Friday 18 July

We arrived in Palma mid afternoon in time to check in to the delightfully quirky and old, Hotel Born.

A short walk around some of the old streets filled in some time while waiting for Claire and Jonathan to arrive. Then beer in a quiet plaça where all tables had their own air conditioning system.

From the bar it was a short stroll to a restaurant for dinner and another easy walk back to the hotel – all within the interesting old part of Palma.

Saturday started with breakfast in the hotel courtyard then a half day of sightseeing before collecting the boat. A week later we had another half day in Palma after leaving the boat. We suspect that there are some high rise holiday developments somewhere in Palma but we managed to stay completely within the Old City in the south-east area of Palma behind the beautiful cathedral. A maze of narrow streets, mostly car free, linked busy plaças with cafes and bars that we felt obliged to make use of.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, or La Seu, dominates the waterfront. We visited it on the first day but ended up walking around the outside again on the last.

Saturday 19

Mid afternoon we finally got onboard a Lagoon 380 Premium S2 (2008). Our home for the next week. Not wanting to repeat our Croatian experience of anchoring in the dark on our first night we opted to stay in the Arenal marina. But with plenty of daylight ahead of us we decided to take the boat out for a few hours to get a feel for it.

We cautiously manoeuvred the boat away from the berth and out of the marina without making fools of ourselves. With the first test over we then motored well out of sight of the charter company before attempting to rig the main sail. There seemed to be an awful lot of ropes but somehow we got it all figured out and ended up actually sailing and with enough confidence to unfurl the gib.

At this stage we realised that this was going to be a competitive week as we vied for the honour of being the helmsman with the top speed. Today it was Sue with 5.1 knots in 12 knots of wind. A few tacks and several man over board practises and we were ready to head back for a champagne celebration and our first dinner on board the boat.

Sunday 20

After a late start (we waited for a replacement light bulb that never arrived!) we were sailing again and heading for south-eastern corner of Mallorca.

The ladies once again claimed speed honours with over 9 knots and we finally dropped anchor in a sheltered bay known as Calla Llombards. A refreshing swim and then two bottles of champagne to celebrate. Not sure that our supplies are going to last!

Monday 21

Our destination this evening is a mooring booked at Puerto de Cabrera on the Isla de Cabrera, a marine national park and former Napoleonic prison island, south west of Cabo de Salinas. This is the only mooring we have booked, aiming to anchor in sheltered bays for all other nights.

After motor sailing for a while to charge the batteries we finally got the engines off and enjoyed the tranquility of a very gentle sail in about 4 knots of wind. Fortunately Jonathan had mastered the autopilot so we were all able to sit down to breakfast while the boat sailed itself.

Our mooring was booked from 5pm but just after midday we sailed into the large sheltered inlet in the centre of the main island and found a vacant mooring buoy. After securing the boat (well actually it needed some adjustments later) we dropped the tender and motored off to the tourist information centre and a walk to the castle overlooking the bay.

Stunning views but the 30º+ temperatures soon drove us back to the boat for a refreshing swim before setting off again to explore more of the island. This time we headed in the opposite direction to a lighthouse on the south eastern tip.

Wonderful views, a fabulous walk and finally a delicious dinner on board the boat to celebrate Nigel’s birthday. Obviously this required another two bottles of champagne.

Tuesday 22

We started the day with a walk to take in some of the other sites on the island including the ruins of a byzantine necropolis, a Napoleonic prison barracks and a memorial to the 12,000 French prisoners who died here.

By 10.30am we were starting to wilt in the heat so we picked up our bread from the café and returned to the boat for a swim!

Heading across the Bay of Palma we planned to spend the next few days exploring the southwest peninsular. It was going to be a long sail (about 40nm) so once again we had breakfast en route with the autopilot engaged!

We had tried to get very sophisticated with the autopilot but after the boat had turned 360º several times we gave up and just set it to keep us in a straight line.

Searching for a sheltered bay to spend the night a few likely spots were rejected as very noisy party boats boomed out their music. Eventually we settled on Es Malgrat – a small island with a mooring on the eastern side in a sheltered bay.

