Having arrived in Porto Colom, we had anchored opposite the town, but then proceeded to spend three days on the boat without ever going ashore! The wind was fresh from the north east. We had one or two projects in mind. We needed a container for the various awnings that we had made, and so the first was to set about the manufacture of a canvas case. Rather than a holdall type of bag, we decided that a pattern similar to a suitcase would be easier to get the individual bits of awning out when needed. The result was very creditable, with velcro fastenings and canvas carry handles at each end. John found that there were a few hotspots around, but could get none to connect. This was not surprising, as we were anchored well away from town, and probably out of range.
Mo's was next determined to cover over our newly upholstered seats, or at least those around the aft of the saloon that constantly get sat on, and also moved frequently for access to spares, tools and freezer. We had some left over sheeting from our fitted sheets, that we thought would do. We originally planned a loose cover in the same material as the upholstery, but this is heavy stuff, and seemed over the top for a sacrificial cover. The next issue, was how to make them. Mo had in mind a loose cover drawn together with cords underneath, as per Rosemary's design on Kipenze. John was not too sure about this, as the seat cushions needed to be easy to remove and replace for access. We were also a bit short of material for the "put it on top and wrap it around" school of upholstery design. After some hesitation, we started to produce paper patterns from cut up newspaper. From these we cut out the material, and eventually a finished product emerged. We came to appreciate just what good value Ruth had delivered when producing the original upholstery! Three seats took us the best part of 3 days.
Although we started off working on the cushion project, we decided that in the afternoon we had to get ashore to stretch our legs. The old part of town is very pleasant with plenty of fir trees providing shade. There did not appear to be many shops at all, the usual newsagents, tourist shops, etc. and two supermarkets set back behind the front. It appeared to comprise mainly holiday/residential. A nice old church rose above the skyline at one end, but on investigation it was closed, and had no space around it, so was a little disappointing. We turned short rather than go along the beach road towards the lighthouse, but this looked to be a pleasant place to walk. To the south, there were larger hotels in what we supposed was newer development, but we did not venture in that direction. Soon after we landed, we ran into the crew of Lady B (USA), Mary and Helmut, together with some friends from a British boat. Mary recognised us from Almerimar, although we had only met them briefly when they arrived there in April. We carried on with our walk, but having developed a thirst, we found them slaking theirs at a bar/cafe that they had taken a liking to. It was around the corner from the main 'front' restaurants, and was much more reasonably priced. They were hiring a car for the day to see something of the eastern side of the island, so we talked about likely spots. At some point during the day, there was a wind change, and the boat had swung around 180 degress. There was suddenly a peep from the computer, which we recognised was the arrival of an e-mail. We found that we had a workable network connection, although we were anchored way off the town!
John went ashore to buy a Sunday Times, and also visited the Eroski supermarket, where he found some Bass (Lubina) for supper. Mo was finishing off the corner cushion, and did some washing. John decided that he had better fix the joker valve on the sea toilet before Sandy came to visit. It was prone to return the proceeds if not well flushed through with sea water.
In the morning there was a strange noise from the computer, and we found that it was Peter Manly who had set up Skype himself, and found that we were 'on line'. We had a long chat, illustrated with gestures etc. from his web cam. We went ashore in the afternoon, and went up to the Eroski to do a little bit of shopping. Later, we noticed that the chap on the boat next door, Rhuba Duck, appeared to be on his own, and we invited him over for a drink. Soon after his crew, Vera, showed up with their friends from another nearby boat. Martin came over by himself, then after a drink or two, we persuaded the others to come over as well. We also decided to include the crew of the German yacht Jonas, who were anchored near us. So we landed up with a party on board Fuga. Mo produced spanish omelette and pizzas, then retired as there was nowhere for her to sit in the cockpit, and she felt she had had enough! Our visitors were most interesting, living around Denia, and both Martin and Dick were sailing with lady crew, but not their partners who were busy elsewhere. Jonas's crew were relative youngsters taking time off in a small but very well-found looking steel boat.
It was 1145 before we were ready to weigh anchor. There was not a great deal of wind. We had lost our network connection, and we wanted to upload some photographs and amendments to the web site, so on the way out we decided to try to find a spot where we could connect. We mooched around the harbour, almost running aground at one point, trying to get a stronger signal. All sorts of stations kept popping up, but none would play ball, and our .WLAN station remained elusive. We had a pleasant sail with an easterly that freed up to SE. We had originally thought of stopping at Ratjada, but as we passed it it seemed less attractive. We decided to try our luck in one of the Calas around the cape. We were lucky in choosing Cala Molte: it had beautiful clean water, and the hotels in the adjacent cala were almost hidden from view. There we found another Dehler 41DS anchored, along with a handful of others. John enjoyed a swim but could not persuade Mo.
