We set ourselves some jobs to do and wrote a job list. On deck, the bow navigation light needed some attention, and a batten had sprung out of its carrier when we last lowered the main. The decks were again filthy with sand, and needed washing down. In the absence of fresh water, we had to use sea water. Mo spent some time re-organising the aft cabin from which some stuff had to be ousted to make way for visitors. The wind trap was at last provided with fixings in the hatchway, and the microwave was strapped down with bungie to stop it jumping out again. We had been happily surprised by the arrival of Tosca, with Ashley and Nathan, with their little Jack Russel puppy, Chester, early in the morning. They had finally left Almerimar after a long fit-out on Friday, and had spent one day on Espalmador en-route. After they had eaten supper we went over to Tosca, and had a chat. Unusually for us, we took with us and drank water! We are on a drying out and weight reduction session having exceeded our quota of food and drink while visitiors were with us.
Tosca went to refuel in the morning, and then took off. They plan to be in Rome in three weeks time to meet up with family. We do remember that we went shopping, and came back with a large amount of fish from the fresh fish counter at the excellent Eroski supermarket. Otherwise, time goes in a haze. We can spend time reading, nerding (as Mo refers to computer activities), dropping in to the water for a swim, drying off in the sun, watching people manoevre. At the eleventh hour, just before supper, John picked up one of the cockpit sole grids, made of interlocking teak, which was falling to pieces. Mo suggested that it was inappropriate to start that job now! We got the BBQ out and cooked the Alachas (similar to large sardines)that we had bought that morning. They were very good.
John tackled the worst of the cockpit sole grids. This rapidly fell apart with just a little encouragement from a screw driver. Some screws had been inserted in an effort to bodge it back together. Given that the job was only now becoming urgent, possibly you could say successfully. It was a long job to remove the glue residue and clean up the wood, and eventually John gave up in favour of glueing the partially loose grid work, leaving the rest for the morning. We tried to make the boat harbour-worthy as best we could, with tools and glued grids drying in the cockpit, so that we could raise the anchor and go into the refuelling berth. We were also able to collect water at the same time, and filled both our tanks and our 'kettle water' bottles. We went out of the harbour in order to empty our holding tank in deep water, then returned to our previous spot. Our supper of dorado on the BBQ was not entirely a success: once again John had difficulty in judging when the fish was cooked and in consequence the accompanying vegetables went cold. Not good news and the vegetable chef was not best pleased!
The cockpit grid was beckoning yet again. More work with the chisel to get the old glue off. Drilled out the dowel holes that had broken and rotted and made new dowel pins from the dowelling supplied with the wind trap. (Coming without any instructions we failed to discover what it was for.) Eventually managed to re-assemble the whole thing. One down, another to go, and then clean the glue off!
We got up early and left our anchorage at Porto Colom by 0830, having stowed the dinghy and tidied up generally. We had a bit of a drama when we tried to raise the main, as the batten was twisted in the pocket following the work we had done earlier in the week. We had to reef until we could sort it out at leisure later. The wind was SW instead of the promised SE, but we were able to shape a reasonable course and made steady progress until lunchtime. Then it died, and came back very light from the north, so we had to motor the second half. We looked at the Cala in the entrance to Ciutadella, too small and exposed, the harbour itself, probably ok but busy and no doubt expensive, and reverted to our original choice of Cala Santandria, about 1 mile to the south. We were surprised and delighted to find Pandora with our friends from Lagos Anders and May, with Lisa their daughter. They had just finished repairing their rudder, having experienced a severe rissaga the same evening as we had the tornado. Apparently 30 or 40 boats were damaged or sunk in Ciutadella, and boats in Santandria were also put ashore. The water level dropped 5 feet in not many minutes, then returned again just as quickly. Anders estimated the current at 12-15 knots. They were fortunate in having secured to a heavy mooring they had found in the middle of the cala. Another British boat suffered damage as it was caught underneath the undercut rockfaces when the water came back up. We tackled the second cockpit grid, which proved to be worse, if anything, than the first one. By the evening we were able