It was after quite literally years of anticipation that Paula picked me up in Cartagena to head into the mountains of Andalucía and more specifically The Alpujarras.

Made famous by the author Chris Stewart (more on him later) in his renowned book “Driving over lemons” we were to be spending the week walking in the hills and meeting the author.

Paula was beyond excited having wanted to do this trip over many years since she has been coming to visit Las Chimeneas in Mairena for years and had never been able to come on the walking week due to work.  She had mentioned it to me quite a few years ago now and it was with quiet trepidation that I loaded all my bags into the car for the journey.  When something is so highly anticipated I do sometimes worry if it will meet expectations.  Oh how wrong I was…..this was the breathtaking view from our accommodation.

We had stopped for a delicious lunch at a restaurant next to a Shell Petrol station – one of those culinary delights that just doesn’t exist in the UK.  You pull into the “services” head to an extremely unassuming looking place and get served absolutely gourmet food, in this case “Berenjenas al miel” and “Revuelto con setas y jamón” (aubergines with honey and scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms and ham).  It was a very good start to our enjoyment of the culinary delights of Andalucía.   We headed onwards along the motorway then upwards and upwards into the Alpujarras.  We arrived around 4pm to a wonderful greeting from David and Emma at Las Chimeneas and I started with my “wow” comments as the place is amazing.  A collection of houses in the village which are nestled on the side of a hill with amazing views across to the sea in the distance.

We settled ourselves into our room before meeting the rest of the group over dinner – our second bout of deliciousness for the day.

As we were about to walk into the restaurant a chap wearing a hat came round the corner – he needed no introduction to Paula who rapidly introduced us to him and him to me – he luckily took her huge excitement all in his stride …… he was none other than the much vaunted Chris Stewart, we went into the restaurant together and started to meet the others in the group.

As we sat at the table – Paula at one and and me at the other (to meet new people) – it suddenly dawned on me that there was a spare seat next to me and the only person yet to sit down was Chris Stewart himself !! Much to Paula’s envy I found myself sitting alongside the author who we had waited all these years to see.  He was extremely good company – as were the others seated with us as we enjoyed wonderful spiced pumpkin and squash soup followed by Andalucían style chicken and finally fresh oranges Moroccan style with dates, pomegranate and mint all absolutely wonderful.  It was a fabulously convivial evening.

The next morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit, local honey, yoghurt, toast and eggs before setting off through the village. First stop was filling our water bottles with fresh spring water.

Chris and David were our entertaining and informative guides as we made our way through the narrow streets of whitewashed houses and out into the open countryside.  The views were absolutely breathtaking and we climbed up higher and higher to enjoy them before heading back down along a ridge to our lunch stop.

Walking down into the valley we heard the lovely sound of flowing water and crossed a little wooden bridge before we headed up and along the shaley ridge – stopping as we saw Ibex dashing across the land in front of us (way too fast for a photo of course).  The views along the way as we walked down the valley were beautiful.

No sandwiches and apples here …. and we hadn’t had to carry lunch squashed up in our rucksacks either.  We arrived at an old threshing circle which has been restored (thanks to donations from people worldwide including Russell Crowe and Leonard Cohen amongst many others).  Lunch had been laid out by Emma and we ate a wonderful hearty Spinach tart, local ham, cheese and salad.   There was a choice to head back to the village by car or walk – a slightly more challenging drop down the valley across a bridge and back up the other (very steep) treelined side before coming out into amazing views once again.  We passed a local with his goats and sheep and Chris shared a few moments chatting to him about life as a shepherd here.  It was great to hear his enthusiasm for shepherding and he has a very entertaining manner too.  Later in the walk he recited “The road not taken” by Robert Frost which was a very special moment.

All too soon we found ourselves back in the village  (well, thanks to our esteemed author and guide of course).  Everyone was tired but happy after a wonderful day of meeting new friends, seeing truly stunning scenery and of course breathing such fresh clear air.

Once again we enjoyed a wonderful meal, starting with pisto (a delicious sweet vegetable and tomato concoction) and egg, Andalucían pork with almonds and homemade lemon tart to finish.

The following morning we were off in cars for a short if very weendy windy drive across to the village of Yegen home for a period of time to the writer Gerald Brenan – famous for his book “South of Granada” We walked through the village stopping at the house where he had lived for some of his life. Chris, David and Emma regaled us with some lively tales of an interesting literary character with huge Spanish connections and as is often the case personal difficulty and strife.

