Almost getting stuck in pretty Pollenca

It was indeed time to move on after the lovely dawn on our hard earned mooring buoy, but not far.  Having reviewed the weather forecast we decided on a very short hop into the port of Pollenca.  We enjoyed an hour of admiring the coastal properties before we went into the marina.  It always amazes us how such beautiful places always seem to be empty – we get the impression people just use them for a holiday a year and then leave them…..I am pretty sure we would live there if we were ever lucky enough to win the lottery a few times over 😂. We were leaving without those beautiful blue fins (flippers) that Skipper Nigel was wearing in my last blog …..they were left on the swim deck and mysteriously disappeared (well, in all probability they were washed off when a large motor boat whizzed by).  We searched for them but to no avail – goodbye fins, you served us well 😉

The marina in Pollenca is large and fairly modern and Skipper Nigel moored us up with no issues – it’s a short walk to the sea front and there’s a café right by the port office too. I knew we’d be alright here as one of the first things I saw was the Perkins sign on the side of the boatyard building next to our mooring. (for those of you who don’t know Julie and Pete in Peterborough, my aunt and uncle who work and worked for Perkins so it really made us smile)

Since we had arrived nice and early we had a relaxing day – although the forecast winds did pick up in the afternoon and we were glad to be safely tied up !  I went off for a walk and found a beautiful pine-tree lined waterfront.

The next day I headed out in the opposite direction for my morning walk and found more beautiful coastline.

It was to be a day of boat jobs – including looking at our “sticky” Genoa sail.  Before the winds picked up in the afternoon we pulled the sail in and out a few times, checked the drum and re- threaded the line/rope. We also looked at the halyard which is the line that holds the sail up on the mast and tried making some very minor adjustments to that.

Short of taking the whole sail down (and I’m talking about the huge one at the front (bow) of the boat) we did everything we could to make for a smooth furl and unfurl.  We’re pretty sure we solved the issue but we’ll only really know next time we try it at sea.  I took our 3 empty fuel cans down the jetty to the fuel station and got them all filled and the wonderful petrol pump attendant who had filled them for me carried two back to the boat !!!! This was so kind and helpful (it wasn’t a short walk – I had the third one on my trolley) it saved me doing three trips.  Skipper Nigel hauled them on board and once again we were ready to go.  We had a delicious lunch at the port café which doesn’t look particularly posh but served food that was outstanding.

In the afternoon I went and did the shopping – I found the back streets of Pollenca quite a lot less attractive than the sea front!! We had another look at the weather and decided that although it would be cloudy the following day would be good to leave.

There was a fair bit of wind overnight as forecast and a shower of Sahara rain (covering the boat in orange sand) and we awoke to find ourselves blocked into our mooring space by the next door boat’s dinghy which was caught up on the line below their anchor.

We had met the lovely couple the day before (they come from Mallorca, live on a catamaran in Thailand from October to April then on their boat in Spain May to September – nice) They were not aboard, so we called the marinero over (not much help!).  We attempted to move it but realised doing so would only block the boat at the other side who were also just preparing to leave.  We decided to do the best thing when a tricky situation presents itself – have a coffee and see what develops 😉  In this case the other boat left and we saw a dive boat getting ready to go to work so I quickly ran over to them and asked for help – in the meantime Skipper Nigel went aboard the neighbouring boat and tugged and pulled to try and free the dinghy to no avail. Thankfully the divers came round in their boat and untangled the dinghy from the lazy line where it was caught – they put it on the other side of the boat and we were free …… only about an hour after we planned to leave!!   As we headed out of the marina we had to avoid the diver who had helped us – he was doing a job right in the centre of the channel – luckily he was very visible.  And with that we were on our way heading into a very cloudy day at sea.