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.