JUNE______________________________________________________________2005

Wednesday, June 1st

<Araksi> Since three days the weather is very windy, and we are thankful to be attached to a buoy. The anchorage at the opposite side of the bay is getting crowded and with it the dangerous anchoring maneuvers. I really do not want to experience the crowd here in three weeks time (high season - July and August).

Thursday, June 2nd

<Araksi> We rented a car for today; we wanted to have some solid ground under our feet after three days of shaking. Our destination is the northern part of the island. A mountain range runs along this coast which is rugged and impressive. On our way there we wanted to visit Manacor, which - besides its pearl manufacturing - also produces articles made of olive wood. I already started searching in Tunisia for an olive wood plank as I plan to make a sculpture like thing to cover a part of plastic on the wall. Well, when you search for something you definitely will not come across it. So it was, we left Manacor without the plank; the city itself is not really worth a longer stop. On our way to Pollensa, a charming town at the feet of the mountain range, Ruud shouted in excitement "Madera de Olive". Voila! Let it go girl, then the one looked for comes to your feet. There it stood at the road side: a big olive wood saw-mill. Half an hour later we were on our way again with our car filled with different sizes of olive wood planks. Ruud already had made my day, and we still were on our way to those wonderful sceneries which you seldom come across. Doesn't this sound like a perfect day? Yes it was. At the end we had visited that very picturesque town of Pollensa, then drove along the mountain range for 60 km through narrow winding roads accompanied by a scenery full of variety. Once we marveled at the rugged rocky slopes with the azure blue sea twinkling through, then at the hills full of old old olive trees - each trunk of them is a mere artwork-, then a couple miles further to a small town, Deia, tugged between the rocky hills.

At the end of those 60 km's we arrived in Soller, the only town on the north coast of Mallorca which has a protected harbor. We were looking forward to see this quite famous town. The bay is almost circular, but with the quite strong northeast winds of today the anchorage looked quite bumpy. And the town? Well, it was very tourist oriented; the whole seafront was full of fast food stores, all sorts of cafes and lots of souvenir shops. We had a short walk along the streets and left to continue to Villamossa, the town where Chopin and George Sand had lived for a while in a convent which was then just turned into a hotel. Today it is a museum. This was the last attraction of our trip. From there we drove southwards, towards Palma and then to Portocolom. We even managed to do our shopping today at Auchan, the big French supermarket chain.

Friday - Sunday, June 3rd - 5th

<Araksi> While I was working on my computer, Ruud changed the oil of the two engines. This time everything went very smoothly; I didn't hear him swear once. Running the engines for half an hour made the oil more liquid, and he had pumped out and refilled the two engines in less than an hour. The rubber seals of the sail drives (the work done in Tunisia) are holding tight, so that's good news.

The weekend we just relaxed.

Monday, June 6th

<Araksi> The weather was very calm today. I worked on the computer almost all day long. Ruud was busy producing some new lures.

Tuesday to Thursday, June 7th - 9th

<Araksi> I dismounted cleaned and assembled two more winches. They have to be cleaned once in a year. There are five more to go.

My mother announced us that she could visit us in Mallorca. She had managed to get a visa for Spain and already booked a flight to Palma. She arrives on Friday.

Friday, June 10th

<Araksi> We rented a car for picking up my mother from the airport. She was scheduled for 21:30, so we left around noon to visit some of the southern towns of the island, and to make some more shopping in the huge mall (Auchan) close to Palma. We also checked some of the possible anchorages on the south coast of the island for planning our passage to the west.

We were back on Garabes at 01:30. The flight had a delay of three hours.

Saturday, June 11th

<Araksi> We postponed our plans of departure from Portocolom to tomorrow, since by the time we went to bed it was already almost morning. In the afternoon we lingered around with my mother in this pleasant town, paid our mooring fees, chatted a little with the harbor master, and went back for dinner on Garabes.

Sunday, June 12th

<Araksi> We released our lines from the buoy number 33 in the bay of Portocolom around 11:30. It had served us for 17 days as a stronghold. Our destination is an anchorage at or around Jordi; a bay at the south coast of the island, some 25 miles away. We had light east winds, so we motor sailed, and had our washing machine work for us. But our autopilot striked; it showed an error message on its display stating "bypass clutch disengaged". Here you have it again, the formula "boat= never-ending-work".

We decided to anchor around the headland of Jordi along the beach of Trench on sand (039° 20.2'N; 002° 59'E). I adore anchorages on sand. Here the co lour of the sea is such a translucent blue that I truly get mesmerized by it.

