on my side of the cockpit to protect us from the occasional wisp of
spray whipped up by the strong cross winds.
Sitges Marina was very picturesque but extremely hot. It was my
fi rst time docking stern-to in the Med but I managed to get all the
fenders and lines on and didn’t embarrass myself too much. To keep
cool we hid inside the saloon with the air-conditioning on before
heading off to a quayside restaurant once the sun started to set.
On our return we switched on the stereo and sang along to Frank
Sinatra while watching the fi sh swim around our underwater lights
before settling down on the surprisingly large, comfy berth and
drifting off to sleep... before being rudely awoken at 1am by loud
music that didn’t let up on until 5am. We are clearly getting old!ABOVE Anchored
in Ses Caletes
INSET A rare shot
of Jeremy driving
at less than 40
knots BELOW
Triple Volvo D6s
made short work
of the crossing
to Mallorca
Still reeling from lack of sleep, we set off early to make the
long 110nm passage from mainland Spain to Mallorca. One of
the joys of a truly fast boat is that it can cut long journey times in
half. The BR45 is good for 50 knots fl at out which means it can
cruise very comfortably all day at any speed from 25-45 knots.
As the water was still quite lumpy Jeremy stuck to around 30
knots and soon we were eating up the miles with nothing but us,
the sky, the sea and a couple of container ships on the horizon.
I had just fallen asleep when Jeremy shouted “dolphins”. He
eased off the throttles so we could watch the dolphins leap and
dive around our boat before disappearing back into the deep.
After just three hours Mallorca started to appear over the horizon
and a few minutes later our destination of Port de Soller
gradually revealed itself. Wow! The mountains are staggering,
huge, high, craggy granite walls plunging into the sea.FEELING SMALL
Soller is a gorgeous old town with elegant stone houses and
colourful shops and restaurants strung out along the curved
shore front, and a tram running the length of the bay. We
had taken the precaution of booking a berth at Marina
Tramontana and as the day progressed, the spaces fi lled up
with bigger and bigger yachts until we felt like a small fi sh
in a very large and exclusive pond.
We walked into town and swam off the sheltered sandy beach.
The water was wonderfully warm, salty and relaxing. At least
until I felt something move under my feet followed by a nip on
my leg. The fi sh were biting back! It wasn’t painful, but it was
off-putting so we headed back to the boat and set about
unpacking our electric folding Go Cycles. I hadn’t done much.
.
.