Written by Mia:

We had many logistics talks about what to do when we would be away in the UK in the summer. Leaving Itchy Foot on her own is expensive and makes us nervous, especially in the summer in the Med. Jon did research, I did research, and even Jon’s dad did research. A few of the options were a marina in Valencia (good price, but far to go), subletting a spot in Palma (didn’t pan out), a mooring buoy in Andratx (not on the sheltered side and still expensive), we even thought about lending it to some sea worthy friends, but if turned out to be too much to plan with bad internet. In the end we decided to kill two birds with one stone and to have some work done at the same time which meant hauling her out in Puerto de Addaia. We met a handful of people with boats in the marina who have recommended the yard so while we were here last time Jon talked to Sebastian, their chief boat dude about the work.

We wrote about our TO DO list in a previous post: you might remember it was separated into tasks to complete before getting out of the water and stuff that needs to be done on land. The subcategories were also prioritised as we are learning that everything takes longer than we think it will. So, the priorities become important because some things NEED to be done and some stuff would just be nice to have done. Creating the list was stressful in itself because there are all kinds of questions, some examples: what do we do with the dinghy? where do we store the outboard? should we leave the water tanks empty or full? should be treat them with bleach? if we do, should we do that before we leave it empty or should we rather do it when we get back?

It was a solid two weeks of chores before we got to haul out day, with an additional two full days on land. We did some Spring cleaning and inventory work as well which would give us piece of mind while we are away. This is Spain after all and there is no room on the boat for both our family and cockroaches. We decided to get on the land a day early to give ourselves a little extra time to complete part of the second list.

When the time came, we were nervous! It was close quarters coming in, with just a narrow lane and no room to turn around. We could reverse but we have a strong prop-walk which really pulls starboard, which means we turn a lot to the left (the bow goes left, the stern goes right) before gaining steering. This means that it is really hard to manoeuvre if you need to turn the boat ‘the wrong way’. As we were pulling up to the dock where they would attach the crane, no one was there to meet us! Hearts in our throats, we waited and the guy came running, they work very hard here, and he must have been called away! We had had radio contact with him throughout the morning. They attached the belly bands and started to pick Itchy Foot our of the water. It was nerve wracking! And to make matters worse, the guys had to make about seven attempts to get up the incline. The guy working the crane is a bit of jokester and was just so cool about it all and the other guy was dropping treaded metal plates in front of the wheels of the crane to give it more traction. I was worried about Itchy Foot and his feet, too! They managed to get up the incline just to have a little of traffic crises with cars wanting to leave the parking lot, a delivery van and the crane hauling Itchy Foot in the middle of it all. We breathed big sigh of relief when she was all snuggled into her space on the hard.

It was a few hours before we could go back onboard and we sat in the marina cafe catching our breath and calming our nerves. They pressure cleaned the bottom, bye bye barnacles! Maybe this will make us a little quicker in the water… And found us a very long ladder so we could climb onboard. Because it is very high up, this is one of the things I list in the ‘outside my comfort zone’ column. We are happy that Teo has been using a climbing harness for security onboard because now we used it to get on and off the boat. It is a very strange feeling to stand on the deck and NOT have anything moving. It feels a bit like stepping onto an escalator which isn’t moving. Standing on our completely stationary deck gave the same lurching feeling. Once we got down below, we were happy that doors and lockers worked as they should. Sometimes, the hugs from the cranes are a little too tight!

Living on board while on land is hard. It’s hot, as there is no sea to keep you cool. There is no plumbing, so no sinks, water, toilets, nothing down the drains etc. Finally, our fridge is cooled by the sea water, so you can’t run it when on the land.

We had to carry water up and down a ladder, or haul it up on a line. We also bought ice to keep the fridge cool at least for a little while at a time and you also have to carefully plan bathroom trips because we didn’t want anyone rushing down a ladder that tall.  We also checked and double checked that we had all the things with us we would need for whatever we were doing to minimise those trips. All of this was eating into our finite pot of time.

And it is a lot warmer in a boat on land than when it is surrounded by water to cool it. And there are a LOT more mosquitos, so the first night we went to bed early to watch a movie under our mosquito net. We slept well and were ready for two intense days of working our way through the TO DO list. Teo helped a lot any time the hose could be used. We cleaned our fenders and cleaned and packed away Nemo (the dinghy) and the bimini. We checked the status of the seacocks, we cleaned out lockers to give access to the guys doing work while we are away, we wiped every surface in the boat with vinegar and water, twice probably. And we had extra stuff to do so the guys doing the work would have access. We had to empty lockers on deck so they would have access and room to work. But we also removed and stored all the clothes out of the lockers in the bedroom and dismantled the bed because we sleep above lots of important connections. Mucho trabajo.