After we had wandered out of the village we found ourselves in what’s known as the “badlands” – not a lot can grow in this geologically fascinating valley floor and it was a fascinating walk again through spectacular rock formations.  As we started to descend we were also able to appreciate the almond blossom and make ourselves therefore an unofficial part of the “Almond Blossom Appreciation Society” (a book by guess who ? Chris Stewart ;-))

As we wandered through the badlands and down into the valley floor we saw more and more plastic greenhouses, something we all found difficult to contend with, enjoying our salad stuffs all year round yet not liking the amount of plastic needed to produce them.  We walked into the small town of Ugijar where a very welcoming cafe served us a wonderful bowl of stew, coloured with saffron it was vibrant, delicious and filling.  We drove back up to our village and a few of us went for another walk – further up the hill where we got some more breathtaking views. We were welcomed back with more culinary delights this time, Mushroom fricassee, a wonderful Baked cod and Andrew’s homemade pineapple cake all absolutely delicious.

The following morning we set out from Las Chimeneas and walked through the village with David as our guide offering fascinating insights into village life along the way.  As we came out of Mairena we arrived at a small waterfall and picnic area which is in the process of being developed as a walk with wooden bridges bring built to cross the stream. It was a very peaceful spot just before we climbed out and onto the open hillside on our way to the village of Valor.  It was another fabulous walk with stunning views, following along the GR7 national walking route.

As we arrived at the small town of Valor we stopped at a very welcoming cafe bar for a quick beer before heading down to our lunch stop at a picnic spot by a wonderful arched bridge.

After lunch the group split and a few of us took the same route back to the village.  It was equally stunning on the return trip and we were even joined by a friendly local dog for most of the way.  That evening we were treated to a wonderful meal once again, this time my choices were Avocado salad, stuffed peppers and figs coated in chocolate.

Once again, after a marvellous breakfast and filling our water bottles at the fountain we drove off to a local village where we’re met by Antonio and Clara – the shepherds.  We were taken to their farm where we were greeted by a while cacophony of dogs from the gigantic and super soft dog named “lion” to two tiny puppies playing in the sunshine.  We looked beyond the plastic greenhouses to the mountains above where we would find ourselves walking with the grazing sheep and goats

They showed us the old stables and the horses, donkeys and mules.  Very patiently waiting for us too was a whole herd/flock of 500 goats and sheep.  After loading up a mule and gathering the dogs (plus us walkers) the flock/herd came out from their pen and off we went.  

We headed off on an old drovers trail which took us up (following the animals all the way) over an absolutely stunning ridge to a wonderful peak where we stopped for fresh Andalucían oranges and a squeeze of local wine for those brave enough to try Antonio’s pouch.

All too soon we waved them off as they headed out grazing further afield and we came back to Las Chimeneas for another delicious lunch – this time Mushroom soup (one of my all time favourites).  After lunch we wandered down the hill to the Las Chimeneas finca (plots of land) where there is an outdoor yoga studio – although it’s not quite warm enough outside to be practicing at the moment.  We were treated once again in the evening, this time to a cookery demonstration – “Berenjenas al miel” the local aubergine dish and the most amazing paella of rabbit and snail.  All prepared and cooked in front of us, with us tasting the sauce and Paula even stirring at one point.

The aubergines and paella were truly memorable, what an experience.  We carried ourselves off to bed exhausted after another outstanding day in the Alpujarras ready to sleep well and see what the rest of the week brings……

A lot of fun has happened since our last blog – and our arrival home. You’ll find the last bit of the story below but first a little bit on our activities since we arrived back at the start of the month (and the reasons for the delayed blog)

The first week we were back we had a fantastic reunion with friends old and new at the annual beach party in Los Alcázares (the first time it had been held since the pandemic). There was a barbecue on the beach, a birthday celebration for our lovely friend Rosana and a flypast from the Eagles (the local equivalent of the Red Arrows). We were exhausted but very happy after a wonderful day.

The following week we couldn’t miss the opportunity to go sailing once again, this time with our friends on Hoopa we went to a place called La Azhoia to meet our friends Gunilla and Tony aboard Katarina who were on their last stop before returning to Cartagena – they had spent the season in the Azores.