Monday, June 13th

<Araksi> We decided to stay a day longer at Trench. Ruud checked the possible causes of the failure in the self-steering system; he couldn't find the location of the culprit "bypass clutch". In the evening the wind picked up and with it a pronounced swell started to roll in. During the night we had quite a disturbing swell.

Tuesday, June 14th

<Araksi> We left the rolly anchorage early in the morning. Heaving the winds still from the southwest we decided to head to a bay at the west side of the huge bay of Palma. Our destination was Palmanova (039° 30.8'N; 002° 32.5'E); a bay five miles southwest of Palma. Alike all other settlements around Palma this one as well is a huge tourist complex with lots of restaurants, bars and hotels. The anchorage has good holding on send and weed and is big enough to let out enough chain in case of strong winds. It gets crowded during the day though.

Wednesday, June 15th

<Araksi> My mother and I went to visit Palma today. There are regular bus services to the capital of the island. We first had to find the Simrad dealer for our defect autopilot though. That was not a difficult task at all, people are very helpful and most of them speak English. But most important there is a Simrad dealer in Palma, and also a very knowledgeable and helpful one. The chandler is called Intelec and is located in the parallel street to the entrance of porto Club Nautico.

It was already early in the afternoon by the time we were finished with gathering information. We lingered around in the streets of Palma enjoyed the atmosphere for another two to three hours and took the bus back to Palma Nova.

Thursday - Friday, June 16th - 17th

<Araksi> Today I made the overtures to my swimming season, by letting myself in to the quite chilly embrace of the wet element. I had forgotten how revitalizing and rejuvenating swimming can be.

<Ruud> I was busy checking out a place where we could have the mecanic to come to fix the autopilot on Friday, not an easy task, all moorings are full and if not simply unafordable.

Saturday, June 18th

<Araksi> We were again in Palma; today, to visit the Saturday market. It is located in a less tourist focused quarter of the city. We could also find here a closed market which had a large and rich fish hall. We bought some fish and tasted the freshly fried fish tapas at a bar in the busy atmosphere of the hall.

Our second project was to find some suitable berth for Garabes in the harbor of Palma, we have to bring her here on Tuesday, for the repair work on the autopilot - we are not keen to pay around 200 Euros for a berth at one of the marinas in the harbor for a job of two hours. Being on a Saturday we couldn't talk to the people responsible, but we had an idea where to moore for couple of hours without being bothered by some authorities.

Tuesday, June 21st

<Araksi> We had to be in the port of Palma at 10:00. Today is the big day for our autopilot; we will hopefully find out the cause of the damage and have it repaired. Having had investigated our way in and out the harbor and the spot to moore at our several visits to Palma we navigated straight to the fisher's quai and moored at the almost empty dockside exactly at 10:00.

Two minutes later the technician was marching towards Garabes with his impressive tool case in his hand. Leaving the arena to Ruud and the technician, my mother and I marched to the market close to the port and leisurely did our shopping. When we were back Ruud heralded us the great news: the defect was nothing else than a oxidized cable-head which just didn't let pass enough electricity to activate the clutch. While the mending work was going on, I visited the fishermen's chandler which is just at the end of the quai. We always wanted to buy two big fenders, the one's you see on fishing boats. They had good and cheap ones.

I also asked a fisher who was mending his nets close to our boat where to find thick but simple ropes. My next project is namely to attach such a rope around the dinghy cover in order to protect it from chafe. The fisher was a real help he could show us exactly the right kind of store we needed.

After three hours we were still moored along the quai, and nobody had come to ask questions. So we decided to stay there for another hour to have our lunch before leaving. It was one of those days when everything runs smoothly and you get done more than you had planned.

Friday, June 24th

<Araksi> In the last two days we were busy preparing the boat for my sister's arrival; she will be with us this afternoon with her two kids, Levon and Luysali. We rented a car mainly to pick her up from the airport, but we also made some shopping. In the afternoon we had them on board; Garabes hosts six souls now.

Saturday, June 25th

<Araksi> Our destination today is Andraitx (039° 32,7'N; 002° 22,8'E). It was more motoring than sailing. Andraitx is a very pleasant town in a very spectacular setting. This is the last anchorage we visited on Mallorca.

Sunday, June 26th

<Araksi> We lifted the anchor at 06:25 this morning. Our destination is Ibiza, the next Balearic island some 50 miles towards the Southwest. We decided to arrive in Cala Portinatx (039° 06,7'N; 001° 30,8'E), a bay in the northeast of the island. We dropped anchor on a sandy patch at 16:00. It was a pleasant passage; with winds of force 3 to 4 from the southeast then in the afternoon veering to the southwest.

