconies are a blaze of colour with the spring flowers.  At the bottom of the hill there’s a very different feel to the town. There are big, quiet squares with majestic buildings where you can sit and have coffee in the shade of palms and giant rubber trees.

 

Plaza de la Santisima Faz
 

26^th April We bumped into Bev and Kevin from Miss Lilly  (fellow cruisers from Cartagena) today and popped round to their boat this evening for drinks and a catch up on their news. They are keen to move on tomorrow despite the poor weather forecast.

27^th April We’ve had thunderstorms and hailstorms  – the hail stones were half the size of a golf ball. We couldn’t believe the noise as they hammered down on the boat and we seriously wondered whether they would damage the hatches. We’ve just had an email from Bev and Kevin to say they arrived safely at Greenwich Marina.  Kevin described the last part of their sail as ‘better than a ride at Alton Towers’, but I gather Bev wasn’t impressed!

28^th April  It’s cool and raining. We escaped into town and had a delicious lunch in a tapas bar well off the tourist beat,  two beers and two plates of tapas cost all of 3 euros!

30^th April We’re still in Alicante but keen to get moving. The weather is finally settling and it’s looking good for us to leave tomorrow to head up the coast to Altea.