Saturday 15 June 2019

Within the Balearics, in addition to the wider commitment to clean the seas and remove the plastic waste that contaminates them, there seems to be a big effort to protect some of the unique marine environments, specifically the Posidonia grasses that are a breeding ground for various types of fish, including sea horses. There is a quango established to manage the use of the areas where these grasses occur. In some places there is a ban on boats entering, in others you can’t fish, and where the grasses are found, you cannot anchor. The persistent use of anchors digs up the grass, wrecking it for some time. To help the yachtsmen, in some of these places, buoys have been laid so that you can actually visit. The booking system for the buoys has been a challenge for us, we have tried multiple times to reserve a buoy, but the website and the app that you use are not as good as we would hope. Over the last few days we have been trying again, and after a number of calls and emails to the helpline, we have managed to reserve a buoy for the next 2 nights. So this morning we raised the anchor and bid farewell to Cala Algayerens, and headed off to Fornells, a few miles along the coast. It was a very pleasant sail, with a nice wind from behind and a couple of sailing boats ahead to give us a target to overtake.

Fornells as a long narrow inlet, well protected from the winds from almost every direction. We entered the cala past a lookout tower, perched high on the hill above the town. There was some confusion when we arrived about just where we should go, the instructions said only use a buoy for the appropriate length of boat, but there were no such markings on the buoys. We tried one, concluded that it was wrong, went to another which turned out to be someone’s private buoy, and finally settled on one which was right. We had barely attached to it when the warden came up in a rib, and confirmed that we were in the proper place.

Once settled we were able to enjoy the scene. Fornells was looking absolutely glorious in the hot sun. The buildings are all immaculate and totally in keeping with the place. The local authorities have not allowed anyone to build anything that does not blend in. While we were inflating the tender, a French guy came past in his, looking at out boat. He started to ask questions, as he was interested in buying one like it, so we invited him aboard and spent half an hour, showing him around and answering more question. We then went ashore to investigate the village and have a walk. We have been largely on board for several days, and needed to stretch our legs. We checked out the shops, took a tour round the remains of a fort and then walked up to the tower. The views from here were even more spectacular.