Barb and Terry arrived September 9 and as they have driven to many places during a previous visit to Mallorca we tried to do more boating excursions with them.
On our trip out of Palma we tried a couple of anchorages which had too much swell to be comfortable for the night so we stayed the first night in the bay of Santa Ponsa, on the south-west coast and as the entrance to the bay is quite wide we had a great view of the sunset in the west. It was a peaceful, calm night and a magnificent sunset, giving us the perfect setting for our barbecue dinner on the boat.
The next day we had a fairly strong wind, but of course it was on the nose for the first part of our journey and we also had a bit of a swell. It was also a very warm day so we anchored for a while in the cove below the town of Deia, out of the swell, to enjoy a swim before heading on to Port de Sòller. Terry and Barb swam towards one of the rocky shores, quite a distance from the boat, each of them floating on a 'noodle', but a jelly fish sting for Terry made them hurry back - not that it was easy to swim fast while holding on to a noodle! Lots of vinegar helped but Barbara produced from her bag the good old Aussie product, Itch Eze, which soon eased the swelling and pain. I have noted that I must bring some from Australia next year. It was such an idyllic place to anchor and swim in the right wind conditions that we must watch out for that spot in future. It would even be possible to go ashore in the dinghy to the great fish restaurant at the rocky beach in that cove. The jelly fish are not usually prevalent in Mallorca so we don't think that would normally be a problem.
The Tramuntana Marina in Port de Sòller was a good place to stay and we enjoyed dinner ashore at one of the nearby seafood restaurants. There is such a large fishing fleet in the port that if you order anything that is the 'fish of the day' then it's bound to be fresh.
We headed back the next day for our approximately seven hour trip to Palma and could actually sail for a good part of the trip! Greg decided to take the route inside the island Sa Dragonera because he noticed a larger Swan on that course. As the wind had dropped by then we had a lovely cruise through that stretch, quite close to the pretty coastal town of Sant Elm, being able to sit at the cockpit table to eat our lunch. One of the great delights of boating!
One of our other boating days was to head over to the eastern side of the Bay of Palma and drop anchor at Calle de Salvatierra to relax and have a swim. We realised that there is a restaurant on the shoreline there (Panoramica Playa Restaurante) where we would be able to go for a meal some time in the future. There are surprisingly few restaurants right on the bay and this one even has an onshore pool for diners to have a swim or a ladder into the bay water if that is preferred. We also noticed a bayside area of a hotel which led us to discover that a stunning hotel, Cap Rocat is also near that location. It is an old fort that has been restored as a fabulous hotel so we must check that out some time. There are still many, many things for us to discover about Mallorca!
Of course we had some great dining moments with Barb and Terry in Palma at some of our local favourites. Ombu at Plaza de la Reina is definitely the best tapas place in Palma and we are gradually working through the great variety on the menu.