The road to getting on the road was bumpy, for example:

To spice up the time line and to give you an idea of the stress. On the final day we got up early to make sure that the bedding was washed and dried so that we could store them. We got up early to make sure we got them done to find the door locked until 9am – that will be tight. I left a note and our laundry and was back at 8:45 to make sure I was first and there was a man who already jumped the queue. He had his laundry in the machine and had added detergent and I begged and pleaded and guilted him into letting us go first. Laundry wars are not something I thought would be high on my list of reasons to want to kill someone, but there you go.

We returned to Addaia on the 9th of August and on the 25th we were back in the water. In the mean time we have been borrowing a flat from some very generous new friends. We have been so lucky especially given that we looked for a place to live but everything is fully booked this time of the year. We have been so happy to stay in an adorable place with a separate bedroom for Teo and a pool. It has been a godsend to not have to climb that ladder every day and to allow Jon to leave things mid maintenance work and not have to put everything back together. So we raise a huge glass to Stuart and Anne, we don’t know what we would have done without them! As it turns out they will be crossing the atlantic on the same (later start) Rally that we a doing – so I’m sure we’ll see more of them.

Getting Itchy Foot back into the water went smoothly and we all felt immediately more at ease. It was still nerve wracking to see her up in that crane and the noises it makes…. crrrrrreeeeak crrrrrreeeeeeeeaaaaak  just don’t seem right, but we were well looked after. Martin, the man driving the crane in the marina, is cool as a cucumber. The lovely ladies in the office are great, including Mari who organised us a space in the marina and looked after Teo while we got tied up. Now, we’re back in the water and we can continue the work but live onboard more easily.

The final steps of our work is going to happen in the next few days and we’ll be very glad when it is all said and done. Mostly we just want to slip our lines and get back on the water – next stop mainland Spain and west as quick as the winds will carry us.

Written by Mia:

We don’t want to name names or anything but some of you have been wondering where we went. Sorry we haven’t been keeping you up to date with our adventures…July and August went by in a blur!

Back in Menorca

Early in July we started making our way back to Puerto de Addaia to have some work done on Itchy Foot. It is a LOT of work and emotional stress to prepare for a haul out (think of it as handing a young baby over to a babysitter for the first time). The haul out and the work done is a topic for a completely separate blog post coming your way in the next few days (optimistically – or next few weeks more likely).

This little family worked hard getting everything ready to leave for the UK, well more accurately it was Itchy Foot we were preparing for our absence. We had a VERY long to do list to complete – it was separated into two parts: to do before the haul out (when we had water onboard and around the hull) and to do after we are out of the water (stuff to ensure that everything is safe and stored correctly and that we don’t come back to bugs or weather damage) Additionally, each of those lists were again prioritised so that the important stuff is done to give us the best possible chance of returning to a happy Itchy Foot.

Our best attempts to gauge how long a job will take are always underestimated and so in the end we managed 3/4 of the list with early mornings and late nights and running from the shower to the boat to the car to rush to the airport. I will take this opportunity to again brag about Teo and his patience and willingness to help us. He is one incredible Little Man and we thank our lucky stars for our very reasonable and self reliant 5 year old. His affinity for hose pipes and water did help!  Our treat of the day was being invited by Stuart and Anne to use their pool, it just might have saved us!

But, after a lot of hard work and stress we made it. The boat got onto the land, she got a good clean and finally the the manager at the yard gave us a lift into Mahon and then a short bus to the airport. Off to Newcastle and the UK!

The UK

It is always a pleasure to visit Jon’s parents in Newcastle and this time is was even more so! They met us at the airport and didn’t say but were probably shocked at the bedraggled state of us. It was extra luxurious to arrive this time, a cup of tea and a glass of chilled wine, a short catch up and we soon fell into the perfectly prepared beds that feel like home. It is amazing what a little (lot of) spoiling can do for the soul. Teo got to play with his cousins for the weekend and he was on cloud 9. Jon spent a lot of extra time renewing Teo’s passport and following up deliveries of things ordered but yet to arrive. But he also got to spend an long overdue evening at the pub with an old school friend, drinking and putting the world to rights. After we all spent a lovely long weekend in Newcastle we were happy to get on the plane to Exeter to spend some time on the Isles of Scilly.

We celebrated Jon’s birthday with Jon’s parents in St. Mary’s and it was lovely to all be together and on the day we bought him some cupcakes, decorated the room and went on a supper boat across to St. Agnes for a lovely meal. While we were there, Jon and I also had a date and drank Champagne with fish and chips, a winning combination! It was a perfect few days. And to sweeten it further Jon’s brother Adrianwith wife Julia and daughter Alexia joined us for our last night on St. Mary’s before we all headed over to another island, Tresco. Teo was over the moon!

