Sailing off Mallorca

Having told Sam, my boat crazy friend from college, that I was headed sailing with my wonderful neighbours John and Magsie Goor and their grandson (and my good friend) Quinn I was fairly certain that he was more excited than I was. Now that I am home I completely understand why. I was treated to the most spectacular week sailing from the Real Club Nautico de Palma (RCNP) to the most gorgeous places including the world heritage site of Cabrera and San Jordi. I cannot thank John and Magsie enough for inviting me to join them. It was a pretty exceptional way to spend my second last week in the northern hemisphere.

The first night we arrived into Palma airport late, around 10pm, and taxied to the RCNP. My jaw hit the floor and it wouldn’t be the last time either. Hundreds of beautiful boats lined the docks with the Spanish hills and the local cathedral in the background. We were treated to dinner in the club house before retiring for our first night on the boat. Throughout the trip the temperature didn’t drop below 23 degrees at night and it was even hotter in the cabins so I found the first night tough. Quinn was far more sensible sleeping on deck. We met Ilsa in the morning. She was going to be sailing with us and making sure we didn’t do something stupid. There was more excitement than expected as we attempted to begin our first sail. One of the bow thrusters stopped working so we became caught on one of our neighbouring boat’s lines. Quick thinking Ilsa hopped out of the boat, got us free and then we picked her up at the end of the dock and we were away.

We sailed for five and a half hours, out of Palma bay in a South Westerly direction and anchored near Illa Gavina. This was probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen with gorgeous warm, clear, still water and golden sand. If only it weren’t for all the nudists! We took the tender ashore and threw the Frisbee around along with jumping off the boat. I was tasked with keeping the ships log for the trip. It did take a couple of attempts to get it right but I know what I’m doing now! Quinn and I cooked dinner before we settled down for my first night at anchor. Feeling refreshed in the morning we swam some more before we headed to the island of Cabrera where John had acquired a special permit to allow us to be there for a 23 hour period. This was a truly magical place. A gorgeous quiet bay with only a couple of buildings including a castle on a hill. We walked up to the top of the castle with breath taking views in every direction. John cooked delicious steaks for us all though I believe Quinn and I had the lion’s share. The next morning Ilsa took us to the ‘Blue Cave’. This is a sea cave that you can take the tender into and then swim in. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever done. The views under the water were just incredible with the sun filtering through the water to illuminate the cave in bright blue light. We explored a couple of other caves before we set sail for 5 hours towards Porto Colom. We moored here again, ate dinner out and Quinn and I had great fun on the paddle boards and doing back flips off the boat! The next two days we had a couple more long sails to San Jordi and Cala Porals as Quinn and I continued to do our best to avoid the nudist beaches. We filled our time with Frisbee, flips, swimming and exploring, with a couple of very ambitious swims across the bay a Cala Porals.

Finally, we had a lovely sail back to the RCNP. The final two days were spent cleaning the boat, swimming in the pool, 30mins exploring Palma and watching Wimbledon. John again treated us to a gorgeous dinner out where experimentation was the order of the day for Quinn. And then just like that we were flying home. Back to Reality. It’s safe to say I’d definitely do that again!

If you'd like to see all the photos and videos from the trip you can find them here.