It was a gorgeous morning as we prepared Gemini J for our departure, with not a drop of wind we knew we’d be motoring along the coast. We went and enjoyed a coffee and a final wander along the jetty. We said goodbye to our neighbours David and Percy the chiwawa (they operate a sail charter from Andraitx). David seemed very excited for us to be going to Sóller which made us excited too – he has an infectious enthusiasm. All too soon it was time to go.
We headed out under amazing blue skies and round the headland towards Isla Dragonera. We had to concentrate a bit on our navigation through the passage between the island and the mainland – the scenery was wonderful.
The sea was very calm and a lovely shade of blue. We passed various boats on our way along this fairly rugged north coastline of Mallorca. It didn’t seem like long before we were marvelling at the cliffs at the entrance to Sóller harbour.
We called the Ports IB marina time after time with no answer (it was Sunday lunchtime) and eventually after a bit of a stressful time circling in the entrance to the port decided to moor ourselves. Luckily a helpful Spanish yacht owner jumped off his boat and took our lines to help us get moored up. It was all very well done and we were really happy to be on berth albeit a bit miffed that there was no one to help from the office. This is something we’ll bear in mind in future and maybe be a bit bolder about mooring ourselves if there are no marineros to help us.
Sóller is a stunning natural harbour but when we arrived we were completely overwhelmed. It seemed so busy, there were boats of all makes and models, shapes and sizes buzzing around. There were crowds wandering along the beach front and the terraces of the café bars were packed. We were a bit shocked after coming from quiet Andraitx, it was such a contrast.
Thankfully Monday was much quieter and we started to appreciate the absolute charm of this place, with it’s Victorian tram running along the seafront and beautiful beach. We spent a fairly relaxing day setting up our zodiac dinghy and paddle board. At one point I jumped off to take the lines for a group of Brits aboard a massive catamaran who had the same “lack of marinero” problem we’d had the day before. They called me a “kind young lady” so I was more than happy to help ;-). In the afternoon I walked up to the lighthouse with stunning views over the bay – it was gorgeous.
Wednesday morning arrived and along with it the day of our “big outing” when we went to take tram trip to the town of Sóller. We started with coffee whilst we waited of course, this time in the café that used to be the ticket office for the trams. It has exactly the same architecture as the ones Paula and I walked past on our walk for my birthday last year. There were very few people about as we enjoyed coffee then about 10 minutes before the tram a huge group of tourists with guide carrying a flag arrived. We were a bit worried we might not get on as there were so many people! As the tram arrived we jumped on board – sat down and then got told to move ….. that carriage was for the tour group. I was annoyed enough to get off altogether but as we clamboured down the steps we saw the next carriage was actually much emptier so we climbed back aboard and enjoyed our journey to the town of Sóller.
We enjoyed the morning wandering about the town, we found a fabulous art gallery showing works by Joan Miró and Picasso. We had a lovely breakfast in the town square and decided we would take the bus back.
This was as much of an adventure as the tram for Skipper Nigel since he couldn’t remember the last time he went on a bus. In fact the bus overtook the tram on the way back and the views were just as lovely. The only drawback to this was that the bus stopped quite a way out of town because a lot of port Sóller is pedestrianised so of course we had to stop for a drink on the walk back 😉 No hardship there really.
The following day I went off for a morning paddle board, followed by coffee and a re-stock in the supermarket. Our plan is to leave on Friday so we spent the day preparing Gemini J for another trip. One job that we really wanted to do was to enhance our gangplank/pasarelle a bit more. Skipper Nigel did a fantastic job of adding grippy tape so now it’s way less slippery (especially when wet ;-))
Sóller has been a great place to visit and it really is starting to feel like summer here with all the holidaymakers around. There are cyclists, hikers and beachgoers all mingling on the promenade and of course there are lots of water sports enthusiasts (but thankfully we haven’t seen any noisy, splashy, jet skiers). The sunsets have been lovely, tomorrow we ‘ll be saying goodbye once again as we set sail…onwards, onwards.
The Adventures of Gemini J 