Tresco never disappoints and it was just as lovely as we remembered! We were all together, Jon’s two brothers, their families and of course Teo’s Grandma and Granddad. The four cousins got lots of time together and I think that was the top of Teo’s list. We had bikes and there were treasure hunts for the rainy days and beach combing when it was sunny. 

We even went out at low tide and picked up seaweed to spot crabs and also saw some bright red star fish. We stayed in a gorgeous cottage called “Crab” adjoining Alexia and parents in “Clam”. We had dinners in the main house, called “Samphire”, went across to Bryher to ‘The Crab Shack’ and at our local ‘The Ruin Beach Cafe’. One night Teo had a sleepover with Alexia and Jon and I went to The New Inn for a date. Two dates in a week, swoooooon! It always goes by so quick and soon it was time to say good bye to everyone, that is so hard! We had an exciting trip back to the main land as our flight was cancelled due to fog. We took a jet boat to Penzance, passing by Lands end on the way, and later got a 3 hour taxi to Exeter. Thankfully we had the great company of Jon’s brother and family, Adrian, Julia and Alexia to speed along the trip.

After picking up a hire car in Exeter, we drove down to Bournemouth and spent a couple of days with Jon’s friends from university days. Ollie and Dawn, the host and hostess with the most and mostest had another BBQ. The food was amazing, the garden a treasure of kids games and it was really nice to catch up with everyone. It’s safe to say the adults and the kids had a wonderful time and again it was over way too soon! Wish we had the chance to see each other more often.

Leaving early on Monday morning we had to drive from the south coast to the east coast, as we were flying out of Southend airport, many will be surprised to hear there is an airport there. A bumpy start to the day as the wing mirror of the car had been smashed off during the night but Avis were quick about switching out cars and we got on the road – thankfully made good time to the airport. As it turned out the flight was delayed and we didn’t get back to Itchy Foot until after midnight.

Back in Menorca, again

Back in Menorca, and we lived on board Itchy Foot, on the land in the boat yard for three days and it was sweltering! Then Stuart and Anne, our new friends and fellow sailors in Addaia, came to our rescue and made a very generous offer to let us live in their apartment while they were away. It has been a godsend to have a place to escape the heat. Jon has been working on the wiring, electrics, navigation equipment, anti-fouling etc. and did not have to put everything away each night. So the boat is a bit of a workyard/workshop/bomb site. The apartment comes with wonderful things like a fridge and plumbing! Not to mention the swimming pool and reliable internet. So, we are spoiled rotten.

In the last few weeks our days have been spent either doing boat maintenance or looking after Teo. Unfortunately we’ve all been various degrees of ill. Teo had a bad bout of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease which is very common with kids but along with a nasty fever also left him with a mouth full of ulcers. Jon also felt the it was the right time to get a nasty throat infection – thankfully the NHS Direct information site recommended getting out in the baking heat of the Spanish summer and painting the bottom of a boat while wearing a full-length protective suit, mask, gloves and goggles as the best cure. It took a couple of days but seems to the have fixed it – oh and the added benefit of the boat having a nice clean bottom. Teo is particularly pleased as he always said that the weeds accumulated in Palma marina made Itchy Foot need a nappy – no more nappies needed!

There we are, still in Addaia but very well taken care of and hoping to get Itchy Foot back in the water at the end of the week.

As to when we move on?  Fingers crossed for very early September.

Written by Mia:

Making our way around the North Coast of Menorca we debated whether or not to go to Addaia, mostly because it was rather close to the last place we stayed, Puerto Fornells and partly because the pilotage (think Lonely Planet for boating) warned us of a tricky approach in the form of a gate (sort of a Z on its side) due to a series of natural rocks and narrow channels. When we got there we found it was marked with more buoys, making it easier to navigate than the pilotage had warned us. We were rewarded by the sight of a Spanish community with lots of family Sunday lunches, small docks and a playground and all of this before we reached the charming marina which was nestled around a little bird reserve island. What a treat!

Following us in close behind was another Halberg Rassy flying Swiss flag, Moira, that we had seen but not had the chance to speak to when we were in Soller in May. We both anchored outside the marina and a little later when we all went ashore we introduced ourselves to Tom and Claudia, the other HR owners. As it happens, Jon and Tom had been in contact on the Hallberg Rassy Yahoo forums and had already swapped tips and tricks. In fact, our upcoming Solar power solution is surprisingly similar to Moira’s.