to do some preliminary gluing of the two sides. Every so often we would drop into the water for a swim, or break off to observe some activity on the other boats. May swam over and invited us to coffee with a cake cooked by Lisa aboard Pandora. This proved most enjoyable. Afterwards, we decided it was time we went ashore for a walk, and so rowed (yes rowed!) ashore. We set off for Ciutadella, which seemed to be further away than the estimated 20 minutes walk that May had led us to expect. We found the port, the church, and surroundings quite fascinating, and stopped for a well deserved coke. We felt very virtuous on the last day of our planned abstinence and careful eating. The weigh-in was a disappointment, neither of us showing any reduction in weight for all our good behaviour. Mo was particularly fed up. However, today would be a day for celebration, as it was the anniversary of my quad bypass... last year the day was spent anaethetised! We finished the second grid, and also re-glued the shower grid which is of similar construction and was partially falling apart. The weather was not particularly pleasant, and we watched some of the refugees efforts to moor with critical appreciation or amusement, depending upon the outcome. We walked into Ciutadella again, this time with the camera in order to take some pictures. Coming ashore was a bit dramatic. We had been experiencing an oscillation of the water for a while where Fuga was moored, but when we arrived at the spot where we had landed on Monday evening, the effect was more marked. In no time at all, the water level had risen, trapping the dinghy tube under the overhanging rock. We let the air out of two tubes and managed to free the dinghy, but then had to anchor the dinghy off in a safer spot. We bought an electric fan, as we had found it difficult to keep the saloon cool when moored stern to the shore, and so were unable to use the wind chute. Then we had lunch at a bar before walking back via the Hypermarket. After a quick swim, we recovered the dinghy, and set off under engine for Cala Fornells, intending to spend the night somewhere en route, possibly Cala Morrell. As we went out, we washed the decks with buckets of salt water, as yet again we were covered in brown concrete from the rain. In the end the light wind remained against us. We looked at Cala Morrell, but the urbanisation did not look attractive and we went on, picking out Cala Pregonda. This was a small bay, with two beaches separated by some rock, but protected by two islands, and is very pretty. Although other boats had the better spots tucked in behind the islands, the shelter provided was pretty good and we had a reasonable, though slightly rolly, night. We left the anchorage and enjoyed a pleasant sail with a reach around Isla Porros, a run from Cabo Cavellaria to Cala Fornells, then carried our sail into Fornells, past the village and down towards the yacht club. We spotted Pandora tucked away across the bay, and decided to remain nearer civilisation. John had had a conscience about the generator, and so we cleared the dry stores out in preparation to take a look at it. There was a bucket of dirty oily water slopping around in the bilge, as usual, that had to be cleared first. Then we found the generator control panel and the cover plate was hanging loose, having lost most of its screws. The plastic housing had split, and needed a repair with araldite and glass ribbon, and more glass ribbon to provide a key for replacement screws. Fancy paying £4k for such a bunch of inadequate engineering as this? So what was intended to be a quick oil change was nastier than usual. Whiie we were there, John also planned to investigate the reason for a problem with the engine stalling when going into gear. This was easy, as the throttle control lever bolt was loose and almost falling off where it fixed to the engine. The engine too got treated to an oil change, although the old oil looked immaculate on the dip stick. Anders and May came over in their dinghy, and said hello. Svein and Kari (N. Unique) may now turn up tomorrow, as the wind had been unfavourable for the trip up from Mahon, where they are. A relaxed day, mainly re-stowing dry stores and tools disrupted yesterday! Mo got stung by a jellyfish, which put her off swimming, but no real damage to the finger, and doused in gin and onion juice as advised by Ashley only last week. Went ashore and topped up the phone again, probably for the last time in Spain. Mo served an all-in-one rice, chicken and spice concoction done in the pressure cooker, which was great. Svein and Kari stayed put, and we will now perhaps all meet up in Mahon. Sunday 25th June Porto Colom to Santandria, Menorca
Monday 26th June Cala Santandria
Tuesday 27th June
Wednesday 28th June Santandria to Cala Pregonda
Thursday 29th June Cala Fornells
Friday 30th June Cala Fornells
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