September 6, 2015, Lazy Bones Update: Cruising ’s

After spending ten months at home in Los Angeles, we were ready to begin our 2015-2016 cruising season. With three large pieces of luggage full of boat parts and one small one for clothes, we departed L.A. for England on July 9th to visit Jeff’s daughter Danielle, Darren, and our two year old granddaughter, Deven, who live in Hastings. It was great spending time together and seeing the changes in Deven, as it had been ten months since the last time we saw them on our way home to L.A. from Barcelona last September.

The following week we hopped on a flight to Barcelona, spent the night at an airport hotel, and the next morning caught the bus to Sant Carles de la Rapita, 90 miles southwest of Barcelona, where Lazy Bones spent the winter on the hard. Juan, who runs the boat yard, organized a taxi to pick us up at the bus station and get us and our big bags to the boat. Just after our arrival customs showed up and removed the bond on Lazy Bones, officially starting the EU clock again.

After decades of sailing, and eleven years of cruising, we soon learned that ten months is probably too long for Lazy Bones to stay on the hard. The repair list started growing. The bottom needed to be sanded back to the base, thru hulls needed to be replaced, and so many things broke it was hard to keep up with them all. To top it off, a heat wave intensified for the three weeks it took to get Lazy Bones ready to sail again. It averaged 95 degrees inside the boat while we were working, with ten fans running nonstop. We renamed the boat “Hell on the Hard”. At 8:00 pm we would finally quit, have a light dinner aboard, and walk to our air-conditioned hotel room near the port for a shower and sleep.

Lazy Bones was launched back in the water on July 24th and we spent a week finishing up work at the dock. We decided to spend a few nights at a well-protected reef two miles from Rapita just to make sure all was running well. It was a good idea, because the generator, the fridge, and the galley sink pump stopped working the first night, even though they were working fine at the dock. Holy cow, what next? Jeff managed to make the repairs and got them up and running again. We kept our fingers crossed.

The good news is that we had planned on spending a month in the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain and we were not on any timetable. On August 3rd we sailed overnight for , 108 miles southeast of Rapita. Apparently everyone and their cousins had the same idea, as the traffic at night, especially ferries and cruise ships, made the radar screen look like a video game to dodge boats!

The Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera form one of the most attractive cruising grounds in the western Mediterranean. There are hundreds of anchorages and harbors, ranging from large metropolitan ports such as to completely deserted anchorages in beautiful calas (inlets usually surrounded by cliffs with a sandy beach at the head). The islands are an interesting mix of modern infrastructure and European charm. Holiday development has definitely had its impact on the Balearics, with many calas lined with hotels and apartment blocks, with beaches full of paddle boats, banana boats, etc. But we also found that about half of the calas had nothing but aqua water and tree-lined cliffs.

The cruising guide warned of the placement of mooring buoys in calas and the prohibition of anchoring, but we didn’t find this to be the norm. Granted, some of the calas were fairly small, but there were plenty of larger ones to choose from. We always found plenty of places to anchor, free of charge, even during the height of the tourist season in July and August. We did not go into any marinas, which are probably fairly expensive. Local bus transportation was easy and inexpensive. Most people spoke English as well as Spanish. Food was good and reasonably priced. At the waterfront restaurants a nice pizza averaged 10 euro, a tenderloin steak dinner was about 22 euro, and a glass of house wine was 3 euro. The euro to the U.S. dollar is at 1.12, a great exchange rate compared to 1.33 last year.

Mallorca is the largest (62 miles long and 47 miles wide) and most cosmopolitan island of the Balearics, with a population of 530,000. The north and east coasts are mountainous with numerous coves, and the south coast has rolling hills and sandy beaches. There are many historical sites to visit, especially in the capital port of Palma on the southwest side of the island.