The netting on our boat tells everyone that we have a small crew member on board (either a dog or a kid) and lovely French family popped by to see if it was a kid, who were anchored MUCH further in – this is the advantage of having an Ovni with a lifting keel. We met up on several occasions, Teo played well with the two boys who were 6 and 7. Ahhhh the language of Lego! The boys barely realised they did not share a common language. The family had just moved back to Europe from New Caledonia and we loved hearing their stories. They said that it was totally normal for someone to borrow laundry, so they walk by your garden wearing a not so fresh shirt and they might ”swap” with you, taking a nice clean shirt from your washing line and leaving theirs behind. Usually, a few days later the borrowed item would reappear accompanied by a bag of mangos or some fish or something as a “thank you”. We took a couple of long hikes together and cooked dinner for each other while the kids played.

The second day we were in Addaia there was some anchoring trouble as people were slipping and repositioning. We would soon meet someone who would teach us all about anchoring in mud. Everyone was up on deck and watching the situation unfold Pelorus Jack flying a Canadian flag arrives. They scoped the place out and our first contact with Brian was when he joked if the anchorage was only for Halberg Rassy’s. We quickly became friends with Brian and Kathleen and very much enjoyed their company and appreciated the advice they gave us. We had dinner together a few times and lots of cups of tea. Kathleen took Teo on a date to bake chocolate chip cookies! Thanks to them we booked our stay in Cabrera, and it is one of the highlights so far. These are dreamy neighbours! We miss them dearly and look forward to the next time our paths cross!

Jon’s Comments about anchoring:
Watching Brian and Kathleen anchor was a real pleasure, they took their time, asked us where our and anchor was and how much chain we had down. They also explained that they would have a short-scope and keep out of our way. Brian spent 15 minutes setting up his anchor setup while Kathleen slowly lapped around the bay – finally they anchored spent a few minutes ensuring it was properly set. In the following few days of strong winds they were fairly much the only boat not to slip – experience shows and pays. After watching other slipping and being unsure how well our anchor was going to hold we decided to copy Brian’s setup. It’s an anchoring technique that I’ve read about for hurricane winds, but it works well in soft mud with a strong gusts too! Putting it simply, you attach too anchors together, one ahead of the other with a few meters of chain between them. Our stern anchor is very good in mud so that went down first, with our new Rocna anchor (also good in mud) a couple of meters behind it. This allowed us to have much less chain down (so we don’t swing as big a circle) but still have very good holding.

There seems to be quite a nice English community in the marina as well and we met some of the locals including Bright Eyes, who also have plans to cross with Oddessey this winter, and another Halberg Rassy. They also recommended Sebastian, the local boat yard guy, in the Marina there and we will be returning soon to leave Itchy Foot in his care when we go to Tresco in a couple of weeks. We are watching the weather window.

Written by Jon:

How much does it cost to go sailing? As much as you have plus about 25% – or so the joke goes.

When I was looking into a sailing budget and trying to figure out how much we would expect to spend every year I spent a lot of time reading other sailors breakdown of their expenses. It quickly became clear that the big difference between low budget sailing and high budget sailing came down to how often you eat in restaurants and how much time you spend in marinas.

The cheapest marina we can find in the Balearics at the moment is 50 euros a night, most are over 80-100 euros a night. So, if we aren’t staying in marinas where are we? On anchor!

The last time we were in a marina was Cuidadela on the 5th of June, since then we’ve been on anchor the majority of time. There have only been a few exceptions, for example, Cabrera (where you aren’t allowed to anchor). Other than that, we’ve been parking for free every night!

Thankfully, Itchy Foot is fairly well equipped for living life on the hook.

We have about 500 litres of water in our tanks which is used for washing dishes (often) and ourselves (seldom). Drinking water we still carry in 5 litre bottles from the supermarket to the boat in our dinghy. These 500 litres will last between 7 and 14 days depending how often we want to shower in fresh water, rather than simply take a dip in the sea to stay fresh.

We have a diesel generator onboard which so long as we run it for about 2 hours a day keeps us with a tank of hot water and enough power in our batteries to keep the refrigerator running, lights on in the evening and an anchor light shining at night. It’s not the best solution as we feel a little antisocial running a, albeit quiet, generator in these calm and peaceful anchorages.

So, every week or two we need to pop into a marina for 30 minutes to fill up our water tanks and pay someone about 5 euros for 500 litres of water. Oddly enough, it has just crossed my mind that we bemoan having to pay more than 5 euros for 500 litres but don’t think twice about paying 1 euro for 5 litres of bottled water at the supermarket. Curious.

Now, life on anchor is not all a bed of roses!