The skies were gray and there wasn’t much wind but it was gorgeously warm as we dropped anchor. Less than half an hour later we were all in the water, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding. We had an extremely enjoyable reunion barbecue on board Katarina and it was a beautiful evening view of the shore. The next day was more of the water activities and it was just really nice to all be together again after we had all sailed to different places over the season. We were even swimming between boats, the sea was fairly warm – even in the middle of October!

We hoped for wind as we headed back to Cartagena and indeed we got some – only about half an hour but it was enough to keep us smiling as we came back onto our new berth.

We had decided to go in stern to and just as we approached the berth a huge gust of wind blew Gemini J – Skipper Nigel had to use all his skills to re-approach – a bit like a 3 point turn but only with forward and reverse and a few more than three turns 😉 😉 The marineros were ashore waiting with our lines/ropes and shouting encouragement. Once we were finally berthed we heaved a huge sigh of relief and waited for Hoopla and Katarina to arrive. Luckily the wind gusts had dropped a little by the time they got in and both of them moored up expertly with no problems. Just like that all three of our boats are back for the winter season, bring on the coffee and cakes, wonderful walks and one or two boat jobs.

The final get together was a lunch with Paula, Ian and Mike who came to see us aboard. We all then headed out to the club náutico at Santa Lucía for a delicious tapas lunch – once again it was really great to catch up with friends and a good time was had by all.

Bearing all this in mind – I have been a bit remiss on this blog so now working back to the journey before these shenanigans …. here’s the last entry of the trip for you…..

It was a very autumnal morning on the last day of our trip. A definite reminder why we are heading back to our home port. We had a fairly relaxing departure and when we headed out we found choppy seas and light winds. We headed out past our old favourite “Isla grosa” and on towards Cabo de Palos.

We wanted to try to sail, it being our last day but we were scuppered by the choppy water so we had a motor along the familiar coastline and back to Cartagena.

As we approached the port we saw it was a double cruise ship day – they were obviously there to welcome us back 😉 It was a nice sight to see and we crept round behind them onto our berth. It turns out that the marina have changed our berth position – we are further along the pontoon than last time – a bit disappointing when we first arrived – but we moored up nicely. We’re still neighbours with our good friends on Hoopla which is great and Karen and Rob hopped aboard for drinks soon after we arrived. On closer inspection we are happier with our new space – it “should” be easier to get in and out when we go day sailing so watch this space for more winter adventures.

It was with mixed feelings that we left Gemini J after 1382,1 nautical miles …. 4 months, 34 marinas and many, many smiles along the way. I am sure we’ll be back for more adventures aboard very soon.

It had been a very calm start to the day as we motored all the way along the beautiful coastline from Moraira to Benidorm.  Around midday the wind started to pick up and we watched it carefully for a few minutes to see if it would stay.

Sure enough it did and it picked up too – before we knew it we were flying along and sailing !!! As you know by now there’s always great excitement on board when we can sail.  We had both the mainsail and Genoa out and we were making great speed so we decided to head for one of our old favourite ports, Santa Pola further away than our original destination of El Campello.  I called them up to make the booking and the wonderful, friendly lady said “of course we have space for our friends Gemini J”…what a welcome back.

We were pretty tired after our afternoon sailing and we had travelled 46.9 nautical miles too, only a couple more stops and our trip would be over.  We watched the lovely sunset and relaxed aboard.

The next morning I was up and about having a lovely walk before our journey onwards to San Pedro del Pinatar.  I looked out at the sea, everything was very calm and with gorgeous sunshine too it was more like a summer day than October.

We headed out of the harbour just as a day trip boat to the island of tabarca did the same.  We waved them off as they sped past us and out towards the island. 

Once we were out of the harbour we were able to put the sails up but not with quite as much wind as the day before.  We did try and for a short while we were sailing once again !  The wind died down around midday and we were back to motoring along the coastline that we now know quite well.

We saw a huge smoke plume on the land which grew and grew over the course of the afternoon.  We later found out it was a warehouse fire in corvera which is Xx miles away.  It was incredible to see and made us realise why they are clamping down so much on burning because of the smoke in the atmosphere.

