September 13-26, 2023 — We did an overnight sail to Majorca (aka Mallorca) in the Balearic Islands, coming into Port de Soller. A protected small harbor, it has a delightful 100 year old train that runs between the Port and the village of Soller, about a 20 minute trip. We went on Saturday to enjoy the weekly open market. They had all sorts of things for sale from art, to food, to clothing. The town is filled with old homes, well kept, and narrow streets handling only a single car at a time. It made us want to go back again on a quieter, non-market day so we could explore further.
Port de Andratx is a very protected, deep harbor, good for bad weather. We moved into there and picked up a mooring ball at the local yacht club. It was a great base from which we could explore the town and take a bus into Palma for the day, which we did several times.
Palma did not disappoint. It is the capital of Majorca – A port city with old, well-kept buildings, nice parks, and the magnificent Santa Maria Cathedral, a Gothic landmark, started in the 13th century that overlooks the sea. It is a focal point of the town and well worth a visit. Just across the square from the Cathedral is the Palm tree lined streets with colorful bougainvillea and oleander urge you to find a shady café and enjoy some people watching with the locals.
We left Andratx before sunrise and sailed south to Ibiza, known as the party island of the Balearics. A shoulder month, it is still a busy time on the island. Time was not on our side here as we had a deadline by which we need to be in Morocco and the season has been a series of poor weather windows. We need to move when the weather is cooperating. We anchored off the northwest corner of Ibiza and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the anchorage. On to Formentera, the smallest of the Balearic Islands and one of the best anchorages we have had in the Med. It has gin clear water, and a sandy bottom with no Posidonia grass. It is illegal to anchor in the protected bottom grass and the local police patrol and ticket for violations. There were a lot of boats but enough space for every boat to comfortably swing around on their anchor as the wind shifted. Our plan was to spend one night but we talked ourselves into a second day to go explore ashore and enjoy the anchorage and sunsets overlooking Ibiza.