There are many challenges and frustrations – the main one being everyone else! Every boat entering the bay or cala is eye’d with suspicion and we debate with bated breath exactly where we think they are going to ‘park’. Will they drop their anchor too close to ours? How much chain are they putting out, will their anchor drag in the night, are they going to be playing music or watching football?

More worrying than the other yachts is often the small rental boats which litter the bays on weekend. Let me tell you a little story:

We were safely anchored in a windy but protected Cala on the south of Menorca a few weeks ago, it had been a very windy night and the yacht upwind of use had dragged in the night so I was up early knocking on his hull pointing out that I could have stepped onboard. He moved, it was fine. Later that day Mia was rightly concerned about a tiny little rental boat that was anchored very close to us. I confidently said that we had nothing to worry about as they were way to small to worry us, even if they did hit us there wouldn’t be any damage. So the three of us jumped into the dinghy to head ashore and explore the beach, just as we were passing the front of our boat Mia noticed that this small boat, and another like it, were struggling with their anchors and drifting even closer to Itchy Foot. We put our dinghy between them and Itchy Foot and I jumped back onboard to push the smaller boats away. After only a few seconds they freed themselves from what I assumed (wrongly) was each others anchors and off they zoomed, laughing all the way.

NB – Not the actual boat, but very similar!

At this point I was distracted, trying to express my displeasure with them through body language. Thankfully Mia was, once again, paying attention and shouted (from the dinghy, with Teo) that Itchy Foot was dragging into another yacht behind. It turns out that the little rental boat had managed to trip up our anchor line and lifted our anchor off the bottom, resetting it, when clearing their own. And we were quickly falling back towards another yacht behind us. I rush around, starting the engine, driving us forward, running up to the bow to lift the anchor, running back to steer, etc. etc. trying to get us safely away from other boats and also back under control. Mia did a great job with Teo in the dinghy keep off a safe distance and remaining calm. Teo was very calm about the whole thing, just telling Mamma what Pappa was doing and reassuring her that she was doing a great job driving the dinghy. In the end, I got just enough control to get Mia and Teo back onboard safely and we re-anchored back where we started. It ended well enough. We never did make it to the shore that day.

What else? water conservation!

Showers? Oh yes, we try to conserve water where possible so showers are few and far between. Thankfully the sea is lovely and clean and a nice shampoo on the back of the boat with a quick rinse does wonders. But, it’s just not the same as a nice hot marina shower.

Laundry? There is a whole blog post on the subject of laundry. The short version is that all of the coin operated laundry-mats have closed and the only place you can find one is in a marina. In the end we anchored outside of the marina and snuck in with the dingy in the early hours of the morning to do stealth laundry runs.

Finally, and most importantly, you need to keep a close eye on the weather forecast to pick and choose your anchorage depending on where the wind and swell is coming from. There are nights we get that wrong, either due to incorrect forecasts or a shortage of anchorages which are protected from the direction we need. For example, tonight we’re in a lovely little cala on the east coast of Mallorca, Cala Barcas. Quiet. Beautiful. And like most of the anchorages on the east coast of Mallorca it is open to the east. Which would be OK if we didn’t have an easterly swell rolling in causing Itchy Foot to bob around. It’s perfectly safe but not conducive to sleep – which is why I’m writing a blog post at 3am.

Are there protected calm places for the night? Sure, about 20 minutes north of here is a nice little marina for 80 euros a night. I’ll put the coffee on.

Written by Mia:

The whole family agrees that Cabrera is magical! Since we moved aboard we have heard various enthusiastic intentions to go and fond memories of past trips to this archipelago. Our village of neighbours, especially our lovely Canadian friends in Cala Addaia, raved about it and when Jon looked into availability we had only two options open to us; we booked two consecutive nights on a mooring buoy about three weeks in advance and crossed our fingers that the weather would cooperate.

We left Porto Colom in the morning to make the most of the day and got there around lunchtime. We were welcomed by the stunning view of small islets and loved the little black and white stripey lighthouse on Isla Horadada. As we arrived we were wowed by the castle that looks like it is growing out of the rock before you enter a natural harbour with mooring buoys. There is a small port area where landfall is allowed and it is very charming with white washed buildings and overturned boats and a little cantina for refreshments and the best part is that it feels like a small Spanish village. The water is incredibly blue and full of fish and we are sad that the time is so short!

We went on a long guided walk around the ridge of the island and got a feel for the lay of the land. Being a nature reserve, access to the paths is limited and our guide Silvia was incredible! We were introduced to the flora and fauna of the island including rabbits and bats and lots of black lizards, some with green tails and some with blue bellies. There are lots of birds, including six Osprey which we were lucky enough to hear on the first day and spot on the second. The military control the island and it was made into a National Park in 1991 and they have been carefully protecting the islands so ensure the plants can reestablish themselves. The 3 hour walk/hike was stunning and everyone ooooohed and aaaahed at the breathtaking views. Teo was the youngest of the group but kept up really well and even befriended a couple of Spanish kids, they were running along the paths together! We really enjoyed our refreshments at the little cantina when we returned to the little port!

