We got an early morning start to take on fuel and water at the dock in Alcudia, before the breeze picked up and then headed out to a lunch hook.
A southerly was due that afternoon and we wanted to take advantage of it to cross over to Menorca. The little anchorage we stopped at was a popular spot with power boats with Belgium (vertical black/gold/red),and German flags (black/red/gold, aligned horizontally rather than vertically as on the Belgium one). It was nice to be back in water that was very clear, and on the way in we saw a school of fish jumping and chasing smaller prey. This was the first sign of predatory fish (basically something big enough to eat like Tuna or Bonito), and it was good to know there were some about.
Todd took the time to replace the bilge pump with an upgraded Johnson pump, and in doing so discovered the old one was mis-wired. Basically when the shower hose split and 10 gallons of water ended up in the engine room bilge, the pump turned on but immediately flipped the breaker…not very effective!
After swims and a fresh water spray off, we headed out and got the code 0 sail hoisted on the furler….only to have the wind increase to 20 knots and we had to take it down again. This time though the furling process worked great. We made good time with the jib and main on our crossing to Menorca, although there was a weird cloudy haze that looked like it might rain but never did.
It turned out to be red dust from the desert being carried by the southerly wind and the boats were filthy when we arrived in Cala Son Saura on Menorca. This island did not have the mountains or development that Mallorca did, but was still rocky with scrubby pines and beautiful water. There wasn’t any cell coverage either. The anchorage was a bit rough with the southerly wind, but this was due to die off and then switch to a norther (Tramontane) around midnight. Everyone had the same idea so the anchorage quickly filled up. We found a spot away from the masses and had a captains meeting on the big boat when they arrived, (they’d had to rewire an electric furler on the crossing, which also had wires and labeling reversed), before hunkering down for the night.
The next day we spent the morning spraying off as much dust as we could with the salt water spray down. Then Todd got into diagnosing the generator issue which had stopped working after running for an hour the week before. It looked like the oil that was everywhere was likely due to a messy service job and the rough water had sloshed it out of the pan, versus a bad seal (fingers crossed!). Eventually he traced the problem back to a broken impeller, which would be a much cheaper fix.
By now we were starting to get “Porquerolled” so we raised anchor and headed down the coast to pretty Cala Macarella, anchoring in the back of the pack.
There are caves all around the Balearics, and this anchorage had some interesting rock formations and coves as well. Todd and I took the dinghy further east to a big bay with a resort. This would be our plan B anchorage if the one we were at became too crowded or rough. There was a small river entering a cove near the beach resort and we investigated up-stream, finding a small marina full of fishing boats, ski boats and traditional craft. The hotel area had cliffs topped with houses on one side, a gorgeous sickle-shaped beach, and the ubiquitous pedal cars with slides in the bay out in front.
There was a mix of charter boats and private yachts anchored in the bay, but it looked like we could find room if needed. (It wasn’t!)
Later on, we had everyone aboard for dinner in the cockpit of delicious smoked fish and Spanish cheese appetizers from Scotty, Layla, and Dallas (who was a thoroughly likable and very interesting guy, who had circumnavigated on his Privilege 39 Catamaran), and an eggplant/veggie curry we had made..nobody was being underfed on this cruise!