Barcelona

The repairs were a success! The riggers came this morning. With the aid of a very thick spectra line from the top of the mast, the backstays completely loose, one guy up the mast to keep a watch on the knot, one guy at the bottom of the forestay watching the fitting and a big guy on the winch with the spectra line, we managed to get the forestay back in place. Tomorrow they are going to put a metal plate over it so it cannot come loose again and they are also going to put washers in the gooseneck of the boom to stop the play there, so we should be better than good again! 

It is good to know that we will be ready to sail soon. We should be able to move from the shipyard back to Port Vell Marina tomorrow around midday. That will be good as we are a little out of the way here, amongst warehouses.

Arti

Barcelona

Hi there, we are safely in at the shipyard in Barcelona. Hopefully we will get the forward stay sorted tomorrow. It is marginally cooler (or shall I say less hot) than Mallorca. There was a really big swell yesterday, don't know where it came from so lot of rocking and rolling until about 11pm last night. Today the sea is back to it's normal 'flat' 0.5m swell.

Arti

Soller - Mellorca

We had to motor all the way to Soller as we discovered that the bolt holding our forestay in place had slipped out of one half of the bracket and we have not been able to relocate it. We have loosened the backstays and tried to pull the mast forward to no avail so now Dimitri is looking for a rigger. I guess we will have to take the gennoa down and the furler and foiler so a big job....

We are in a good-sized bay amongst many anchored yachets. The town looks delightful - small, with not much high-rise with amazingly steep mountains as a backdrop and a very scary, windy road to get to Palma. We will stay here for 5 days and do maintenance unless we need to go to Barcelona early to get the forestay sorted.

Lots of love

Arti & Dimitri

Mallorca

Early morning in Baia de Alcunia, Mallorca

Palma de Mallorca

Hi guys, hope you are all well. The night before last, we spent anchored off the beach at Palma Nova, on the western side of the Bay of Palma and the boys had a wonderful time swimming off the end of the boat and driving the inflatable around. The bay is full of boats during the day, and there are lots of people buzzing around with jetskis and dinghys but come the evening, they all lift anchor and go off into the marinas, leaving only a handful of boats at anchor. That is pretty nice. Last night we returned to Palma and we are anchored just under the beautiful 15th Century cathedral and palace adjacent. It is quite magical. We are totally alone here and it is wonderfully peaceful, although just inside the breakwater there are over 2,000 boats berthed in the marina!. We are planning to put the boat in a marina today and will do some overland travelling as the island is very beautiful. 

Regards
Arti and Dimitri

Palma De Mallorca

It has been stinking hot in the marina at Palma De Mallorca and people have been a bit sick on board so it has not been fun over the last few days. Today we left for a short trip along the coast. We sailed to a little island called Isola S'Enteneder. We all had a swim off the back of the boat, lunch and an afternoon siesta. This afternoon we sailed to Playa Palma Nova where we had another swim and the boys each had a turn at steering the inflatable. All well and it is much cooler on the mooring. 

Arti & Dimitri

Mallorca

Hello there.

We had a good day today. This morning we did some scrubbing and cleaning and this afternoon we walked around the old town of Mallorca. It is small but pretty, with a very large cathedral, several forts and old windmills. The town is buzzing but being Mallorca, everything is expensive. The marina rates are three times those of Barcelona!! I guess that is because everybody and his dog want to be in the Balearics...

Hugs and kisses.
Arti and Dimitri

Mallorca

We had a good sail across from Barcelona, in flat sea and perfect wind for most of the ride. 2nm from the harbour entrance at Palma, we saw a small marlin jumping.  It jumped out of the water about six times before it disappeared. It was very exciting.

We have a spot in the Real Club Nautica marina.  To our right is a medieval gothic cathedral,  ahead a fort, to our left some restored medieval windmills and behind a castle on the hill!  We have internet on the boat and the yacht club facilities, including restaurant, coffee shops and a swimming pool, as well as showers and laundry 20m away.  Across the road is a park - seems like we have it all.

Mallorca looks very pretty, with mountains, it is green, lots of sheer cliffs and bays in between. It is 65miles long and 45miles wide.

Arti & Dimitri

At Sea - On route to Mallorca

Great to be sailing again. We left Barcelona reluctantly at 1pm having got fond of the place. A gentle breeze of 8 knots is blowing us along at 5 to 6 knots, small seas, hot and sunny. The sea is 23 Degrees C! Great sail, should arrive about 2 pm tomorrow.

Arti & Dimitri

On Land - Cruise and Visas - Gibraltar (again).

We left the boat in a marina in Barcelona and took a short cruise with family that went very well. It was 5 star service and entertainment and we had a ball. We all enjoyed our stops, the islands of Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos and also on the mainland Katokolon. 

We are in Gibraltar today sorting out our visas as we otherwise would have exceeded our stay in the EU. We flew to Malaga this morning and rented a car for the 120 km drive to Gibraltar. We will go back again this afternoon.

We rejoin our boat in Barcelona and leave for Mallorca on Monday or Tuesday.

Arti & Dimitri