The next day we walked up to the castle on our own and saw hundreds of lizards. What an incredible place! Silvia had told us that Cabrera and this castle in particular was integral in fighting off the Moors, the islanders would spot approaching pirates and send smoke signals that would be seen in Mallorca and the warning would spread from there. We also visited the little museum where we learned of the fishing and farming done here and the treasures, including Grecian urns found on the bottom of the sea. In the afternoon we joined the walk again and this time we climbed to the highest point of the island, Teo had tired legs and still managed very, very well. He was the highest person on the island and was quite proud!

With the help of Silvia we managed to pick up a cancelled reservation and got to stay an extra night-HURRRA!! This is a very special treat as there is a maximum two nights during the busy months. We used the day snorkelling, Jon and Mia took turns in the morning and Teo used his mask from Uncle Mark off the beach in the afternoon. The fear of putting his face in the water disappeared instantly and he was doing some very proper swimming! All of his training and practice just seemed to fall into place. Oh how we have been hoping and waiting for this moment! At Teo’s enthusiastic request, the boys are getting ready to go back to the beach as I sit in this lovely place and type. After our successful trip to the beach yesterday, Nemo took us to the Blue Cave. We drove into this huge cave with incredibly blue water and Teo and Mia went for a little swim while Jon took pictures and kept us safe. It was an another sambaing day!

Sorry not to write more, but we are going to go do some more snorkelling before we have to leave!

Written by Mia:

We left Ciutadella wistfully and already looking forward to returning. We listened to the wind again and changed our plans to head north. We sailed part of the way and it was delightful and peaceful. Teo even had a nap.

Menorca seems in line with our new found pace and we are finding it good for the soul to be here. We had a real round of hard decision making as we really wanted to get to Italy to meet up with Jon’s family who will be there on holiday at the end of the month. Unfortunately we spent a lot longer waiting for our replacement chain and suitable weather and we are slower than we had hoped. We considered going for it as we all miss them dearly and fondly speak of our holiday with them in Soller. But going would have meant two 30 hour passages with many back to back 8-12 hour days between. We decided to stay here in Menorca instead enjoying our snails pace… Itchy Foot and her snail motif <3

We checked the pilot and decided to head to Cala Morrel, and we were blown away by the view as we turned a corner and passed dramatic cliffs and rocks that guarded a lovely little village  surrounding the turquoise blue bay, clear all the way to the sandy bottom.

We had a relaxing evening on board as we watched the sun play on the cliff walls and we even had a couple of phone calls, what a treat! Mia and Jon did some adjustments to optimise Mia’s closet space, the ongoing storage solutions strategies!

The next day we went exploring in the caves around Cala Morrel which date back 4000 years. All this impressive history and I never even knew it was here! Teo, Jon and Mia all enjoyed the outing and all got lots out of it.

We left after lunch and picked our way to Cala Aragayrens with two incredible beaches. By the way our anchoring has been pretty quick and painless since bringing Rocky onboard, man is he a valuable crew member! This place has gorgeous, unspoilt beaches that stay shallow for what seems like miles and an incredible lagoon which Mia was transfixed by- well OK to be specific it was the little sea turtles that caught her eye and made her believe it might be possible to learn to meditate after all. We played on the beach ’til the sun went down and then sat in the hammock on deck (thanks again for the lovely Christmas present, Carole and David, it is getting LOTS of use!!) and relaxed. We met some new friends and saw some we met in Soller, how funny that we have mostly similar plans!

From there we moved on to another place with a totally different, called Cala Pregondo and it was quite hilly with very red sand and course sand. Teo and Mia swam from the beach back to Itchy Foot and after dinner had to jump back into the sea to cool off. It was a small anchorage with many French boats and we had two nights of anchor angst.

We moved on and went to Puerto Fornells and treated ourselves to a two-night stay on a mooring buoy and the great nights’ sleep that go with it. We explored the little town and went to see the fort on the point, the shrine to Lourdes and touched the lighthouse. The next day we ventured to the nearby to check out the special lizards that live there.

The sea was rolley as we ventured further and anchored in Puerto Addaya. We were rewarded for the advanced approach and are all very impressed with how cute this place is! Mia went on a photo frenzy as we took the perfect, rough little path around the point. It was fun to anchor next to another HR in the tiny bay. There were many little places with loud family chatter of a Sunday lunch and we were tempted to crash the party. And we are impressed with the competition for best bourgenvilla plant, I think the jury will have a tough time! We plan to check out the bird watching possibilities we have read about.

