As per my previous blog we found ourselves in Isla Cabrera, with no internet, watching a fairly stormy morning and trying to decide whether to leave. We saw four other yachts make their way out of the bay and decided to follow them. We suspected conditions would be against us but the nearest port being only 10 nautical miles away we decided to go for it. Sure enough we were heading into quite choppy waters and had to put the spray hood up for the first time this entire trip – I still managed to get drenched when a wave came over the bow and soaked me (much to Skipper Nigel’s amusement). We even had a towel protecting the instrument panel from rogue waves !
It didn’t seem like long before we arrived in Colonia de San Jordi – in what turned out to be the shallowest, most exposed and windiest marina we’ve ever encountered. Now, before I say more we had visited here before, so we knew it was shallow at 2,7m deep (our boat has a draft of 1,45m so we need the places we go to be at least 2m deep to be safe). We made a radio call and confirmed there was space, by this time the wind was gusting 20 to 25 knots – Skipper Nigel brought us onto our berth expertly and as there was no-one to help I had to get off and on a couple of times with the lines/ropes to set the boat. It was a hairy 5 minutes but we managed, and all in what is now 1,9m deep – so the marina must have silted up since we were last here !! The depth alarm was going crazy ! But the main thing was that we were secured on our berth and could sit out the gusty winds that afternoon. I was happy to go off on a stunning coastal walk along sandy beaches.
In the evening we were relaxing down below when we heard a boat approach, on checking out of the window it was a really big sailboat – we knew the marina would be too shallow for them. We quickly started shouting at them (they were German and luckily they understood English !) – we pointed to where the deeper water was towards the end of the pontoon and I jumped off (in my nightshirt!) to help them secure the boat. At this point it all went very wrong – they couldn’t keep the boat straight because of the wind and ended up alongside the wall with the bow perilously close to Gemini J. Luckily Skipper Nigel was still aboard and able to watch out for our boat and fend them off! The marinero then appeared out of the darkness and basically told them they had to leave because it was too shallow. After a bit of a hoo-haa they departed into the dark and the marinero told us he couldn’t believe they hadn’t run aground!!!! (nor could we to be honest).
The next morning there was a beautiful calm sea and stunning red sunrise (red sky in the morning, sailors warning). We were planning to leave and I popped up to the shop for some last minute supplies. As I was on my way back the wind started and by the time I got to the boat it was too late – we had missed our opportunity to get out. Now, in the other marina at Pollenca we were blocked in by a dinghy, this time we were blocked by wind ! It was very blustery and gusty and in the “wrong” direction – it meant that as we departed we could be blown into even shallower water or onto the lines of the boat next to us. We got Guillermo the marinero over and discussed the various ways we might get out with him but as it was the day of the queen’s funeral and after the red sky we decided to stay in port. As it turned out we were really happy with that decision and watched the historic events of the day whilst relaxing aboard. It really was quite a day and we were happy to think we were in spirit with all our friends and family in the UK who we were sure would be watching too. Tomorrow we will be up early to take advantage of that calm water (fingers crossed). I will leave you with some photos of my afternoon walk – the other way round this lovely coastline…..
The Adventures of Gemini J 