Majorca

Bodrum, Turkey to Bridgetown, Barbados

Trip to date 1,862 nautical miles

3,970 nautical miles to Barbados

September 11, 2013

Port of Andraitx, south-west Majorca

We left Sardinia at noon with the trans-Atlantic rig in 16 knots of breeze. The twin genoas worked great and when the wind went forward of 110 degrees 24 hours later we reverted to main and genoa. Of course, the wind strength conspired for an 0200 arrival again. As Dean reduced sail in the dark hours of the morning to slow us down, getting wet, the wind kept on increasing to maintain the 0200 schedule. Dang! We were all up reducing sail at 0300 and the crew had great difficulty rousing the captain when we did arrive at Mahon, Menorca at 0600.

Captain Dick at Menorca

Russell and Jane on “Ta-B” were already in the anchorage leading to Mahon and after a nap we got started on the 7 beers that Russell had talked about. Mahon is a long indented harbour, somewhat similar to Grand Harbour in Malta. I was surprised that Mahon Harbour and, really, all of Menorca, is relatively undeveloped. We sailed along the south side of the island heading west. The rocky coast is indented with little bays called “Calas”. At Cala Covas there are many caves dating back thousands of years of habitation and burial sites. It is very popular with the locals who have to walk from distant parking lots, like Wreck Beach in Vancouver, and similarly nude – good on the authorities. There are gorgeous white residences and great trails along the south coast which is being preserved in its natural state. It was all summer holiday sailing, light breezes, perfect weather, beautiful surroundings.

Ta-B and Van Kedisi in Cala Covas

The crossing to Majorca was a doddle in the 10 knot easterly. We cruised past all the high rise evidence of civilization and happily anchored in the tiny one boat Cala Petita – devoid of all habitation. We sailed across the south side of Majorca, past Palma, and had a fun passage between a couple of islands in a 20 knot rain squall to our last anchorage on the west side before our arrival at the Port of Andraitx.

Overworked Crew

Anybody who is retired and bored should get a boat – the older the better, depending on the degree of boredom. Even if you are not retired or bored you should get a boat – but that is another conversation. This boat, the “Van Kedisi,” Prout 39 catamaran, is 17 years old. Anything that has not already been replaced will probably be replaced by the time we get to Barbados.

Dean, Cala Petita

I would like to give a huge thanks to Dean and Marie for the first leg of this endeavour. All you could ask for and more. Of course, we did drive the Rub Al-Khali desert together and race Hobie cats against each other for 17 years in Saudi, so we are not strangers. Dean, as an operations guy, figured out how to properly push the 70 buttons on the cockpit instruments and get meaningful information from them. As a construction guy, I was more interested in the installation. During the 2 months Dean has been here he repaired lots of things, including some he did not break!

It is interesting that getting the diagnosis right before undertaking a repair is important.

When I was doing the kitchen/bathroom renovation on the house in Vancouver, the last thing to do was the installation of the toilet. At first flush there was no problem but at 2nd flush there was water everywhere. I changed the wax seal. Water everywhere. I changed the gaskets on the tank. Water everywhere. “Andy, what the hell is the problem here?” “Ah Dad,” then silence, then, “The tank has a crack in it.” Ah ha – young eyes. “But Andy, why the hesitation?” “Well, I could see that you were not at the top of your game and I was wondering what you would try next.”

Aren’t kids great – Andy just left the ranks of kids.

At Majorca, Dean and Marie left to shoot ducks in North Dakota with Lorne and Adrian and we took on new crew – Mary and Liam from Vancouver and Rick from NZ. They arrived at the Port of Andraitx together on the same bus. Mary and Liam had spent a few days hiking in Majorca, Rick had spent several days travelling.

With new crew onwards.

Dick