We arrived at Puerto de Soller on the northwest side of Mallorca at 7:00 a.m. It is a well-protected harbor with sandy beaches and a cute waterfront town, surrounded by mountains and pine trees. We took it easy that day with swimming in the afternoon and dinner in town in the evening. The next day we took the very slow vintage train from the waterfront to old Soller town two miles inland (it takes 30 minutes, no kidding, to go two miles) to have lunch and see the old square, church, and shops. Soller also has an old Victorian train that goes to Palma, which is a popular and scenic one hour journey, but we planned on going there with our boat, so we passed on that excursion.

In cruising the Balearic Islands it is wise to monitor the swell and the wind direction often. Having determined that the wind would be mostly from the west and northwest for the next few days, we decided to go clockwise around Mallorca, which also allowed us the opportunity to jump over to Menorca and back without having to backtrack.

Heading east, we dropped anchor in the east part of Pollensa, a very large and protected bay on the northeast side of the island. Six months ago, through a very strange set of two degrees of separation, Jeff got reconnected with Bryan and Lynn Visser, who now live in Mallorca near Palma. Jeff had worked with Bryan more than 25 years ago at Unisys. Knowing that we were in Mallorca, Bryan and Lynn drove across the island to take us out to lunch in old Pollensa town. It was great to see them again and catch up on the last 25 years.

We had a great time but it was far too short. We had hoped to visit them at their home in Santa Ponsa when we made it around to Palma, but Bryan and Lynn were in London for their son’s wedding by the time we made it to that side of the island. It will just have to be another time, maybe even in Los Angeles!

Continuing clockwise we motored around the corner to anchor behind the breakwater at Alcudia, another large bay next to Pollensa. We took the dinghy to a marina restaurant landing, had lunch, and then walked 1.3 miles inland to the old town to walk the medieval walls and see the ruins of the old Roman city and theater. We had a nice dinner near the marina, and after checking the weather online, decided the next morning we would sail to Menorca 36 miles west.

Menorca, with a population of only 60,000, is 26 miles long and 11 miles wide. It is much flatter than Mallorca, giving it a more barren appearance due to the rocky cliffs along the coast, but with many calas with pretty anchorages.

We arrived at Cala Son Saura, a large bay surrounded by little more than pine trees and scrub, where we had a nice swim in the aqua water. The next morning we headed three miles further southeast to Cala Galdana, one of the prettiest calas we have visited. The town was picturesque and quite charming. We were hoping to spend several days here, but we saw the weather changing and wanted to make our way toward Mahon, the main town of Menorca, before the weather turned, so we picked up anchor and continued late in the afternoon, following the rugged coastline to Cala Binibeca for the night.

The next morning we continued around the southeastern cape and on up to Mahon, where we anchored in Cala Taulera, one of only two anchorages permitted inside this enormous bay and harbor (the other anchorage is east of Isla del Rey). The anchorage was well-protected and quite crowded, with 30-40 boats at any given time, but everyone managed to find a spot. We are really grateful to have our 121 pound Rocna anchor, which keeps us well-secured with shorter scope in situations like this one.

We took the dinghy further up the long inland channel to the pretty port of Mahon, the largest natural harbor in the Balearics. We tied up at the large dinghy dock well past the marina, walked around the town, and had a nice fish dinner on the waterfront.

Early the next morning we took the dinghy to the shore next to the anchorage and walked up the road to visit the huge Fortress of Isabel II at La Mola, built between 1850 and 1875. It is very impressive and well worth the eight euros and two and a half hours of walking to see it all. The fortress is enormous and has many underground passages. We walked along one straight underground corridor that must have been 1,000 feet long, with perfectly aligned archways, causing a mirror-like effect. The highlight seems to be the Vickers cannon, where Jeff stood next to the huge 15 inch gun that guarded the entrance to Mahon. We would highly recommend visiting this fortress.

