Sunday 9 June 2019

After being windy and overcast yesterday, the weather has returned to normal.  A modest breeze blowing, the occasional cloud overhead and somewhere between warm and hot. This cala is so good that we decided to stay one more day and explore a little.  So this morning we got the tender out and went ashore. Part of the beach forms a sand bar about 10 metres wide which encloses an area of brackish water.  We lifted the dinghy over the bar and then rowed up stream. The waterway twisted and turned through fields of reeds, and the only other people we saw were a few canoeists. The guidebook had suggested that there were various creatures that we might see, including turtles.  We did not find these but we were treated to the sight of a sea eagle in flight and one standing on the branch of a tree.  Later in the day, we saw quite possibly the same bird soaring in the updraft over the cliffs and circling over the sea. It had a massive, 1 meter plus wingspan and made flight look awfully easy. Just magnificent.

Before the hordes arrive...

There are no roads here, just tracks through the forest. Yesterday, in the inclement weather the beach was empty, but today we saw a steady stream of people walking through the forest.  The majority however come by boat, some of these obviously being chartered in the towns along the coast for holidaymakers to take for the day.  There are also tourist boats who bring people to the beach, so pretty soon the cala was full of boats. Our neighbours in the catamaran we have nicknamed “Big Bertha” left, giving us a cheery wave as they went.  During the course of the day a new fleet of yachts has arrived, forming a veritable United Nations.  There are boats from Poland, Germany, France and Belgium, plus ourselves.  We had a chat with the guy on the German boat, whose wife is apparently from New Zealand, adding to the multi-national flavour.  We had seen them going ashore in their tender earlier on with 2 cats, one very bravely standing high on the bow. He enquired if we thought there was room between us and volunteered to move if necessary. In the end he just pulled back against his anchor to see how close to us he would be, and we all agreed that there was enough separation.  Later, when we had all swung round a bit more, he concluded that he was too close and moved to a different part of the anchorage.What a difference to the previous folks.

Later...

You can probably see the cats on the tender,

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	830	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	830	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)