Forget
what the guide says, there are no summer mooring buoys behind the
Punta de la Avanzada. Once you round the oint, the bay opens up
before you as one huge anchorage with hundreds of boats scattered
everywhere. Almost – there is still a swath left free stretching from the jetty of the military zone for sea planes to take off and land.
As
you round the Punta, you may be tempted to plop your anchor down in
the turquoise water exposed by sand patches, but you shouldn’t.
Those rather small patches are surrounded by posiedonia grass and the
patrol boat from the Government of the Iles Baleares will soon come
to tell you off. Even if your anchor is in the sand patch, your
chain will drag through the grass. Smaller motor boats are
tolerated, which makes it a bit frustrating, but that’s the way it
is.
Beyond
that zone, the bay is about 3 meters deep everywhere and the ground
is mud and stubbly seaweed. We found the holding to be hit and miss,
even with a chain:depth length of 5 – 7.
The
bay itself is beautiful. We tried to visit some of the other calas
but this being August they were all more than full. The town is
touristy but agreeable. Just one street back parallel to the shore
road across from the port is one of the best hardware stores we’ve
found this year, and has almost everything you could ever need for a
boat. There is a very good farmers market on Wednesday as well. And of course, if you've read the previous post, you know there is a very good shipyard here, too.
While
safely tucked into a berth in the port, we rented a scooter to visit
the surrounding areas, particularly the UNESCO World Heritage Sierra
Traumontana range and the Cap Formentor. This was not the smartest
thing we’ve ever done. Not being expert scooter drivers and being
confronted with hair-pin turns, sheer cliffs and tourist buses, we
had our eyes riveted on the road in front of us, only occasionally
risking a glimpse at the scenery. Pull-offs are few. This is surely
one of the most beautiful mountain roads in the world, and I regret
that we didn’t organize better to rent a car to visit the full
range.
We
had hoped to spend our last day in one of the calas but the winds
that day left them all exposed. One big cala (Formentor) looks
particularly inviting but it is filled with private mooring buoys
with anchoring limited to the 15 meter depth outskirts. We met a couple
from Palma who said they regularly go to that cala and that the buoys
can be rented but are intended only for “locals” (from Majorca).
They suggested you find a buoy and circle around until the mariniero
arrives and try your luck, but normally it’s not intended for
visitors. We were frustrated, but the couple went on to tell
us that they have had to abandon their annual summer cruising around
their own islands because the visiting tourists take up all the
space.
That
really put things into perspective, and also supports my own state of
mind about the last 2 months in the islands. The stress involved
with navigating here in July and August – few ports, few berths,
over-crowded calas, bad manners and bad seamanship – have made me
want to point Mareda’s nose towards the coast and head straight
home. I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for sailing, but cruising in
the Baleares in July and August is absolutely foolish. While we have
had a few moments of grace and taken in some breath-taking scenery,
the accumulated stress of the whole endeavor hasn’t been worth it
for me. We are told by friends who have sailed in the area for the
last 14 years that the area is unbearable until around 15 August when
the summer vacation season winds down. I hope we will see a different
side to the Baleares at that time, but I can tell you I am very eager
to make our way to Sardinia and Corsica in September, and will
definitely rethink cruising in popular areas in July and August for
our future cruises.
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