After several days at Mahon, we motored and sailed 56 miles back to the island of Mallorca to Porto Cristo on the east coast. The town is known for its huge caves of stalactites and stalagmites, first discovered in 1896 and believed to be about 11 million years old. Amazing! The next morning we arrived for the first tour at 10:00, as we were told that the tour buses pour in for the rest of the day and the lines become like the ones at Disneyland. The inside of the cave is beautiful, with a paved trail winding through all the different formations and numerous lakes. To stretch out the tour at the end, we sat down in a dark amphitheater in the cave to listen to a ten minute classical concert by a quartet on a softly-lit boat as they were rowed across the largest lake.

Continuing clockwise we sailed seven miles to the huge bay of Port Colom. We were greeted almost immediately by a marina guy in his dinghy, who told us that the only anchorage was the one near the entrance, which was quite rolly due to the swell and incoming boats. It looked like a squall was about to hit, so we decided to take a mooring for the night (42 euro), which we don’t usually do. The next morning we found boats anchored on our side of the bay very near our mooring. Oh well!

We continued “cala hopping”, looking for a nice place to spend the night, and settled upon Playa es Carbo, anchoring north of Moltono Island. There were lots of boats and plenty of room. It is a short dinghy ride to Sant Jordi town, where we had lunch and upgraded Gayle’s floating donut to a chair raft with drink holders, perfect for happy hour float time!

We had heard about an anchorage called Las Illetas, near Palma, that would be good for our next stop, since anchoring is prohibited in the harbor of Palma. After motor sailing 26 miles, we arrived to find it absolutely full and no place to take a dinghy ashore, so we motored down to Puerto Portals, one of the most expensive marinas in the Mediterranean, and anchored outside near the breakwater to give us some protection from the swell. We noticed a New Zealand boat near us flying the big aqua flag of the Cornell Atlantic Odyssey rally, which we are participating in this coming November when we cross the Atlantic. We went over and introduced ourselves to Colin and Christine on Shapeshifter.

The next morning we took the dinghy inside the marina, tied it up to a dock, and took the local bus to Palma (half hour ride) for the day. We took Bryan’s recommendation and took the Hop on-Hop off bus, since there is so much to see and lots of ground to cover. We toured the magnificent Cathedral of Mallorca, begun in 1230, which overlooks the north end of the port. The bus took us further out of the city up the hillside to the Castle of Bellver, also built in the 13th century, with great views over the city and port. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café and walked through the huge old quarter with its cobbled lanes, Gothic churches, baroque palaces, and designer shops. Palma is definitely a charming and interesting blend of old and new.

By the time we returned to the boat, the swell was up a bit and Shapeshifter decided to move further southwest to Palma Nova for better protection. They called us on the radio to let us know it was calmer, so we moved also.

The next morning we decided to take the bus to Santa Ponsa (30 minutes) on the other side of the peninsula, rather than take Lazy Bones. We walked around the picturesque bay and had calamari and mussels for lunch. We were hoping to get to Andratx, but ran out of time. We returned to Palma Nova and were invited over to Shapeshifter for drinks and nibbles. They gave us some great pointers on places to anchor in Mallorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.

Jeff managed to break a molar when we were in Soller, but thanks to Bryan, he had put us in contact with a great dentist right in Palma Nova. In less than an hour on Monday morning the tooth was repaired and Jeff was ready to eat everything in sight again. Palma Nova is a nice bay with a cute waterfront and sandy beaches, but it was time to leave all the water skiers, banana boats, and flying couches behind. Ibiza was calling us.

On August 25th, we sailed 56 miles from Mallorca to the island of Ibiza, anchoring in Cala Portinatx on the north side. It is a pretty bay, surrounded by pine trees, not too crowded, aqua water, and plenty of good restaurants ashore. We spent two delightful days there before starting our counter-clockwise trip around Ibiza, due to the predicted east-southeast winds.

Ibiza, only 50 miles from the Spanish mainland, is known as the party island and is home to some of Spain’s most famous clubs and bars, centered mostly in Ibiza town on the southeast side of the island. One club called Space has 40 DJs and holds up to 12,000 night clubbers! The clubs aren’t cheap, either, with admission prices ranging from 25-60 euros each, not including drinks. Needless to say, we were party poopers.

