Nicolas caught this fish outside St Tropez, while he was sleeping on the aft deck..... We think it is a Bonita?
Passing St Tropez on our way out of the Bay.
20.09.2013:
After a nice evening and good food with Nicolas and
Christina at the house in Beauvallon to celebrate my birthday yesterday, we took the tender back to New Dawn and took the outboard off and hoisted the tender, so
that we could be ready for an early start this morning.
We lifted anchor at 07:20, as the sun raised, but had
only little wind at first. After rounding the St Tropez Cap, the wind showed up
from NE, which was not ideal. Later on it became better and we had a wonderful
few hours under full sail and speed of topping 8 kn in 11 kn wind at 90° angel.
It lasted until 17:00 and then dropped, so we had to start again the engine. As
I write this we are running under engine and the full moon has just come up in
a orange light show.
The weather forecast is for variable wind from all
directions and we have a difficult swell from west, which makes life on board a
bit tricky. The swell is likely what is the remaining effect from the last 5
days storm, where we have had up to 9 BF in the area, although in the St Tropez
Bay – were we anchored – we “only” had 40 kn wind (a good 8 BF).
21 & 22.10.2013:
After a nice start the first day, we received a lot of
wind. The f’cast had told us 10-20 kn wind, but we got 20-40 kn (6-8 BF) and
huge waves of up to 4.5 m. This made life on board unpleasant as the wind and
waves came from WNW and I spend the night in the cockpit a pain. Chris had
problems sleeping in the aft cabin. During the morning the wind continued to
blow and only by PM did it calm a bit, but the waves stayed with us almost
until we arrived in Fournelles, Menorca.
The Cala Fournelles was a blessing to enter, as it was
calm further into the bay. It is narrow at the entrance, but widen up and is
almost 2 Nm long. That evening (21.09) was quite, except for music playing loud
from the village and a nearby motor yacht. We wondered why all that loud music
and at 07:00 on 22.09 (Sunday) the loudspeakers started again. It turned out
that the village was staging a Triatlon and the start was shortly after 07:00
as hundreds of participants jumped into the water for the first part of the
competition. After the morning swim, they quickly got on their bikes and it
was fun to see them all speed out of the village, as we lifted anchor, after
the last swimmer was finished and we could sail past them without disturbing
them.
Once outside we had a nice 11 kn wind and close hauled
for part of the sail W along Menorca’s N coast. Once we turned S the wind
dropped to 8 kn and came from aft, meaning we slowed down as the Apparent wind
dropped to nearly nothing.
In any case we we were heading for Puerto Colom on
Mallorca’s E coast or further south, hoping to arrive before sunset.If we did
not get there in time we would anchor in a Cala on the SE corner of Mallorca,
where I had anchored in 2012. In Port Colom, I spend a few days in 02012 riding
out a storm and witnessed for the second time the town celebrating the Saint
festivities (see July 2012 Blog entry).
24.09.2013:
After a wonderful sail along the E coast of Mallorca
we anchored in Cala Caragol and Chris cooked the Macral we had caught earlier
that day. It is a wonderful bay and only three other boats there and plenty of
sun lovers on the beach. During the night the wind dropped to nothing and we
had a well deserved full night sleep. The water temperature was a little over
26° C, which was great and we both has a swim in the Christal clear water.
The following morning we had an early start and got
up at 06:00 heading for Ibiza, about 70 Nm away. Not much wind, so we motored
part of the morning, expecting 5-10 kn wind from SE to arrive around midday.
As we had our lunch in the cockpit, so did a Mahi-Mahi
that decided to disturb our lunch trying to eat our “Baby” (our Baby looking
bait). This is the first time we have seen a Mahi-Mahi in the Med. It was about
60 cm and rather small compared to those we caught in the Atlantic. So far this
year we have caught 3 fish.
A Mahi-Mahi is a Dolphin fish (not the Flipper type)
and is also called Dorade, which is a misleading name. It has beautiful colors
of yellow, green, blue and silver grey, but as soon as it dies (via a bit of my
Whisky in its Gels) it start to turn grey. We find it one of the best fish to
eat.
Our first Mahi-Mahi in the Med.
Chris cutting up the Mahi-Mahi
And a blind passenger at sea.
We thought this rock looks like a Dragon?
Well this Hotel was build without the correct permit and on its front is written "Hoted Ilegal" and the work has been stopped several years ago. This is the third tome I pass it and nothing is moving.
The new Shaft Seal.
And the old one taken out while we were on the hard in Almerimar Marina.
We also changed the Cutlas Bearing and thanks that I had both in spare on-board.
A brief stop in Cadiz (by car) to have the Life Raft serviced and we managed to get a few hours sight seeing. The photos above of the Church is for Chris's benefit.
A little bit of shopping in Almerimar.
A long supermarket bill........