Monday, June 27th

<Ruud> Our destination for today was San Antonio, Ibiza's second largest city situated on the west coast (038° 58.5'N; 001° 17.9'E). A sail of some four hours brought us there in a gentle easterly breeze. Like the day before, I took the occasion to test my self made lures and eliminate the not so good ones. The new types I produced a week ago are performing extraordinary well: with no plexiglas lips needed anymore and much better trimmed than the older generation they are easy to make, swim like the expensive factory made ones and - the weak spot of all the older lures - they remain under the surface at all speeds. Big fish beware!

San Antonio doesn't look appealing: ugly buildings and passing tourist boats with loud music make us decide to move on quickly.

Tuesday, June 28th

<Araksi> We were hoping to enjoy ourselves in San Antonio, a picturesque center of the old fishing village, but alas, like most of the wonderful bays, the natural beauty of this one as well is shattered by massive tourist development. Nevertheless, if you wonder your gaze away from the high-rise apartment buildings lining the bay, you may still enjoy the beautifully rolling, tree-covered mountains, accompanied with the intensive scent of pine. I highly enjoy the scent carried to you by the breeze from the pine-covered slopes in the distance or on shore. The anchorage consists of a quite large bay, open to the west and northwest.

On our way to the south we stopped at Cala Bassa (038° 58,2'N; 001° 14,8'E) for a swim, which is an attractive anchorage with a sandy beach. Continuing towards our destination we enjoyed the impressive rock formations along the west cost of Ibiza.

We arrived at our destination, Cala Yondal (038° 52'N; 001° 18,9E), around 16:00. As soon as we dropped the anchor the children splashed in the turquoise waters for the second time today.

Wednesday, June 29th

<Araksi> Our attractive anchorage is open to south and southwest, and the wind was getting stronger from the southwest under the influence of a low weather system over the Gulf of Lion, but I had promised the children a short beach adventure, and my husband a snorkeling one, so I had to endure the rolling sea for a while, transporting the kids to the beach and Ruud to the rocky shore of Punta Yondal. We left around 13:00 towards the east with relative strong southwest winds. Our destination is Ibiza, the capital of the island. We had a nice sail while rounding Punta Rama and further south Isla Ahorcados then turning North towards Ibiza. We anchored in Cala Talamanca (038° 54,9'N; 001° 27,6'E), the bay neighboring the port of Ibiza. With the patchy holding and the relatively strong winds we succeeded at our third maneuver to settle the anchor on a good holding patch of sand. In the late evening my sister and I went to the town for a short discovery tour, while Ruud, my mother and the children set down to play a round of monopoly.

Thursday, June 30th

<Araksi> Even though we have quite a tight time schedule, for my mother leaves on the 9th of July from Sevilla, we plan to stay here today, visit the town make some provisioning and go to the beach with the children.

In the morning my sister and I went to the town for provisioning, leaving the rest of the crew to wake up, have a swim and make their own breakfast. At the northwest corner of the bay of Talamanca there is a small quai for tying up dinghies. From there it is a short walk to the harbor where small motor boats transport passengers across the huge port to Ibiza in regular intervals of 20 minutes. While waiting for the ferry we enjoyed in one of the various cafés an espresso with a croissant. The ride across the harbor was a very pleasant experience, then followed the even more pleasant experience of wondering in the narrow streets towards the market place which is located on the feet of the fortress. We will visit the fortress in the afternoon, now we are indulged in the task of getting some fresh food for the crew. Two more winding streets away we reached the fish market, where we found some fresh fish waiting for us. I love these seldom moments of being with my sister alone enjoying the impressions, the people and the chat.

On the boat Levon and Luysali were already waiting for us to be transported to the beach. The bay of Talamanca is bordered by a long sandy beach; not a very fine beach though but good enough for the kids to build some sand castles, play handball and splash around in the shallow waters.

After dinner we all went to visit the town. I also plan to visit an internet center to update our homepage. Once in the town the winding streets bordered with numerous cafés and restaurants leads to the huge portal of the impressive fortification built against the Moors by Philippe II . Today it is a very cheerful place full of colorful restaurants, shops, picturesque houses. Many streets open in a beautiful square full of cafés shaded with beautiful trees, giving a warm and embracing atmosphere. In one of these pleasant streets we found an internet corner which was indeed a corner in a trendy boutique. But, alas, I couldn't update our homepage; many computers in these centers have a blockade to prevent them of being clogged by viruses or junk stuff from the internet. Therefore any kind of unusual operation becomes a fruitless attempt.

We were on Garabes at 23:00, late enough to fall exhausted in our beds.