We sailed on to Port San Antonio, a huge bay on the west side of Ibiza, opposite Ibiza town on the east, yet still filled with hundreds of young people walking around wearing nothing but bikinis and swim trunks, eating, drinking, nursing hangovers, and buying tickets at the ticket kiosks for the clubs that night.

We decided to take the local bus from San Antonio across to Ibiza town (30 minutes), as anchoring is prohibited in the harbor itself. When we arrived we asked the Tourist Information office for directions on how to get to the Bora Bora Beach Club, known for its long bar on the beach, as Gayle liked the name and thought it might be nice for lunch and some beers.. The TI lady looked at her, smiled, and said the club was usually for “younger” people. Really!

Ibiza town is quite large and very busy. The charming old quarter is filled with shops and restaurants, all surrounded by large Renaissance-era walls designed to withstand heavy artillery. We walked the entire perimeter of the walls for great views of the city and port. Sa Penya is the nightlife center, with dozens of clubs keeping the port area jumping from sunset until sunrise. After a nice lunch of mojitos, ribs, and a chocolate brownie sundae at the Hard Rock Ibiza (nice to get a dose of Americana every now and then!) we took the bus back to San Antonio for a quiet, beautiful full moon night on board Lazy Bones.

Searching for just the right cala, we sailed sixteen miles down the coast and settled on Cala Yondal, with plenty of room for us and lots of super mega yachts, many of them over 150 feet long. It was interesting to watch them bring their toys out of their garages, the most popular toy being the jet boots that allow a person to shoot up into the air about twenty feet, powered by a jet ski nearby. One guy was really good and could do somersaults and backward flips without falling. It was great entertainment during happy hour.

Our next destination was the island of Formentera, the smallest of the Balearics, ten miles long and eight miles wide. It is less developed, more laid back, and supposedly where nudism is quite popular, though we didn’t see this to be the case, despite searching extensively with the binoculars! We arrived at Espalmador, the first bay, and found it to be filled completely with mooring balls, so we went five minutes further south and anchored in front of Playa de Ses Illetas, a long sandy beach with plenty of room for lots of boats.

A huge daytripper catamaran loaded with about a hundred people in swimsuits anchored right next to us. We expected them to all jump in and enjoy the clear aqua water, but they stayed aboard, pointing to the water here and there, with only a few brave souls taking a quick dip. We soon discovered why—jellyfish! What a bummer, as the water and the setting is gorgeous.

We also discovered why we couldn’t stop rolling, even when there was a lull in the number of boats coming into and leaving the anchorage. The port of Sabina just south of us was clearly a major destination for large ferries from Ibiza, which ran almost continuously, and the huge waves from them made it into the anchorage. We decided it was tolerable and hoped that they stopped service at night.

We took the dinghy to the Sabina marina and walked around the tiny port. There were three big ferries leaving and one waiting to get in. Formentera was definitely a hot spot for tourists. We stocked up at the local supermarket, had an early dinner, and went back to Lazy Bones. The ferries finally stopped late at night and we managed to get a peaceful night’s sleep.

We headed five miles south to Cala Sahona on the west coast and anchored in the large aqua-colored bay, surrounded by red cliffs, with a small beach and hotel/restaurant ashore. We went for a nice swim/float with cocktails before the jellyfish sent out a scout and surrounded us, putting an end to our happy hour in the water. They are definitely party spoilers.

That night around 10:00 a big squall hit, with winds up to 30, and lots of rain. Many boats dragged and had to re-anchor in the middle of it all. Of course, many of them come into an anchorage dropping their chain while going forward and never back down on it, so they never really set their anchor. A squall comes along and they wonder why they drag. Even after the rain subsided, huge swells rolled into the bay perpendicular to the wind, causing all of us to roll like crazy most of the night, allowing very little sleep.