We dropped anchor just after 7pm and celebrated with another bottle of champagne!

Wednesday 23

With  ice running dangerously low in the drinks chiller restocking was clearly a priority activity for today. A bit of bread and some drinking water was also needed so from Es Malgrat we motored into Santa Ponça Marina for our essential supplies.

The narrow entrance to the marina got no bigger once we were inside. We eventually found a place for visitors to moor up, we think, and managed to manoeuvre alongside as though we knew what we were doing.

Next stop Sa Dragonera, an island off the southwest tip of Mallorca. The only access seemed to be a very small cala and with the wind strengthening, discretion seemed the better part of valour and we opted not to land but simply circumnavigate the island and enjoy the scenery.

Sant Elmo was our chosen anchorage for the night, a little town with waterfront bars. We anchored twice but each time were moved on by the harbour official. Eventually we understood that we were not supposed to be anchoring on the endangered and protected sea grass.

At that point we gave up and eventually ended up in the tiny but beautiful Cala d’Egos, the last potential anchorage before Port D’Andratx.

A rolling swell made for a bumpy dinner and worse still we had run out of champagne and had to make do with G&T and SB. As other boats began to up-anchor and leave we took the opportunity to move further into the cala in the hope of getting more shelter. By the time we were ready to settle for the night there was only one other very small boat left with three young girls in pyjamas sleeping on the cabin roof!

A terrible night –the narrow cala magnified the swell and for most of the night we were broadside on and rolling. To make matters worse, we had left the fenders down and they were constantly banging on the sides.

Thursday 24

A beautiful, clear morning meant that the night was soon forgotten and we went ashore to explore.

With no map we simply followed a path that ran alongside a dry creek. It took us up a valley and wound its way up the cliff to a good vantage point. On the way back someone thought it would be a good idea to follow a small goat track rather than the easy route we had taken up. 

The track deteriorated and then disappeared altogether and the walk became more of a scramble and fight against the thorns. We did reach an abandoned farm though and eventually made it back to the path along the dry creek.

That someone was not the most popular crew member for a while!

Back on the boat, after a swim and breakfast, we decided to make our way back to Es Malgrat to anchor for the night. We were very tired and had to be in El Arenal marina on Friday night by 5pm. This was on the way and we were reasonably confident that we would get a good nights sleep.

On the way we went back into Santa Ponça. This time we tried the beach instead of the marina. We needed more ice and bread. Jonathan dropped Sue and Claire on the beach and picked them up 20 minutes later carrying 12 bags of ice and three loaves of bread.

Yet another late afternoon swim before drinks and dinner. This has been a really tough trip.

Friday 25

A leisurely breakfast and then we made our way back to Arenal. By now the batteries were so flat that they wouldn’t even haul the anchor up without help and so, yet again, we had to motor to charge them. However, after a while we set the sails in very light wind and sailed, slowly at between 2.5 and 4.0 knots, almost due south to pass Illa del Torro.

Rounding this headland the wind dropped further and eventually we had to start the engines to make any headway. With about 5nm to go, we decided to hoist the sails one last time before returning. However, as the mainsail was being pulled up, the lazy bag got caught in the pulley and the sail stuck. Despite all our efforts, we couldn’t release it and so had the indignity of motoring the final few miles in a perfectly sailable breeze.

In the marina our indignities continued as we (well Nigel actually) completely stuffed up the berthing manoeuvre and needed instructions shouted from the fuelling staff to get us alongside.

What the heck. We have managed to get through a whole week without damaging the boat or anyone else’s and learnt a whole lot about sailing. It has certainly given us the confidence to come back for more.

Saturday 26

Our last day in Palma felt like a cafe crawl culminating in degustation meal in a very posh (i.e. expensive) restaurant – Simply Fosh. “The tastiest scallop I have ever eaten in a restaurant” – Nigel.

We also discovered a new use for bidets in hotel rooms that do not provide ice or fridges!