It didn’t seem like long til we were pulling in to our old marina at San Pedro del Pinatar.  Once again Skipper Nigel pulled us onto our berth really well and after a little fumble with the ropes I passed them to the marinero who helped us tie up. It’s always a bit strange coming back here.  It’s definitely quite a sardine marina, very full of boats and tightly packed too.  We were on the same berth as we had on our way out, right at the start of May which made us reminisce about our travels.  I went off for a wander and was lucky to see some flamingoes not too far from the marina.

Once I was back we spent the evening relaxing ahead of our final journey of the sailing season.  We always have very mixed emotions since we’re sorry our journey is coming to an end whilst looking forward to getting home at the same time.  Let’s see what the last day brings …..

After our mammoth 26 hour crossing we didn’t wake up til after 9 and looked again at our mooring.  We still weren’t happy as we were right against a concrete wall and in fact one of our fenders got broken during the night.  We talked through the option of moving the boat within the marina or moving on.  The office suggested we move and as were both really tired we decided that was the best option.  As it turned out, nothing is straightforward and as Skipper Nigel manoeuvred us perfectly to go alongside the marinero started gesticulating. Unfortunately I took this to mean he wanted us to go in with the bow pointing to the wall rather than alongside so Skipper had to make some quick changes.  Even more unfortunately once we had aborted the mooring to re-start the approach, it became clear that we should have been alongside all along – just as Skipper Nigel had started with.  After a few choice words and a trip around the marina to line us up again we finally came alongside perfectly.  The marinero was most apologetic and once again we got our fenders sorted and finally started to relax. I got to eat my slice of Mallorcan cake that it had been too choppy to enjoy on the crossing 🙂

That afternoon I dragged myself out for a very slow wander – still feeling very tired but the ducks put a smile on my face.

The next day after an extremely early night we awoke to find wind – much, much more than anticipated in the marina. It was blowing us onto the pontoon making a departure tricky to say the least.

We quickly realised we wouldn’t be going anywhere that day (to be honest neither of us was too worried, we were both still really tired). The wind was strong, gusty and in the “wrong” direction meaning it would be against us heading towards Calpe. I had a more energetic walk up the hill that overlooks the marina which was stunningly beautiful.

The following day we woke up early, anticipating our continuing journey but even from down below deck we could hear and feel the wind. It had definitely not died down as forecast and we chatted over breakfast and re- looked at the weather. It seemed like it would be calming down around lunchtime so we agreed to make a final call on departure at 13:30. We even had an early lunch in anticipation of afternoon sailing. That wasn’t to be as the gusts kept coming. We had chatted to the other Skippers and one had said they were thinking like we were and might leave at lunchtime. In fact one did decide to go for it – but needed two attempts to get out of their space. We decided that another restful afternoon in lovely Moraira wouldn’t do us any harm at all 🙂

That evening after my outing I said to Skipper Nigel “there’s a funny smell” – further investigation and we found that one of our batteries was completely overheating. As quickly as possible (the batteries are under the sink and fairly awkward to get to) Skipper disconnected said battery and lifted it out. It was boiling hot and oozing acid !!!! What a nightmare…..we secured it and made sure no more acid could get on anything then Skipper Nigel replaced it with one of the spare batteries that we have on board. The whole incident took an hour and we now have to do some investigation to check out our battery charger. Given the state of the battery we think it had been failing for a while and was probably a bit of a dud. I hauled it off to the bins on the trolley (it was really heavy and still hot). We were thankful it had happened how it did in a time and place where it was relatively easy to change.

The following morning finally it was calm and we had the engines on at 9am by which time the boat in front of us had already departed. We had a faultless exit and made our way onto calm seas with no wind. A lovely start to the day…..

We were most excited to be on our way after a week in port and just a few miles off shore we faced our first “hazard”. What happens is you see amost a speck in the distance, then as it becomes clearer you know it’s a ship, then you realise it’s a cruise ship . We travel around 5 knots and they travel around 20 knots so before you know it what looks like it’s a really long way off is just a couple of miles from your bow. In this case it was the “Wonder of the seas” which passed us. It was close enough for us to see the giant television on the top deck – I guess you can watch it from the swimming pool. We knew it was big – but Wikipedia tells us “As of January 2022, the largest cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas, has a gross tonnage of 236,857, is 362 metres (1,188 ft) long, 64 metres (210 ft) wide, and holds up to 6,988 passengers.” So maybe a few thousand passengers were looking out of their windows at Gemini J and wondering what it would be like to really be sailing 😉

After that excitement the evening went well and although it was rocky on the sea it was not too uncomfortable. We slowly left Mallorca behind us and headed into open water towards Ibiza.

