Monday 3 June 2019

We woke to another tranquil morning. There was barely a ripple on the crystal clear water. Walking on deck, it was easy to see the pattern on the sandy surface of the seabed below us, and our anchor chain stretching out ahead. I could even see the marks in the sand from where the chain had lain during the night. It was so inviting the we all swam off the back of the boat before breakfast.

There were 3 other boats in the same cala, off a beautiful beach, with some less attractive hotel builds in view to one side. After a leisurely start, we were the first to leave. Our route was extremely simple, just 3 waypoints. One to avoid a rock as we left the cala, and 2 at the other end to take us to our proposed anchorage. We were able to see both Menorca and Mallorca for the whole 23 mile crossing between the islands.

The sailing was the best I can remember for a long time, with a steady wind from the beam. We made rapid progress. Champagne sailing. We were joined by several pods of dolphins as we crossed, but although we were doing the right speed, they did not stay with us for long, obviously there was something more interesting for them. During the course of the crossing we overhauled another reasonable sized yacht, which I think we first saw about 3 miles ahead of us.

Part way across we were aware of another vessel on a converging course. It was a motor yacht, going slightly faster than us. We watched it on AIS, checking the predicted CPA (closest point of approach). This varied slightly but remained worryingly small. Eventually we radioed them to ask their plans to avoid us. We were sailing, while they were both overtaking and to our port side, which meant that there were 3 reasons that they should take avoiding action while we held our course. We got no reply, which is never a good sign. There is an obligation for all vessels to keep a good lookout and monitor the radio channels constantly. They seemed to be doing neither. After a while we saw them slow and turn away from us, so we believed that they were now aware of us (we are relatively easy to see with a 24 metre mast supporting large white sails). They continued to turn, eventually performing a 360 degree, and resuming their previous course. They had lost a bit of distance while turning, but were now going a bit faster, so the CPA was about the same. We radioed again and this time received a response. The usual practice once you have started the dialogue is to ask their intentions. The guy answered that they had just seen some dolphins and been distracted by them, but were on their way to Mahon. We countered by saying we were more interested in their plans for passing us safely. “Oh, we’ll go in front of you” the guy replied. This still seemed unlikely to us, given the small difference in our speeds (AIS gives you a load of information about what the other vessel is doing). A few minutes later, when they had had time to note that we were there and do the same calculations as we had, they called us back and said that they would alter course and go behind us, which they did. We don’t think they had seen us at all before we spoke, and then assumed that we would be going very slowly. All was well in the end.

Not quite sure how I got this photo, but I like it

We had earmarked a particular cala to anchor in, but when we got there we concluded that it was too narrow. There were swimming buoys preventing us from going too deep into the cala, and the amount of chain we would have to put out in the depth, plus the length of the boat meant that there was not enough room for us to swing. We changed our plan and headed for a marina in Ciutadella. The lady marinaro answered the radio at the first call and was extremely helpful and organised in getting us to our berth. She was one of the best we have come across.

Ciutadella is glorious. The day was so hot that we got the deck canopy out for the first time this year, to shade the whole boat when we had late lunch and relaxed. In the evening we wandered through the cool narrow streets of the town, before going out for a meal. It was Laurence’s last evening with us before he has to go back home tomorrow.

Distance covered today	25	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	791	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	791	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)