Written by Mia and Jon:

You can’t sail into the wind. But you can sail nearly into the wind and depending on many factors: boat, sails, waves, skills etc. dictates how close you can sail. Sailing as close to the wind as possible is a point of sail called ‘close hauled’.

Looking at the weather forecasts (I often check four different sources) there was some disagreement about where exactly the wind would be coming from on Sunday the 5th of June, PredictWind said from the North East but the local forecasts said from the East. I decided to trust PredictWind as they had been fairly accurate in the past so we got an early night on Saturday and woke up with dawn on Sunday ready to go.

Weighing anchor in the bay of Pollenca we picked our way out of the shallows under engine and motored up to Cap Formentor in the early morning calm. Shortly after clearing the towering headlands we got out into the wind, sails out, engine off, Teo got up from bed.

The forecast has hinted that the wind would go more easterly during the day so the plan was just to sail as close to the wind as possible and make as much ground north of east as possible. The sea was calm, the wind was a steady 10 knots and Itchy Foot happily pranced along at 6 knots heading due east.  Great! Due east would take us towards Ciudadella and give us plenty of room to head south and still make landfall in Menorca’s south coast when the wind pushed us that way.

Mia announced that she wanted a cup of tea and biscuits on the foredeck, so off she popped with the cruising guide to the Balearics to read up on our Minorca options. Teo followed up, harnessed on to the safety line we run from the front to the back of the boat, allowing him to move around without worry of falling in. I followed up with a cup of tea and much adored Oreos and the three of us as a lovely sit as the auto helm sailed us towards our destination. We giggled and stared at the sky and I think as least the adults were thinking things like, ”That’s more like it!” and “Finally, what we were waiting for!”

It’s about 8 hours sail across to Menorca, and as the day progress the winds increased and the sea with it. We furled away a little sail and bounced around a little more; Mia got splashed and retreated to the  cockpit with the baptised Pilot book. The wind conditions sent us directly into Ciutadela, so we took the hint and headed in.

We were warned that the marina is small and is often fully booked but we called them and they said there was plenty of space. The approach is funny… it was very, very narrow and reminded us of Florida with brightly coloured houses and perfectly manicured palm trees in the gardens. It kept getting more and more narrow and then we came around a bend an saw it, a beautiful little harbour, with fishing boats and forts.

We got tied up to our finger pontoon and enjoyed our showers and went to explore a very cute, picturesque town. The old town was lovely and there was a play area that Teo loved until he wiped out and got his first proper skinned knees and hands, embedded gravel and everything. After getting him cleaned up, we went to a place called Roma for dinner. This is quite a treat as we don’t go out for many meals in restaurants. And hurrah, it was one of the top 10 (Jon’s top 5) pizzas we have ever had, that is saying something!

The next day we went to Naveta des Tudons, which holds claim to being the oldest building in Europe at some 3000 years old. Here is the strange part, we had to ask twice at the tourist office so they would point us in the right direction and when we got there we had it to ourselves. Mia remembers a very different story in Pompei for example. In fact, we had to take a taxi  to get there because the bus that connects the two main cities of Minorca goes right past the place but there is no stop.

At fifty euros a night to be moored there we didn’t feel we could stay the second night and had to leave in the afternoon. But we’re already looking forward to next time!

Written by Jon:

Leaving Soller wasn’t easy, with great friends around us, it was hard to say goodbye. But once we’d got our new anchor chain sorted out it was time to move on, northwards. We set off early and headed up the coast under sail. First stop was the majestic entrance to Torrent de Colarbra. Mia and I remember sitting on the stoney beach here when I lived in Mallorca, gazing out at the yachts bobbing between the cliffs and talking about how one day it would be us out there. So one day came and, leaving Mia on-board, Teo and I rowed ashore to explore the beach and walk around the cliffs.

Teo loved exploring this pre-historic valley, like something by Jules Vern, with high sided cliffs, murky lagoons and oversized grasses. There is a tunnel cut through the cliffs between the two coves and we ran through it excitedly making scary monster noises. While we were shore the wind picked-up and Mia had to furl away the mainsail which we’d left up on anchor to save us a little time – thank you dad for the walkie-talkies which once again proved very useful for shouting ‘helpful’ advice from the shore.

