22nd June 2021
Port de Pollença, Mallorca – Cala Es Trenc, Mallorca via Cala De S’Agulla, Portocolom & Cala Nau, Mallorca
Contrast. That’s the control on your TV which enables you to either make everyone look like they’re out of the psychedelic 60’s or drain their colour taking them back to the greyscale days of the last century. Sailing in Mallorca we’ve experienced contrast everywhere we have gone; from suffering under the searing sun to sitting under shade; from silky smooth seas to bouncy bays; from scary skies scattering soil to sparkling sand under our ship; from impressive isolation to horrendous hordes.
Summer had finally arrived in Mallorca and we started baking under the 35°C sunshine. Ruffian was being turned from an ocean-going boat into a floating furnace and we had to do something to protect ourselves from the searing rays.
Ruffian came with sunshades of all different sizes, the only problem was working out which shades went where, what they attached to and which way round they went. As we unrolled and unwrapped the pieces it was like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle where we had no idea what the picture was, if we had the right pieces and those pieces were 3 dimensional. After hours of sweat and tears Ruffian was shrouded in shade, the temperature dropped and the furnace was extinguished. Hot vs cold; what a contrast.
As Iain luxuriated in the shade Fiona once again had to brave the public transport system and make her way to the hospital. Ensuring that Ruffian was safe for the day we waved goodbye to our flat anchorage in Pollença and moved in preparation for the forecasted breeze and the switch in swell. While Fiona was whisked into town Iain was rocked as waves rolled under ruffian displacing everything not locked down and as the hours ticked by the forecast proved to be a fiction. The wind never came and the swell never abated.
The next day the forecast continued to be a fiction as we headed south, but now instead of just being on a lee shore with swell rocking Ruffian violently from side to side we had the full powerboat package to contend with. The complete powerboat package is loud in every way. There are the loud throbbing engines, the loud screaming bikini clad girls, and the loud music that is played at ear splitting volumes to entertain everyone in the bay. Flat vs rolly; what a contrast.
After a sleepless night we couldn’t wait for the first light of dawn, but when it came we didn’t like what is showed us. Overnight Ruffian had been coated with a thin layer of grime. It coated every surface, pooled in every recess and seeped into every rope, but this wasn’t the only surprise the weather had in store for us.
As we found safety in Portocolom the skies once again emptied their dirty contents on us but this time with a twist. The dust made for an epic conductor, lightening jumped from cloud to cloud forking across the sky and touching down with ear splitting cracks. As this destructive lightshow threatened disaster, all we could do was wait, watch and hope.
The lightening had magicked away the clouds, magicked away the dust and magically flattened the seas. With our new found blue skies we could once again go on sun kissed adventures where surprises awaited at every turn. Brown vs blue; what a contrast.
The blue continued day after day and bay after bay. Even as the seas became busier, we managed to find splendid isolation, hike hills to castles that were off the beaten track and be in amazed that charter boat after charter boat ignored our presence and left us alone. Isolation vs hordes; What a contrast.
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Hello from a fellow yacht just forward off your starboard bow (with the black mast)
in Pollensa.
Hello from the Eleni Crew!