We enjoyed a stunning sunset and I went down to try to get some sleep before my night shift. Skipper Nigel was once again in his element and was hoping to get some sails out but the wind wasn’t quite in the right direction. He tried with them a couple of times unsuccessfully – bit it’s always worth a try if there’s a breath of wind 😉 I tried to take my shift at 11pm but Skipper felt good so I got a couple more hours sleep before coming on deck at 1am. By this time we could see the lights of Ibiza and lots and lots of stars. The boat was rocking and rolling by this time and we could see lots of beautiful stars between the clouds.

Through that darkness, we could also see distant lightening over the island (we were around 9 nautical miles off shore). It was quite spectacular and we thought it could be quite bad weather on the island. Skipper went down for a rest around 2am with the instruction to wake him if it started raining. The sea state was really quite swelly by now and it was difficult to move around the boat. We had to be super careful when coming up on deck or going down below and we both fell over at different times simply due to the swell. At about half past four it happened – rain ! Not just any rain – from one or two drops to an absolute torrential downpour in less than a minute. Not enough time to get our waterproofs on or even to close the hatches. It was a wet, chilly, sudden shock ! I ended up down below securing everything and Skipper took the helm. It was only the next day that I found out it was really quite a scary few minutes for the Skipper with sideways rain and extremely high winds. In fact a couple of days later Skipper Nigel told me it really was a pretty hairy few minutes and he really had to work hard to keep the boat in the right direction and on course. It was definitely the worst weather we have ever been in on Gemini J. Luckily about 20 minutes later we were through it – absolutely soaked to the skin but none the worse for wear than that. I came back on watch at about 6am ready to take the dawn shift.

The dawn over Ibiza finally came around 8am and it was worth the uncomfortable, bleary eyed wait ….. as soon as it was daylight everything was beautiful as we looked back on the island of Ibiza which we had passed during the darkness.

We were left with a 2m swell so we still couldn’t really move around the boat and it wasn’t from a consistent direction so it meant using the sails was tricky. The wind was also much stronger than forecast gusting up to 20 knots. We could see the mainland and decided to keep onwards (there was always an option to head to Ibiza or Formentera). By the afternoon we were able to reef the mainsail and increase our speed and by the evening we had our mainsail out (still motoring) and our destination of Moraira in sight. Coming round the headland is always a relief after a crossing and we were very happy to arrive before sunset. We were put onto a berth on the opposite side of the marina to normal – which we weren’t completely happy with but we we were so glad to be on berth we secured the boat and slept!! and slept …… 117 nautical miles and 26 hours of rocking and rolling, a few bruises to show for it but another fabulous aventure aboard our beloved Gemini J.

After a restful day one in the marina, my previous evening’s walk had taken me into the beautiful countryside of southern Mallorca.  There aren’t quite as many different flowers as in Sardinia but the ones I did see were stunning.   The weather doesn’t seem quite as stormy as forecast although we are enjoying not having to look at it like hawks since we know we’re spending the weekend here.

The next day was car hire collection day which meant I had the adventure of heading to Palma on the bus.  A change in the city to the airport shuttle gave me chance to have a quick wander about Palma and of course a coffee break 😉

I collected the car after quite a hoo haa in the big and busy Palma airport.  I struggled to find the car in the over 200 parking spaces just for Goldcar and then when I got there I realized I had to go back to the car park hut and get the key !! (it sounds obvious but they had given me the parking space number and no instruction to go for the key first !) Then when I got to it, our lovely little Dacia Spring looked decidedly unloved in a distant corner of the car park.  I was excited about the electric car but I couldn’t get it to start – what a nightmare.  Only a quick Google told me I had started it all along its just that it is silent so I needed to have a green OK light on the dashboard to know it was started (I felt like a bit of an idiot but luckily there was no one around).  After that I was off and how absolutely brilliant that car is – it drives so smoothly and its speedy too when needed.  40 minutes later and I pulled up at the port with a big grin on my face.  I collected Skipper Nigel and we drove out for lunch at a placed called Sant Elm – absolutely gorgeous.

