Camilla Ransom
We had a lovely peaceful, uneventful nights sleep and woke up feeling….oddly quite groggy. We’d left it a bit late to take the dinghy to the beach to do a workout as by now it was packed with day trippers, so instead we decided to give it a go on the boat. It was tight, but we managed. Afterwards we went for a swim then upped anchor and headed along the south coast, under motor as there wasn’t any wind.
We’d seen a few nice anchorages in the pilot book (thanks for that Arild!) and one in particular called Cale Coves which looked amazing; the best in Menorca apparently. On further reading we understood it to be tiny, and that yachts needed to take lines ashore. In small but popular places this is common practice, as having the anchor out the front and a line out the back (usually around a rock) prevents boats from swinging too much which allows more to park up. Taking a line ashore isn’t something we’ve done before, and the longest line we have is about 25m (the pilot book reckons you need at least double that) so we chickened out and opted to overnight in the Cale just before it, called Cala Porter.
On approach, despite the pilot book claiming it was “a large anchorage” it was a narrow bay in-between two high cliffs and there was room for no more than about four boats. Luckily there were only two in situ so we decided to be brave and head in. After dodging the horde of pedalos we managed to anchor in exactly the spot we were aiming for (for a change). Relieved we had a glass (or two) of rose and headed to shore.
We moored “Bob” (the dinghy) on the little slipway and walked up what felt like 50,000 steps to the top of the westerly cliff, weaving through pretty whitewashed houses perched on the hillside. The hike was well worth it as the views at the top were lovely. Although it’s a little busier here it makes for a nice change of scenery after having spent a couple of nights in quite an isolated anchorage. It seems pretty civilised here too as instead of the usual Europop blasting out at 100dB, we’re sitting here now listening to someone playing a piano from a nearby restaurant. It’s still early hours though so we’re expecting that to change! 🙂
So ein schönes Fleckchen?