On passage

We had arrived at Santa Ponça expecting to stay for a few days, but somehow those few days had turned into a month so we were both ready to see another part of Mallorca. Also, another stormy day was forecast and last week’s experience told us it was time to move on.

Our next destination was Port de Pollença, on the opposite side of the island, the most direct route would be a passage of around 65 nautical miles along the northwest coast. Originally, our plan was to make our way around the southern tip of Mallorca, stopping at some of the beautiful bays and anchorages along the coast.

However, theses bays on the south coast would be quite exposed over the following few days, and we didn’t particularly fancy spending time anchored somewhere only to find ourselves worrying about the wind and sea conditions. Looking at the forecast, it also appeared that we would get a much better sailing wind if we headed north quickly, which sounded like the best option.

Port de Sóller is situated approximately halfway into the journey, this would normally have made a very convenient stopping point. However, it would also be exposed with the winds due to shift to the northwest during the following night. Rather than stopping there and potentially finding ourselves in an uncomfortable anchorage, we decided to do the whole journey in one go.

That meant an early start! We planned to leave at 4am, allowing us to make the 65 nautical mile passage and arrive in Port de Pollença in daylight. I quite like leaving early, the bay is very quiet as you leave, then sail through the early morning darkness and watch the sky slowly change colour as the sun rises.

In reality, the passage didn’t quite turn out as expected.

It started well, we woke to a lovely morning, with a full moon shining down on us. The anchor came up fairly easily, which is always a concern after spending a long time in one place. Sometimes it becomes so deeply ‘dug in’ that getting it back out of the seabed can be quite a struggle.

There was only a light breeze as we left the anchorage, so we motored out, taking the opportunity to charge the batteries. But clouds soon began to form, hiding the moon and making it a very grey morning.

Then, after a couple of hours the conditions changed dramatically as the wind arrived. It wasn’t the nice Force 3/4 southerly blowing from the land that had been predicted in the forecast. It quickly increased, gusting up to 40 knots and bringing a confused swell with it.

Ziggy was rolling around, and the wind seemed to be coming from all directions. It kept changing and felt as though it was spiralling around us. There was no way we could sail in those conditions.

We headed into a small bay to see if we could get some shelter and wait for the storm to pass. Unfortunately, it was too deep for us to anchor safely, so after a short pause for breath we had no choice but to press on.

We headed closer to the shore, where we found a little protection from the swell. However, the wind continued to roar down the steep rock faces, making the conditions uncomfortable.

The coast was lined with high, rocky cliffs for much of the way, many of them appearing to have caves carved into them. Flashes of lightning appeared around us, but thankfully the main line of storms stayed behind the hills and we actually managed to avoid the worst as we continued along the coast.

We soon became rather wet. There were a few spots of rain, but most of our soaking came from the spray of the confused waves crashing over the bow. Every now and then, one of the larger waves would catch us by surprise, sending salty water crashing into the cockpit and giving us an unexpected soaking.

After several hours of battling on, the wind eventually eased before disappearing completely, it was as though someone had switched a huge fan off! We ended up running the engine all the way, not quite the nice calm downwind sail we had planned.

I didn’t even get to see the sunrise, as the sky was filled with thick cloud. It felt like a very long day, but as we approached Port de Pollença, the clouds began to break up and the sun started to peep through. Finally, after nearly 14 hours, we dropped our anchor in Port de Pollença‘a calm water.