When we arrived back from lunch there was a full press pack in front of Gemini J ….  “The queen’s coming to release a turtle” was the word on the street.  Next door but one to us was a large wooden boat which is part of a campaign to clean the seas – and there was a small rib with a large grey box apparently containing the turtle that had been rescued and re-habilitated.  Two black cars pulled up and sure enough right in front of us was Reina Sofia – actually the King’s mother who was Queen until the crown passed to her son a few years ago.  She’s 84 years old and is the lady wearing jeans and a Mary Berry style flowery jacket in the photos for those of you not familiar with the Spanish royal family.  She seemed very interested in the work of the conservationists and climbed aboard the big boat to head out to sea and release the turtle (or maybe watch it being released since it was on the smaller boat). We read later in the press that the turtle was successfully released and Reina Sofia had headed back to her holiday residence on the island.

That evening a storm front came over and we had another heavy thunderstorm right overhead. We had started watching the lightening from the deck but it soon started raining so we headed down below to sleep through it as much as possible.

The next day the storm had passed and it was time for some chores, we went out for breakfast and put the car on charge which was really easy, free and charged while we ate 😉 Afterwards I headed off into the town of Andtratx to do the laundry at the launderette – and also to have a wander around (might as well get some exercise while the washings on).

The Monday was going to be our last day in the marina and also with the car, we had another delicious breakfast and a little drive along the coast again. When we got back we sat down to have a proper look at the weather forecast for our crossing – we also spoke to our boat neighbours who thought the next day would be a bit windy. Indeed when we looked and looked again we could only see worsening weather all week. We decided to set off that afternoon rather than the next day, seeing a break in the weather so I immediately took the car back to the airport and headed back on the bus. I was frustrated to miss my connection by a minute but I went for a brisk walk to calm myself down ! We still made our 5pm target departure ready for our overnight sail back to the mainland. Our boat neighbours waved us off which was nice and we were excited to be back on the move. So, just like that our fabulous time in Mallorca and the Balearics was over hopefully we’ll be back before toonlong….

We got up really early to a beautiful yellow sunrise and prepared the boat in record time – we weren’t going to be caught out this time.  The engine was on and we were away by ten past eight, having reversed all the way out into the bay and done a quick flip round (still all in 3,5m of water).  We were very happy to be on our way in calm waters and light winds enjoying the wonderful southern coastline.  

As we crossed Palma bay there was a constant stream of ferries and we had to slow down a little to time our passage between them.  At about two o’clock the wind picked up and we pulled out the sails – we were sailing at last !!!

At about ten past two the wind died down and moved round to be head onto us. ….. so our sail was very short lived but it had put big grins on our faces.  By that time we could see the headland of Andraitx and we were looking forward to being back in the lovely port. 

This time we had decided to go on a mooring buoy but no problems with boathooks since they are controlled by the private marina.  A marinero came over and guided us to a buoy, Skipper Nigel followed and pulled up to his rib boat and I handed him the lines and he secured us on the buoy – very easy and smooth 😉 A short while later Skipper Nigel was already putting on his yellow fins to head off snorkeling.

I too went snorkeling and inflated the paddle board ready for the next morning.  It is stunningly beautiful here and very relaxing – even the music at the nearby restaurant entertained us in the evening, a popular mix of Elvis, Frank Sinatra and lots of classics in between.   We were treated to another amazing sunset that night as well as the music – it was fabulous.

We are here ready to make our crossing towards Ibiza but on studying the weather we could see it’s very changeable and stormy.  We enjoyed a day of watery activities and pondering our options. 

Our friends on Ione had arrived in the marina during the afternoon and we chatted through the weather forecast with them.  We talked through our own options and decided to sit out the stormy weather here in port.  Sure enough in the early hours of the morning we were woken by the loudest thunder I have ever heard, followed by a torrential downpour.  That really confirmed our decision from the night before to move from the mooring buoy into the port.  We confirmed our booking and we’re told we could arrive from midday.  At midday on the dot we motored round the breakwater wall and onto our berth – a few spaces along from Ione. We managed a quick catch up with Tony and Sarah who had decided to take an early start and sit out the storms in Ibiza (sure enough they were well on their way by the time we woke up the next day)  We decided that since we were here til Tuesday we would book a hire car.  We found an electric Dacia spring at a great price and reserved having seen the charging point right our favourite café here.

