East Mallorca Calas

We have spent the last 5 or so days enjoying a lazy and very pleasant time anchored in various calas on the east side of Mallorca.

We sailed up to Cala Gran, pictured above, from Cabrera on Thursday 1 May. It is one of 3 calas that share a common entrance and we hoped to be able to find good shelter from the forecast overnight northwesterly wind. Unfortunately, we found that in the conditions prevailing at the time (wind from the southeast) there was too much swell to be comfortable. Since the other 2 calas looked to be equally well sheltered from the northwest, we went to investigate them to see if they were any better under the current conditions. We found that we were well sheltered in Cala Llonga (the next cala but one) but once we had the main anchor set, we settled across the buoyed channel entrance to the marina, which was not a good place to be overnight. So, we upped-anchor and moved to the middle cala, Cala d’Or, where we anchored near to a large Belgian yacht. The Belgian had chosen to set his bower (main) anchor out in the bay and then run a line from the stern of his yacht to the rocks. This put him nicely in the middle of the bay (clear of the rocks) but right across any incoming swell and so in a potentially rolly position. We decided that we really needed to be anchored fore and aft too but that we would be better off with our bows into the forecast overnight wind and stern to any swell coming into the cala. We dug out our kedge anchor and deployed that over the stern, paying out the cable until we were at full stretch and then deployed the main anchor, digging that in and dropping into a position mid-way between the two anchors. It was a lot more effort than just deploying the bower anchor but it stopped us swinging around close to the rocky sides of the cala and reduced the potential rolling in any swell; much better for a good night’s sleep.

Cala de Llamp

The next day the wind got up from the east and so Cala d’Or became just a bit too bumpy, though our anchored position minimised the movement. So, we decided to move again and went a couple of miles down the coast to Cala de Llamp. Here too we deployed the kedge anchor as the cala was not very wide and, again, we didn’t want to risk swinging into the shore.

Porto Petro

Cala de Llamp is right next to Porto Petro so we got out the dinghy and went ashore. It’s a very pleasant small town with lots of cafés and restaurants, a good chandlery where we got a full gas bottle, and a couple of small supermarkets with the essentials. There was also a diving centre where we were able to get Nicky a facemask, snorkel and fins.

Relaxing in one of the cafes on the front allowed us to catch up on e-mails whilst also keeping an eye on this chap flying around the harbour on water jets. He had the jets attached to his feet and a long pipe ran to a jetski which followed him around. The jetski, with the instructor on it, provided the power, which allowed him to get up to 4 or 5 metres above the sea, flying around like some sort of superhero. The next guy to have a go was far less capable and spent most of the time falling in and making very big splashes; much more entertaining!

Sailing along the coast here you realise that there are a number of hotels but that there are also some very large villas. This was particularly evident when we arrived at our next stop, Cala Mitjana. The villa here took up the whole of the promontory and is absolutely stunning, with beautiful lawned gardens which run down to the beach at the northern end of the cala.

Arriving at Cala Mitjana

We arrived at Cala Mitjana on an unusually grey day attracted by the all round shelter the cala provides because the winds were set to come from all directions again.

But, once the sun came out, we fell in love with the place. In the summer months it is supposed to be crammed with yachts; up to 10 of them anchored with their sterns tied to bollards on the shore, lined up like sardines in a can.

However, this early in the season we have the place to ourselves for most of the time. Every now and then a tripper boat with glass bottom visits briefly, there are few RIBs with divers and a couple of yachts have come in for lunch stops. Aside from them, however, it is just us in this sheltered, peaceful and very pretty anchorage. Again, we have chosen to anchor fore and aft, bows towards the entrance and the source of any swell and stern to the beach some distance away. (We have anchored some way off the beach and in about 9m of water as there was another yacht a bit closer in when we arrived.) In this way we are sitting nicely along the line of the cala with a small cliff 5 metres to starboard and another beautifully coloured one about 15 metres to port. It is a fantastic spot and we have stayed for 4 days.

We decided that if we went snorkelling, rather than just swimming, then we would look the part in our wetsuits and so donned all of the gear (clearly this decision has nothing to do with the water temperature being 18 degrees Celcius and our being wimps!). The water is incredibly clear and we swam around, hand in hand [Ed:  aaah!], looking at the fish, sea anemones and wonderful underwater scenery, plus the odd jellyfish or two. We have even done a bit of hull admin and cleaned the bottom and the propeller [Ed: not hand in hand!].

Having started on the chores we also dug out the sewing machine. The stitching on the top of the sail cover, which had suffered from the sunlight in Gibraltar, has been resewn and we now have a new red tip on our ensign which was starting to fray. It’s funny but there don’t seem to be any chandleries stocking 2 yard Guernsey ensigns in Spain! Nicky has even done a massive clothes wash so we have a full wardrobe again.

However, chores aside, we have been spending most of our time just enjoying the anchorage and swimming snorkelling. Fabulous!

 Cala Mitjana, Mallorca, Spain