Friday 7 June 2019

Around breakfast time, we heard thunder and there was a light shower of rain, which only lasted about 20 mins, so didn’t hold up our departure. The sky then cleared, but there was little wind. We passed along the north coast of Menorca much closer to the shore than yesterday, so could see then cliffs and inland clearly. This north west corner is barren with few dwellings. We had the engine on intermittently to round the headlands, until we rounded the south west corner, then had a lovely beam reach sail across the south coast.

At 2.30 in the afternoon, our destination, the small Cala Trabalujer was busy with small day boats. We were the first yacht in, so were able to pick a prime spot in the centre of the cala. This is an unspoilt bay, with no buildings. The golden sandy beach is backed by a pine forest. The beach was fairly busy though.

En route we have marvelled at the amazing shades of blue of the water and always the dazzling turquoise in the shallows.

There was a significant swell, so we didn’t manage to go for a swim, as getting back on the boat would have been rather hazardous. We were happy to just relax on deck for the rest of the afternoon.

Last night a very large catamaran, arrived late, and despite there being loads of open space elsewhere in the bay, insisted on squeezing into a gap between us and the other already moored boats. We advised them that we were not happy about it, but our view was ignored. We were sufficiently worried by their proximity to us, that we wrote in the log book that we had warned them that they too close. Today the same yacht followed us all morning and we were greatly relieved when they continued on further east after we had turned into our chosen cala. Our hearts then sank, when they reappeared a couple of hours later and proceeded to again anchor quite close to us, but at least with a bit more space than last night. We decided that saying anything would probably further antagonise them and be pointless, as they had taken no heed of our concerns before. The usual etiquette is that it’s first come first served, and later arrivals should keep a reasonable distance for those already moored.

We had come to this Cala because strong winds are forecast for tomorrow, starting to blow in the very small hours, so we needed to be in good shelter, which the large cliffs give us. Two other boats arrived, so we were a group of four, hunkering down for the night.

Steve stayed up until midnight to watch us swing round on the anchor, as the wind went round from the south to the north, very concerned that with the different speeds of turn from yachts with different characteristics, we could be called upon to fend off the huge heavy catamaran. 

To be continued.....

Distance covered today	25	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	830	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	830	nautical miles
Tricia (and Steve)