When we set off we thought we were going to have a good sail, as the breeze started early from the NE. As we left our anchorage, we circled the Dehler Orlono, with Frank and Irene aboard, exchanging notes. It would be good to meet them again and have an opportunity to chat. Their boat is only 3 years old and not yet as heavily encumbered as Fuga. The breeze dropped right out, but we persisted for some while before deciding to motor. Eventually the breeze filled in, and we enjoyed the sail. We picked out a Cala on the western side of Cabo del Pinar, originally as a 'lunch stop', then having enjoyed our bacon and egg sandwiches, as a place to swim and cool off, as it was very hot. We arrived at the Cala only to be warned that the place was swarming with jelly fish. We drew buckets of water out of the sea, and contented ourselves with that! Eventually everyone else up anchored and left us to enjoy the place for the evening, alone apart from the soldiers who were bathing off the shore, which is a military area and where landing is forbidden. John attempted to fish from the dinghy, while Mo prepared supper, wisely not relying on him to provide.
We had a day available to enjoy, and with the wind blowing from the East decided we should take a look at Cala de Figuera, a couple of miles west of Cabo Formentor. First, we were visited during our breakfast by two tourist boats, one a sailing catamaran quite crowded with children. We were going to warn them about the jellyfish, but realised that they had nearly all vanished overnight. They anchored and those who wanted to swam off the boats, while others fed the fish. They soon departed, leaving us briefly to ourselves, and John braved a quick swim before the first of the yachts came in from Pollenca. We found the wind was quite fresh, F5, once we were out of the lee of Cabo de Pinar, so popped in one reef in case the wind got up any more. Once around Formentor the wind was killed by the high cliffs, so we dropped the sails and motored into the cala. There were two other boats there, and some people had got there via the road that goes all the way out to the lighthouse. It was a beautiful cala, with lovely clear water, and rocks to snorkel over, so we were both in the water for a while. As we set off, the wind appeared to have freshened, although it was impossible to assess from our sheltered position. We planned to motor up behind the cliffs to windward in any case, and did not put any sail up. However, as we came out of the lee we had a good F5 with up to 24 knots across the deck. We both had something of a premonition. We had found a stainless pin on the deck, and could not work out what it was, so this put the spooks up Mo. In my turn, I advised Mo against going too close to the 150m cliffs to leeward, although we were in 50m of water. Then there was a noise from the stern gear, and we lost way. All we had to show for going ahead or astern was a lot of vibration! We unfurled the jib as quickly as we could, and were able to turn downwind (towards those cliffs), before wearing ourselves into clear water. There we were able to get the main up, and put a good tack out towards the north east to gain sea room before tacking back and then running down towards Pollenca. An hour later, we dropped the main and sailed into the anchorage behind Pta de la Avanzada, which was fortunately not crowded, under jib. As soon as we were settled, John went over to find out what the problem was, and some time later the floating fishing line that had neatly wrapped up the folding propeller was cut off, and lay harmlessly in the cockpit. Unfortunately the accompanying mussels were not big enough to eat!
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| This cliff became a lee shore with no engine | The culprit.. wrapped around our folding prop |
We decided to make a move into the harbour at Pollenca, hoping to find a berth on the moll transit. Luckily there was room, and we were hailed by the marineiro, who helped us into the berth. Other than giving us the usual form to fill in, he was not interested in taking any money. We were able to hook up to power to make good our deficit. We walked around the town, and stopped for a drink. Mo had spotted a Menu del Dia going for less than 10 euros, and so we decided we would treat ourselves to lunch. Afterwards we resumed our walk, and found that the sea front and one or two blocks back were lined with bars, restaurants and mainly tourist type shops. The whole atmosphere of the place was very pleasant, and the beaches clean and good. In the evening we found the Hiper car hire people that we had used at Porto Cristo, and reserved a car for Sunday morning.
It rained! Fortunately we had had the bedding out airing for Sandy on the Friday. We had our new awnings up, so it was not too much of a problem. We mostly spent the day clearing the back cabin of bikes, haversacks, and sundry other obstacles, and got the bunk cushions out so they could have a little bit of an airing. Mo rushed about polishing the wood, and cleaning the shower, etc. as she is prone to when visitors are in the offing.