Back onboard and the wind had dropped so the motor went on and we headed up the coast. After a couple of hours we grew a little bored of the motor and decided to change plans for the night and head into Cala St. Vincenc. It’s a bit of a tourist resort but the sea was the most amazing colour and at least initially it was well-sheltered from the wind and swell. Unfortunately, during the night the swell shifted around (not on the forecast) and we ended up rocking and rolling the night away with gusty wind from the west and a large swell rolling in from the north. It wasn’t dangerous as we didn’t have much wind and the sandy bottom of the cala has good holding for the anchor, but not much sleep was had by Jon.

The next morning we left early-ish and sailed peacefully, albeit slowly, around the northern most tip of the island – Cap Formentor. The whole north-west coast of Mallorca is stunning, huge vertical cliffs rising straight out of the dark blue sea and Cap Formentor was a fittingly impressive way to say goodbye to this particular bit of coast.

The next night we headed to Cala Murta, (a recommendation from the guy who picked-up our out-of-date flares) a beautiful and largely unspoilt little cala with a stoney beach, high cliffs and only one house and handful of mountain goats ashore. We left abruptly, leaving behind a pair of Mia’s favourite shoes.

A recurring theme, and potential topic for another blog post, is our anchoring angst. Suffice to say that after several more sleepless nights and an unscheduled night sail to a different anchorage, we decided to pop into the port in Pollenca and rent a car for the day to drive into Palma and buy a new anchor to go with our new chain.

So a few days passed around Pollenca, with lots of anchoring practice, a few nice walks, playing on the beach, a trip to Palma and even bumping into some friends we made in Soller. We left quietly just after the sun came up headed towards Menorca.

Written by Mia:

We have clearly become addicted to and dependent on our smart phones and their promise of constant connected-ness. It was vaguely clear to me before we left especially given the data roaming decisions we made when we were travelling but still based in Oslo.

I would like to apologise to everyone I owe more communication to and I wanted to paint a picture for you, not really to complain and I hope it doesn’t come across that way, but to explain… there is too much, so I will sum up our communication situation.

Sketchy internet – we have good internet, well at least occasionally but very rarely when we need it…

Jon has spent many a frustrating hours researching internet solutions and trying to get the solution he decided on to actually be set up correctly and work. The easiest one and the one he would have preferred to have is very expensive, and well outside the budget of a family without an income…Then, every time we move locations (even from a marina in one location to an anchorage in the same place) we have to go and find passwords for networks to borrow etc.

Usually, we do a little internet dance and hope we can reach people on birthdays and anniversaries and things! It works about half the time.

Internet is great, it is maybe even as important as food, water and shelter. We use it for weather forecasting (very important for us), for researching boat maintenance and of course for we really want to communicate more. For example, post more to the blog and share our experiences, but it takes an hour or so to just upload a post and we often have to make multiple attempts as it often fails when the internet connection is broken. So, it should suffice to say we have a lot more to share and hopefully will more and more as we get the hang of things.

New email address

Just trying to keep up wth family and friends is challenging. I changed my email address right before we left (NEVER NEVER use your work address as your main email, even if you work in the the same place for more than 10 years… enough said on that subject) and I have about 50 email to write, including answering people who have sent really lovely messages and at least two friends that would like to visit us… the problem is that I never have the golden combination of strong internet and time to write at the same time, so I just keep feeling guilty.

FB and messenger and LinkedIn

I have spent less and less time on FB over the last few years, but since I have a new email address I have this suspicious feeling that people might be trying to reach me there, but I wouldn’t know for sure because I don’t have FB messenger. This sounds lame I know! But unfortunately there is a little problem, I never have enough internet to download it so it times out halfway through and when this has happened a few times, I lose interest and do something else.

Oh yeah and one of the things on my lists of things to do before leaving Oslo was to get my CV and LinkedIn up to date… I am not ignoring your requests, I just haven’t even been there yet.

Phone access

So, on the plane down there at the beginning of March we said, we will just pick up a pay-as-you-go SIM card so that we can reach people in Spain. Jon picked one up on one of our errand trips in Palma and then it laid around for a month or so as we decided which phone we were going to use it with. In the end we decided we needed to leave  both Norwegian numbers and mobiles as they are… The solution is to pick up a cheap call and SMS phone for the SIM card but then that wouldn’t work because everyone uses WhatsApp here and the phone we had in mind doesn’t support that. The decision making process grinds to a halt… again.

Anyway, we have managed in the end! We have a boat phone and the Spanish number is (drumroll please) +34 603 30 70 50 and it is ironically like a land line, but on the boat. We never take it off Itchy Foot. Please call us if you like, we would love to hear from you all. It’s free for us to receive calls on this phone so please use it if you fancy calling to say hi and chat – we’d welcome the call!

I am really sorry for not being better at communicating! I hope this post does its part to explain the situation a little bit.