A spot of island hopping, yes please :-)

Portinatx seems like a wonderful spot for a family holiday – various small beaches with shady patches under trees, watersports and lots of restaurants with views over the bay. We were anchored under the gaze of the customers at “jardin del mar” – it was a case of they were watching us watching them kind of situation. As it was a weekend the beach was busy and there were plenty of families enjoying the pedaloes too. For the sailors amongst you we were anchored alongside a Bahia Catamaran (similar if not the same as one we know well called Katarina 😉 ) Sunday passed very pleasantly indeed with swimming, snorkeling, feeding the fish and generally lazing about. We enjoyed a home made curry for lunch (well, chicken and onions plus a sauce from a jar) and watched the world go by.

The next morning was an early start for the crossing to Mallorca – we had the anchor up by 8am and found ourselves heading into extremely calm waters and directly into the sun with no wind to speak of. Just the conditions I like for the beginning of a long day but of course Skipper Nigel was hoping for more wind. If the forecast was correct his time would come in the afternoon. I took the helm as we left Ibiza behind us and it was so clear that less than an hour later we could see Mallorca on the horizon. However the sun was actually quite a problem – so, operation towel started, with me trying to rig up some shade otherwise we would be arriving a little burnt and crispy round the edges …..

As forecast the wind did pick up in the afternoon – I left skipper Nigel on the helm and before I knew it we were flying along with the genoa sail full of wind. As the afternoon progressed so did the wind and by the time we were arriving at the stunning Mallorcan coastline we had 17 knots in our sail ! Phenomenal…..there was a fair bit of traffic as we approached the port so we brought the sail in and motored onto our berth at the PortsIB marina, once again very professionally done in an awkward end of pontoon spot by Skipper Nigel.

We were back in a port we have visited a few times before but on a different pontoon – from here I can see the amazing bakery that lives in my head as one of best ever ! We watched a stunning sunset from the boat finishing off a fabulous day on the water.

Tuseday was to be a rest day – although that’s not really a good description as whenever we have a day in port there are always jobs to be done and this was no exception. Skipper Nigel wanted to have a good look at the engine after our two lengthy crossings and I wanted to do some washing (get that bucket out Skip !) and re-stow a few things on board. Inevitably as we are sailing and on anchor things get moved about quite a bit so we had a general tidy round in addition to a bit of a rest. Of course I went to the bakery but we ate the produce before I remembered to photograph it so you’ll just have to imagine how delicious it was 😉

It was also time for another re-fuel – this time by walking up the hill to the petrol station – it’s handy having been here before since I know the tricks of where the closest shops etc are.

The evening job was extremely important……Skipper’s haircut ! It was very much a team effort – me with scissors, Nigel with clippers then me with the razor 🪒 (hairdressing is not exactly my skill area but when you’re aboard you have to turn your hand to all sorts of things)

After the shock of that job it was time to relax and we were rewarded with another stunning sunset ….. onwards again tomorrow (as ever, weather permitting)