Cala Taulera, Mahón

We had a peaceful night at anchor on 14 May with barely a breath of wind in the evening. By morning, however, the wind had definitely got up again (gusting up to about 22kts and looking set to rise further) and we decided that it was not sensible to take the dinghy in to explore Mahón quite yet. There were, however, lots of things to keep us busy. The lumpy last 5 miles of our sail into Cala Taulera had shaken up the water tanks and it was clear that we had some sediment in the aft ones. When we were in Gibraltar we had drained the tanks and the last dregs of the aft tanks had seemed to have some sediment in them so we had flushed them before refilling. Clearly we had not flushed them well enough; more drastic action was required.

BV is now 15 years old and we don’t think the inspection hatches have ever been opened on the water tanks. During our 7 years of ownership we have often sterilised the tanks but have never opened the hatches; we were too busy using our precious spare time going sailing. We now have the time to open them up and give them a thorough clean, so today we seem to be living up to the adage that cruising is just doing yacht maintenance in nice places! When we took the inspection hatches off the tanks it was immediately apparent why our previous flushing of the tanks had not had the full effect we had wanted: the suction pipes end about 5cm above the bottom of each of the tanks, effectively forming a sump there that can only be fully drained by opening the tops of the tanks and mopping them out. In this ‘sump water’ there was clear evidence of further sediment. A full mop out and wipe down of the inside of the tanks was definitely required. There is nothing technical about cleaning water tanks, though the baffles get in the way, so it is just a case of flushing, cleaning and mopping out and repeating the cycle until the water stays clean. It just takes time.

So, after what seemed to be a very long morning, we now have empty but very clean aft tanks ready for refilling. That means that we will go into a marina in Mahón tomorrow where, hopefully, potable water will be available. I think we will fit a water filter to our hosepipe to try to prevent any particles getting into the water tanks in the future.

With the aft tanks clean, the saloon sole relaid and the engine compartment rebuilt, the galley was usable again and we were able to prepare a late lunch of a mixture of salads.

Later on in the afternoon we were very amused to see Sarah Jane, a yacht we first saw in Cala Negra, Ibiza and then again in Isla Cabrera, Mallorca, arrive and anchor.   Mahón’s place as a modern-day Mediterranean crossroads and place of shelter for yachtsmen continues…. I wonder where else we will see Aldebaran and Sarah Jane.

After all of the morning’s industry we spent the afternoon writing some blog entries, which we will upload when we are in Mahón tomorrow, reading and enjoying being anchored in Cala Taulera. It is a peaceful and slightly wild spot surrounded by old military defences. Out of the wind, in the shelter of our sprayhood, it is very pleasant with temperatures touching 30 degrees Celsius; a perfect place for enjoying a cool beer in the afternoon before we turned our attentions to cooking a monkfish and pimientos (red pepper) paella for dinner.

Cala Taulera, Mahón, Menorca, Spain