That afternoon I went off for a walk (coincidentally past the bus stop to check the times for picking up the car at the airport). I noticed there were film crews and “water filming specialists”. It wasn’t til later that we found out they were filming “The Crown” and Princess Diana’s speed boat scenes were filmed here (remember that when it comes to your screens next year sometime 😉 )

So, the next day we would move to land based activities and avoiding the forecast storms ….. but for that night, another stunning sunset and distant thunder and lightning.

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…..

It was very cloudy and a little choppy as we made our way round the Mallorcan coastline.  Since the weather was a basically dull we had decided to go for a hop round to Porto Cristo which took us about 6 hours.   It is a very nice port that we visited a few year ago and we were happy to be back.

We had to wash the boat the following morning after a burst of Sahara rain had hit us in Pollenca and again here (the showers of rain were less than 10 minutes each time but they dumped such a lot of sand it was unbelievable !) We went for coffee while Gemini J was drying and found ourselves sitting at a café where literally every other table was drinking pints of beer or cocktails – it was only eleven am and the café didn’t even serve toast !!! The views were lovely mind you and it was really good coffee.  We are clearly in quite a touristy spot 😉 An ideal place to buy replacement fins !! I found a great little shop with a nice selection of snorkelling gear and ended up with two new pairs of fins, a new snorkeling buoy to make us more visible and a hat to replace my one that blew off somewhere off Menorca ! A very successful expedition 😉

This is a port where the mooring is along the quayside where people basically walk along right in front of the boats.   We were a bit bemused by the fact that people kept stopping and looking and taking photos of us and Gemini J.  It wasn’t until day two that someone finally mentioned Rafa Nadal …..a little bit of research told us we we’re moored up right opposite his catamaran!! Now I probably shouldn’t say that we’d commented on not liking the color, or the fact that it has no mast / sails or even the fact that it needed a jolly good clean after a dump of Sahara rain !  Genuinely it is an amazing thing to see but one piece of advice if you’re thinking of investing in one is that a dark colored hull really shows the dirt 😉

We were weather watching a lot whilst in Porto Cristo as there was a bit of stormy weather forecast – but the clear blue skies told a different story and everyone I asked seemed to doubt the forecasts.  We use various bits of information to decide on sailing, the key one for us is an app called Windy which tells us the wind and sea conditions.  We usually back it up with the Spanish weather service AEMET – this is where official weather warnings come from.  There were some thunderstorm warnings for the afternoons running up to the weekend but the mornings were clear.  Bearing all this in mind on Thursday morning we decided to head for the island of Cabrera.  This is a natural park – no anchoring and lots of rules to protect the wildlife on the deserted island.  We anticipated a stormy afternoon but anticipated arriving on our buoy ahead of any rain.

It was absolutely glorious as we departed Porto Cristo – saying goodbye to the island of Mallorca as we left. It was in fact a gorgeous morning and we wouldn’t have thought more about it, although having read the forecasts we were looking at the sky and watching the cloud formations.

Sure enough we could see storm clouds forming way in the distance and behind us and looking forward towards Isla Cabrera was bright blue sky and lovely blue sea. Looking behind us we could see clouds and a clear storm front following us in the distance.

As we were nearing Cabrera and the surrounding islands we could see water spouts formed by the storm clouds which were still behind us.  It was only as we reached the islands that the clouds started to come over us.

The view on the left below is as we were approaching the islands, the view on the right is how it looked looking back after we had passed.

We really were amazed how beautiful this little island is but we didn’t have too much time to look as the wind had really picked up and we still had the small matter of getting on the mooring buoy.  Thanks again to brilliant Skippering and well laid buoys we got it first time !! I was most relieved.  As the winds were gusty we decided to put two lines on the buoy and it took no persuasion for Skipper Nigel to don his new flippers and swim round to attach the second line 😉  The weather by this time was cloudy and we avoided any rain.  We spent the evening on some of the best snorkeling (actually probably the best) we have had in the med. There were even cormorants who would let you swim right up close to them – so wonderful.

The storm front made its way over the island overnight and we awoke to grey skies the following morning.  Time for more Skipper snorkelling and a review of our options for the day.  This was made distinctly more difficult by the fact that we had absolutely no internet connection or even phone signal ….so, no way to review the weather ….we needed to use our eyes, ears and instincts and see things the old fashioned way  – well, after a coffee of course 😉

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.