Mallorca

Not as expected.

We ended up staying in Mallorca for sixteen days which was way longer than planned. We were already familiar with the island from a previous holiday two years ago, but this time, we explored it by sailboat for the first time. Like in the previous stay, we were pleasantly surprised during our visit. Despite its reputation as a party island, especially around the "Ballermann", which is the German party zone in El Arenal, Mallorca offered us breathtaking landscapes and clear waters. The island is popular during the high season, but the sheer number of tourists both on land and at sea shocked us.

 

July 24th 23: Arrival in Mallorca

On Monday afternoon, we finally reached Mallorca. After our first offshore trip as a duo, we were grateful to secure the last available mooring buoy in Port d'Andratx, where we spent three days. Besides the lively market, Andratx's proximity to the stunning Tramuntana Mountains made it a perfect location for outdoor enthusiasts like us. The town around the picturesque harbor seems to be a particularly popular destination for those with a larger budget. Coming from Andalusia, where beer prices start at 1 euro, we were a little spoilt and were very shocked by the prices for the first time.

 

July 26th 23: Andratx > Cala Blanca

After three days, we left the buoy to sail a bit further east. Due to the high season, we departed early in the morning to reach the next bay before noon. Safe anchorages without seagrass (Poseidonia) are scarce here. Just 4.6 NM later, we reached our anchorage in Cala Blanca, two bays away.

Speaking of Poseidonia: Seagrass is protected in many countries and regions in Southern Europe. In the Balearic Islands, anchoring in seagrass is prohibited and violating these rules can result in high fines. We experienced multiple inspections in this bay on the day of arrival. You can find more infos for example here: https://medposidonianetwork.com/

 

July 27th 23: A Difficult Decision

On this day, we had to make one of the toughest decisions ever. Last year, we flew to Spain with our two cats, Zira and Baghira. Both had found a perfect home in Andalusia and enjoyed their time there. We were fully aware that living on a sailboat would be a significant adjustment for them. Baghira especially struggled during the first two weeks - initially battling seasickness, then disappearing for three days in La Línea. After this intense adjustment period, she began to enjoy life onboard. Zira, on the other hand, physically tolerated life on the sailboat well but struggled psychologically. Although she had transformed from a scaredy-cat into a brave cuddler since we adopted her as a kitten five years ago, we hoped she would adapt to life onboard over time. Unfortunately, after 1.5 months on board, of which 1 month was spent sailing, we had to realise that she simply doesn’t like the adventure life. Perhaps it would have been different if we sailed less and spent more time in one place - but who knows. As our children" their happiness is our top priority as parents. So, while it broke our hearts, we knew Zira wouldn't be happy on the sailboat in the long run. Immense thanks go to our parents who immediately offered to take her in and care for her in Austria. On the same day, we arranged everything with my mom, who spontaneously made everything happen to pick up Zira - we will be forever grateful to her.

 

July 28th 23: Cala Blanca > Es Fornas

Let’s sail to the party zone on our anniversary - off to El Arenal. The plan for our seventh anniversary was to sail briefly and anchor in a nearby bay. There are many small bays with turquoise water on the south coast of Mallorca. However, in reality during the high season, there is simply no space - even without the numerous day-trip boats, all bays would still be endlessly crowded. So, we did something we never planned and sailed to El Arenal - the party zone for German-speaking tourists. After covering 23.4 NM, we dropped our anchor south of the marina, away from the bars. We never imagined the water there to be so turquoise - a dream! Moreover, we didn't hear any noise which was very nice. Although we are not party people, we wanted to have the fun of celebrating our anniversary on land. However, we quickly abandoned the idea since we didn't want to pay to dock our dinghy in the harbor or carry it to the beach among drunk tourists. Well, at least we had cinnamon-bun-cake at sunset.

 

July 29th 23: Es Fornas > Es Carbo

The next day, we headed to San Jordi, an area recommended by the guys from floatingtofreedom. Although we saw some beautiful bays on the way, our goal was to get to the east coast as quickly as possible. This was because we had a spot in the marina a few days later due to the spontaneous visit of my mom. After a fantastic sailing day, we anchored in Es Carbo - a beautiful bay whose nature we would have loved to explore on land.

 

July 30th 23: Es Carbo > Porto Colom.

Our next destination was Porto Colom. From there, my mom was heading back to Austria with Zira three days later. It was time to say goodbye. My mom had only been on the sailboat in the port of Chipiona and had no sailing experience. So, we decided to spend the first two nights on a sheltered buoy and then one night in the marina to avoid subjecting Zira to a dinghy ride on the departure day.

We really liked Porto Colom. We experienced the harbor town as relatively international and we enjoyed hearing a variety of languages. Both architecturally and scenically, the area is definitely worth a visit. The spontaneous stay of my mom did us good and we tried to make the most of the short time. It was so exciting to finally involve her in our "new" life.

 

August 2nd 23: The Hardest Goodbye

It's still dark as I give Zira a calming medicine (naturally with milk enzyme) and shortly after place her into her box. With the rental car, the four of us headed to Palma Airport – Lukas and I with my mom and Zira. The sweetie was super excited but very brave. As we said our goodbyes, we still couldn't quite realize that Zira would from then on live with my mom and we will be left with only one cat on board.

On the same day, we sailed 12.1 NM further and anchored in Porto Christo – not necessarily the most beautiful town but with great restaurants.

 

August 4th 23: Our friend is coming

We still had the rental car, which we used to take my mum and Zira to the airport. Lukas took advantage of it to visit one of our favorite shops: Leroy Merlin (no ad, unfortunately). Carrying a new solar panel, he picked up our friend who planned to spend the next few days with us. Right on their arrival, it started raining – so they ended up completely wet during the dinghy ride, especially when the motor suddenly failed. For the first part, they got a ride from other sailors; then I jumped into the sea with a rope in hand to tow them. The next few days, we enjoyed the Spanish life as a trio and prepared for the next crossings, as we aimed to reach Italy as quickly as possible.

 

August 6th 23: Engine Problem Number 1183417

Two days later, we planned to leave the island and sail to Menorca. However, the oil pressure gauge thwarted our plans. After so many past engine problems, this was once again a complete mood spoiler. Unfortunately, we couldn't fix the problem ourselves, so we waited – again – for a mechanic.

 

August 8th 23: Charter Boat Crash

The anchor bay has emptied over the last few days – there was only one other sailboat and then a catamaran next to us. After this charter boat anchored with a lot of distance to us, everyone except one person left the boat. Our friend and I eventually observed that the catamaran was getting closer to us – they didn't retract the anchor and now they were sliding towards us. Initially, we just watched the situation, assuming that the person on board would react soon – but no response. Equipped with fenders, the three of us protected our boat and shouted at the other person to finally react. As it turned out, the skipper was not on board and the person had no idea how to steer the boat. Ultimately, Lukas, who had never been on a catamaran before, explained to him how to use each engine at what time to move the boat. Despite all our efforts, we still suffered damages on the starboard side. We haven't received an insurance number and, therefore, no compensation – an absolute outrage.

On the same day, we finally had a mechanic on board regarding the oil pressure issue and shortly after that, we could finally leave Mallorca.