It was time to go to Mallorca. We traveled 25 nm from the anchorage on Minorca to the one on Mallorca. We anchored at Cala Moltó, on the northeast side of Mallorca. We were the only boat in the bay. 🙂 We anchored in sand in 11 feet of beautiful clear water. We took the dinghy ashore and walked to the town. We were surprised and delighted to find that we’d anchored right next to a nature reserve! We walked through a beautiful forest of trees before reaching a beach right next to the one at which we had anchored.

We stopped at a little German restaurant located next to a car rental. It wasn’t exactly a pretty area, but the chicken nuggets and accompanying sauce were the best we’ve had!

I wanted to go somewhere pretty to get a drink, though, so we walked to another restaurant. It was located by the water and had a laid back vibe. Just my style. I had a sex on the beach. It had been a minute since I’d done that.

The sun was getting low in the sky so we walked back to Seahike.

We’d planned to go to another anchorage the next day, Thursday. It was about 25 nm from Cala Moltó. We had intentionally planned to take our time going around the south side of the island before we went to Palma, the large city on the west side.

Mother Nature had other ideas. Seahike bounced around in the waves for several hours before we headed into the first anchorage.

We expected the anchorage to be much calmer than the open sea. It wasn’t. I mean it was calmer, but not our idea of a good anchorage. Plus, we saw that another boat was already there and we knew it was a very small anchorage. We didn’t know if there would be room for us.

In the pictures below, we are approaching the point where the coast juts out. You can see how much Seahike is bouncing around. The anchorage is around the bend to the right.

We made the turn, but the waves were still crashing against the shore. That wasn’t what we wanted to see.

We saw that we would need to go through the rather narrow opening between the rocks. And we saw that the water was crashing against said rocks, which made us rather leery of trying to pass between them. And we suspected that there was very little room next to the other boat already at anchor.

So we turned around and headed to another anchorage.

The next anchorage also looked pretty rough after we made the first turn, but it was around yet a second bend, so we still had hopes for it. But as we made the final bend, it actually looked worse. A smaller space with crashing waves, so no room for forgiveness.

In the end, we decided to go to the anchorage we’d planned to go to the following day. It was around the bend so we knew it would be protected from the wind. We had enough wind to sail, so we headed that way.

What a difference! We were glad to find an anchorage. It was lovely and calm. We anchored in 10.5 feet of water about 900-1000 feet from the shore. We were one of three boats in a huge bay.

We took the dinghy for a long ride to a beach bar/restaurant the next day. This was one of those days when it was warm in the sun but chilly in the shade. Our table was in the shade so after shivering for about half an hour, we took the waitress up on her offer to bring each of us a blanket! We shared some excellent paella for lunch and had enough left over for another meal.

Okay, you might think this next picture is weird to post, but I am posting it anyway. This building houses the toilets. How many restrooms are so cute! Just sayin’.

We took the dinghy back to Seahike and had an uneventful and lovely evening.

We left for Palma the next day. One of my previous colleagues from St. Kate’s and her hubby are currently living in Valencia, Spain. We’d been communicating with them about when and where we might get together. They decided to fly to Palma and spend a couple of days with us. They arrived in Palma the same morning Michael and I were sailing in their direction.

The day started out foggy for us but soon cleared as the sun rose higher in the sky.

Michael got this brilliant idea of asking Heather and John to meet us on our way to Palma. They visited the castle then took a taxi to where we were anchored temporarily awaiting their arrival. I took the dinghy ashore and picked them up.

We chilled on the boat for a bit prior to heading to Palma. It was so fun for us to have Heather and John on board!

The trip to Palma was short and pretty. We saw a few sailboat races (bigger boats, small boats, tiny boats), which kept us entertained as we neared the marina.

Heather had a walking tour in mind. We took it but discovered that most of the places were closed (it was later in the day on Saturday). But we enjoyed the walk and the sights, including the few buildings we could visit inside.

These first two pictures are of Lonja de la Seda or Llotja de la Seda, an old, castle-like gothic building. Back in the 15th century, this building was home to Mallorca’s Merchants Association. During subsequent centuries, it functioned as a silk exchange. The honesty of its traders is honored by the inscription that runs around the main contract hall.

In 1996 UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site. Its listing states that “the site is of outstanding universal value as it is a wholly exceptional example of a secular building in late Gothic style, which dramatically illustrates the power and wealth of one of the great Mediterranean mercantile cities.” Check out the ceiling and those columns!

Palma was alive with activity that day. We got a great impression of the city.

Michael received an email from the marina indicating that we needed to go check in (they hadn’t been open when we stopped by the office before). So we did that then met Heather and John at Toque de Queda for dinner. We ordered five tapas and shared them. The food was great and we recommend this restaurant!

This is just a random pretty building we passed on our walk back to Seahike, where we chatted away until we were too tired to talk anymore.

We awoke on Sunday to another beautiful day, ready to do some more sightseeing. As we neared our first stop, we realized why the red carpet had been laid the day before. There was a big running event, and the red carpet led the runners to the finish line. We actually spent quite a bit of time watching and cheering on the runners. Heather and I love the energy of a live running event. I found myself wishing I was participating. We also had fun watching people “sail” their remote controlled boats in the water.

Our first official sightseeing destination was The Royal Palace of La Almudaina. The palace dates back to the 14th century and is the official residence of the King and Queen during their stays in Mallorca. Together with the Cathedral of Palma it is a landmark of the capital of the Balearic Islands. The palace reflects the artistic styles that have succeeded each other throughout the history of the island. I was particularly fond of the numerous tapestries and the view from the palace.

We walked about town a bit and saw a lot of fun stuff, including this modern art. We had another nice meal, this time at Bar Bosch. We recommend this restaurant.

We loved spending time with Heather and John. Palma is a great city and Michael and I had more time to spend here. I suspect Heather and John will return.

More on the rest of our visit in the next post.