Cala Ferrera Mallorca

Sailing to Mallorca

The forecast for Sunday 6 August was good for a blast to Mallorca. We planned a passage of about 50nm and, with the forecast showing stronger winds earlier in the day, made a reasonably prompt start from Cala Ferrera, departing at 0830. We soon had the mainsail up with one reef in it, and a reduced-size genoa poled out to starboard and blasted along at between 7 and 8 knots. It was all set to be a fast, fun passage. Unfortunately, that was not to last and, somewhat earlier than we had anticipated, the wind started to die off so we let the various reefs out and chaffed a bit as the speed dropped off. As we got further out into the Canal de Menorca (the channel between Menorca and Mallorca), we also started to experience the swell generated by the northeasterly winds that by now were blowing quite strongly near the French coast. BV corkscrewed in the seas, which Charlotte found very unpleasant and, for only the second time in her sailing career with us, she was horribly seasick. One way to solve the problem is to retire to a bunk and sleep it off, which is exactly what Charlotte did and, thankfully, the ‘cure’ worked.

Cala Ferrera view forward from our temporary anchor spot   

Cala Ferrera right forward from our temporary anchor spot    

We had wanted to make landfall in either Bahia de Pollensa or Bahia d’Alcudia at the north of Mallorca, as Nicky’s cousin, Shell, was holidaying there and we had plans to meet up. However, the mistral blowing out of the Golfe du Lyon, was forecast to hit all but the southern coast of Mallorca in a couple of days’ time. The north coast would certainly not be a good place to be at anchor so, instead, we aimed our landfall to be somewhat further south on the east coast. We looked in at several calas but with the northeasterly swell most were rather rolly and either looked too unpleasant to enter or too uncomfortable for a good night’s sleep. Also, in the late afternoon, most were still very busy and had little space to accommodate another yacht. We were beginning to get a bit disheartened when we arrived at Cala Ferrera. Thankfully, we found that this cala was quite well protected from the day’s swell due to the shape of the entrance and, better still, there was also just space for us to squeeze in temporarily until a better space opened up when the evening exodus took place. We muscled in and dropped our anchor, just behind a small motor yacht, in about 9m of water and then backed up carefully between a sailing yacht and the wall of the cala so that BV sat just forward of a large catamaran. Forward we had plenty of space but there was no swinging room to our right – just as well that the wind (light as it was) was blowing directly down the cala!

Anchored in our temporary spot we had time to consider things a little more. As we did so, 2 glass-bottomed tripper boats rushed in to drop off their passengers, so it was obvious that wherever we anchored, we would have to make sure that we left a good clear way through for them for the following morning. Despite it now being past 6pm (normally the evening exodus takes place at about that time) there was still no space for us to free-anchor and swing. However, ahead of us, between a small motorboat and a private swimming platform, there was a space in which we could anchor and then, Turkey-style, tie BV back to the rock face. Nicky swam over to see if there were any suitable places we could tie onto, found a couple of possible options and then climbed around the rock face looking for better tie-on points, whilst trying not to invade the privacy of the couple on the small motorboat who were sunbathing naked. Once she was back on board, we got moving before someone else came in and grabbed our spot. Trying not to lower the anchor on the heads of some swimmers who had suddenly materialised exactly where we wanted to drop, I motored BV back into position and Nicky swam to the shore and tied us to the rocky outcrops she had found.

As ever, it took some time to sort everything out to our satisfaction. However, when we had finished we were able to sit in the cockpit enjoying, with the slight smug satisfaction that comes with having bagged oneself a decent spot, the scrum as even more boats turned up. And, of course, about 20 minutes after that, the evening mass exodus took place and suddenly there was quite a lot of room in the cala!

So, it became a very peaceful anchorage with just a handful of yachts staying overnight. Tied to the eastern side wall, we had a lovely view over all the yachts as well as of some of the beautiful villas behind us. The only question left was to which of the possible south coast anchorages we should head the following day.

Cala Ferrera, Mallorca, Spain