Hi everyone,
Yesterday we had a very nice 50nm passage from Porto Cristo in Mallorca to Cala Taulera in Menorca. We had to motor the first 5 and last 1 hour but between we had a very nice 6 hour sail. The wind was on the beam which allowed us to do 4 knots in the 7 knot breeze on calm seas.
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| Motoring over a glassed-out sea |
Here are the plots...
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| Track |
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| Track Detail |
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| Graphs |
And here are the vital stats for the passage…
• Distances/Speeds
• Route Distance = 52nm
• Logged Distance = 42nm (log still under-reading)
• GPS Distance = 53nm
• Duration = 12 hours
• Average speed over ground = 4.4 kt
• Minimum boat speed = 3.5 kt
• Maximum boat speed = 5.5 kt
• Weather
• Minimum wind speed = 0 kt
• Average wind speed = 6 kt
• Maximum wind speed = gusts to 15 kt
• Apparent wind angle range = 90 to 150
• Seas up to 0.5m
• 0.25m swell
• Clear skies!
• Engine
• Total = 6 hours
The passage started at 0645 in a very light NW breeze of 3-4 knots, possibly a land breeze. That died within an hour leaving a flat calm. We motored until 1100 when the predicted SSW breeze of 7-9 knots came in. We then had a lovely sail across Canal de Menorca to the SE corner of Menorca. When we gybed north the light wind was right behind us, giving us very little apparent wind. We motored in from there.
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| Sunrise departure from Porto Cristo |
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| Menorca Ho! |
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| Isla del Aire on SE tip of Menorca |
Cala Taulera is the safest anchorage we've come across in the Balearics. It's protected from all directions, flat as a millpond, in 4-6m over mud. Apparently the local officials hassle boats which stay here for 'too long', trying to get them into the marinas in Mahon.
The anchorage isn't charted accurately, at least not in Navionics. There are shallow patches (< 2m) on the east side. However they're mud. We bumped one, and another yacht did the same an hour later. Perhaps we'll wear them down over time!
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| Entering the channel to Cala Taulera |
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| Entering Cala Taulera |
On entering the anchorage we spotted a very flash boat sporting a Kiwi flag. We said hello to the Calistas on our way past, then got in contact via email with the assistance of the OCC app. Like us they're heading east and we hope to meet them in Sardinia.
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| Kiwi boat Calista |
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| Taulera anchorage |
We'll be going into a marina in Mahon tonight. Some of you may have noticed we haven't been ashore in the Balearics yet. That's because we're in a hurry since our Schengen 90 days are running down. Also because many of the marina are extremely expensive.
The one night at the marina tonight will cost us over E100. That's the most expensive night in a marina we've ever had. But it'll allow us to rewater, refuel, reprovision and wash laundry prior to our passage onward to Sardinia. Might even take our first showers since Cartagena! We'll be employing our NHS PCR test kits this morning to meet Balearic entry requirements.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed a distinct lack of anode on our prop shaft in the recent underwater picture of Zen Again. The anode on the auto-prop has been working hard and was on the verge of departing too. At several anchorages we've tightened the nylon bolts which secure the auto-prop anode. In Cala Xarraca it actually fell off while doing so and I had to dive the 5.5m to retrieve it!
This morning we replaced the auto-prop anode with a new one. Took us a little while to find the spares, but we knew we had some! Feels much better knowing the prop's properly protected. We'll add a shaft anode as soon as we can find one.
Tomorrow we plan to set sail for Carloforte in Sardinia. We've booked into a marina there for a couple of nights, at only ~E30/night. The marina there provides a Covid test-on-arrival service for E40/person.
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