We awoke to find our zodiac dinghy awash with water ….. a suspected leak . We had been slightly suspicious when we were in Sóller but overnight in Ciutadella confirmed our thoughts. So, a job to be done – find and fix. We both knew there was a repair kit somewhere aboard but we racking our brains as to where. Luckily for us we found it in only the second place we looked (this is a rare occurrence when things go missing aboard thanks to the many ingenious storage places).
We then had to work out how to find out where the leak was coming from – we decided we had to lift the whole thing up and put water in it. Handily we are on a pontoon berth so we managed to lift it onto the front of Gemini J. I got the lovely job of laying under it while Skipper Nigel started filling it with water. This approach worked and we soon confirmed the location of the problem. We then had to wait while it dried out before we could patch it up.
After that job I headed over to the laundrette and found a hidden gem of a park whilst I waited. Back in Cartagena we often walk along the old water course / storm drain and I found one here, only this one is a lovely park. I saw a Hoopoe bird and lots of wild flowers and trees – when it rains this should be the escape route for the water but it was dry and beautifully overgrown.
That evening we went across to the fuel station in the newly fixed zodiac, followed by a little trip round the harbour. It was great fun and seemed to confirm that we’d done a good job on our fix. We were busy preparing the boat for our planned departure the following day when S/Y Wilma (yes, after the Flintstones) arrived onto the berth next to us with the lovely Helena and Frederick aboard. We now have French, British, Finnish and Swedish boat neighbours.
I managed to get out for a couple of morning outings too – walking along parts of the cami de Cavalls which is stunning.
Tuesday came and the day of our departure. We saw the French boat Clipperton get caught by a gust of wind as they departed so we decided to have a coffee and wait for the early morning breeze to calm down. When it was our turn, Skipper Nigel timed it perfectly between gusts, Frederick helped us with our lines and we got out of the berth brilliantly. We headed out of the harbour entrance and found a stiff breeze and a bit of a swell – as we started to round the island the swell picked up. We knew there was a weather front on the way but it wasn’t forecast to be anything like this choppy til the next day. We also knew that we had booked and paid for our mooring space in Fornells. It took Skipper Nigel just a couple of minutes to decide we’d be safer turning back and that’s just what we did. Skipper made an excellent turn timing it perfectly between the swell so Gemini J didn’t get too rocked about as we went sideways onto the waves (I was hunkered down on the floor just to be safe). It took us less than half the time to get back and a couple of our boat neighbours helped us onto our berth(not a marinero in sight this time).
After we had calmed down I headed to the office to see if I could change the booking (which we’d paid for) – we understood that bookings can’t be changed once they are made with the Ports IB (the Balearic Government run ports) but we were sure in the circumstances they would let us move the booking between ports. After a lot of discussion and phone calls it seems not so we have the pleasure of paying again to stay in Ciutadella. We’re not too worried about it, it’s more annoying than anything else but I will make a complaint (reclamación) to try to get our booking fee back. Watch this space and if any of our sailing friends want the full lowdown on the Ports IB booking system and restrictions just get in touch for the full story !
So, we found ourselves back in Ciutadella – our time in Fornells will have wait – we know there’s a weather warning for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so land based we’ll be, exploring the city once again, how exciting:-)
The Adventures of Gemini J 