The bay was still quite rolly the next morning, so most of the boats left, going back to Sabina or Ibiza. We decided to head further south, then east, to the huge bay surrounded by Playa de Mitjorn. There was only one other boat there. We anchored in the far eastern corner and took a long nap. We were awakened by a small squall around 2:00 pm, which left us sideways to a gentle swell. At 4:00 we decided to go back to Cala Sahona to see if the swell there had subsided, which it had.

We had a lovely evening, our last night in the Balearic Islands. That is until midnight, when another big squall hit again, sending boats dragging and re-anchoring. We stood by and watched, grateful for our Rocna anchor and plenty of scope. When the squall was over this time, everything was calm and we had a good night’s sleep.

The next day we sailed most of the 65 miles to Puerto del Calpe on the mainland of Spain. We will now begin cruising the next 350 miles along the coast of Spain to Gibraltar. Our plans are to enjoy Gibraltar for a while, then sail to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands around the middle of October. On November 18th, we will cross the Atlantic, departing with the Cornell Atlantic Odyssey rally from Lanzarote to Martinique in the Caribbean, which should take a little less than three weeks.

We welcome your e-mails and would love to hear from you. Please e-mail us at: [email protected]. Attachments and travelogues are always welcome. Thanks!

If you want to track us, use the following link: www.shiptrak.org and enter our call sign WA6CZL to see our most current route. Parts of our earlier tracks were lost in a system crash from Shiptrak, but we have continued to keep a log since the beginning. We have anchored and spent the night at more than 700 anchorages since February 2005!

All the best,

Jeff and Gayle SV Lazy Bones

Depth Destination: lat. E.long Comments

Below Keel 8 Sant Carles de la Rapita, SP 40 36.97 00 35.80 Adjacent to travel lift 10 Reef at Santa Carles de la Rapita 40 34.88 00 35.89 at anchor Night Passage to Soller Night Passage 35 Puerto de Soller, Mallorca, SP 39 47.66 02 41.39 at anchor 5 Pollensa Bay, Mallorca 39 54.13 03 06.30 at anchor 5 Alcudia Bay, Mallorca, SP 39 50.13 03 07.72 at anchor 16 Cala Son Saura, Menorca, SP 39 55.50 03 53.64 at anchor 20 Cala Galanda, Menorca, SP 39 56.13 03 57.43 at anchor 33 Cala Binibeca, Menorca, SP 39 48.84 04 14.53 at anchor 12 Cala Tauelera, Menorca, SP 39 52.69 04 18.49 at anchor 15 Porto cristro, Mallorca, SP 39 32.36 03 20.23 at anchor 8 Porto Colom, Mallorca, SP 39 25.12 03 15.91 on Mooring 10 Cala de Caragol, Mallorca, SP 39 16.58 03 02.43 at anchor 10 Playa es Carbo 39 18.49 03 00.66 at anchor 19 Puerto Portals, Mallocra, SP 39 31.77 02 33.82 at anchor 8 Palma Nova, Mallorca, SP 39 30.83 02 32.57 at anchor 22 Portinatz, Ibiza, SP) 39 06.65 01 30.76 at anchor 18 Puerto de San Antonio, Ibiza, SP 38 58.29 01 17.87 at anchor 22 Cala Jondal, Ibiza, SP 38 51.97 01 18.79 at anchor 18 Platia de ses illetes, Formentera, SP 38 45.65 01 25.95 at anchor 13 Cala Saona, Formentera, SP 38 41.82 01 23.22 at anchor 17 Playa Mitjorn, Formentera, SP 38 40.78 01 28.53 at anchor 18 Cala Saona, Formentera, SP 38 41.77 01 23.19 at anchor 8 Puerto de Calpe, SP 38 38.25 00 04.06 at anchor W. long 18 Playa de la Fosa, SP 38 38.39 00 04.70 at anchor 35 Punta de la cala, Alicante, SP 38 21.45 00 26.28 at anchor 3 Marina Alicante, SP 38 20.53 00 29.01 Marina