Addaya (Part 1)

We left Cala Fornells at 1215 on Sunday 30 July. There was a nice wind blowing and so we had a very pleasant sail, beating east along the north coast of Menorca.

The approach to Addaya is through a wide cala which then narrows to where there is a winding, buoyed channel. We dropped the sails in the wide part of the cala and then made our way in slowly enjoying the view.

Addaya’s eastern coastline is undeveloped but the western side, to our right in the pictures above, is lined with villas and small jetties.

Tucked in behind a small island is the marina. It’s well set up and the friendly staff are very helpful. They allow yachts anchored in the river to bring dinghies ashore there and to use the facilities which include, we were told, the only self-service laundrette on the island. Usefully for us, they also have a coin operated hosepipe and so we moored up on the end of the outer pontoon, chucked in a few euros and filled up our tanks.

Behind us, just down from the marina, the cala opens out a little into a large pool. There are a number of fixed moorings in the poll but still plenty of space to anchor.

So, having filled our water tanks we moved a short distance into the pool and anchored amongst the other yachts there. One was a Swiss yacht with no mast. We subsequently discovered that they were on their first cruise on their yacht which they had just bought in Barcelona. On the sail over they had been caught in the strong mistral winds (we think the one that blew about a week previously). As they were approaching Menorca, whilst they were lowering their sails, the forestay had parted. The mast had fallen back across the cockpit causing lots of damage and narrowly missing their children who had been sitting under the sprayhood. They subsequently had a real struggle cutting everything away as they were swept towards the rocky coastline cliffs. Fortunately, they did clear everything in time and were able to safely start the engine without fouling the propeller and so motor into Addaya. It was a sobering story but it was good to see that none of the family seemed to have been put off sailing.

Addaya, Menorca, Spain