Sep 6 - Sep 10

We have had perfect weather for the past few days and have made the most of it on the boat and in Palma. On Sep 6 we took David and Cathy out on the boat for the day and as usual the winds were too light to sail bit we basked in the sunshine as we motored eastwards across the Bay of Palma to a beautiful new swimming spot which David was able to show us. David and Cathy are a delightful young couple from Mallorca who we met because David is the captain on the Spanish-owned motor yacht next to us on the marina. He has been helping us learn more about the Spanish and Catalan languages and as he hasn't been able to have a swim all summer as a captain we thought he deserved a day out.
It was an extremely pleasurable day with our new friends.

That swimming area, with the boat anchored in clear aqua water 7 metres deep, was close to the shore line of low cliffs, with very little development even though it is so close to Palma. There are some tiny sandy coves which would be fun to explore in a dinghy.

Monday 7th, 8th and 10th were "rest days" with some time to also explore some areas of Palma we haven't yet seen, but on the 9th we took Amy Jones (gorgeous London-based daughter of Terry and Barb Jones from Melb) and her British friend Brett out on the boat for the day. Our newly found spot was not quite suitable for the wind direction, even though it was still very light, so we anchored for lunch an swimming a little closer to Palma. There are moorings for boats up to 15 metres as it is a marine protected area, but with our length and weight we had to anchor, although we had to make sure it was totally in sand so that we wouldn't destroy any of the reeds growing in that area. Again we had a very pleasant day, especially spending time with Amy, which we hadn't done since the 1980s when with several families we would take our trailable yachts down to the Gippsland Lakes for many holidays.

With a healthy glow from another day in the sun, we had a great tapas dinner together at La Boveda in the old town area of Palma. I love going to that area at night because the cathedral and palace look even more stunning when lit up.
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