Menorca, with mates

39° 53.404’N 4° 16.612'E Mahon, Menorca

Hell to the yeehaa… Mike & Abi are here.

Upon finding their way to our mooring in Mahon our mates sat in the cockpit with us all afternoon, putting the world to rights over jugs of Hendricks garnished with cucumber, cracked black pepper and a sprig of rosemary.

I am not short of gINSPIRATION but this was opposite our berth. it was a sign.

Then we went tapa’s hunting. We started at ‘Sa Vinya‘ for our entree round of plates and a lovely bottle of red. Then onto our next restaurant Passió Mediterrània where we, without wanting to stand in the way of a good thing, repeated with round two of tapas and another bottle of red.

Our wine choice ‘Dido’ naturally led to an impromptu chorus of ‘White Flags’. The spanish waiter got massive brownie points for changing the house music to Dido to elevate our rather obvious joke.

We went to sleep in Port Mahon with full tummies and full hearts. Lovely to see our friends.

The next day, the wind conditions were preferable to sail along the north coast. Start the day as you mean to go on, so first stop was Cala De S’Illa for a paddle and champagne.

Then a sail / siesta to our next port…

Fornells, a small village originally formed in the 17th century to protect the bay from Barbary pirates for whom Fornells Bay, with its deep water but narrow entrance which restricts the swell, provided the perfect safe haven.

These days Fornells' natural harbour is filled with IIauts, the traditional Minorcan fishing craft, used for fishing lobsters.

Those pirates were onto something, it was the best nights sleep at a mooring buoy we’ve had! We woke early to the sound of our crew mates jumping ship for a fresh morning swim underneath clear blue skies.

Smack bam in the middle of the north coast is Cala Pregonda. A pretty curved bay with golden sand, golden rocks, green trees and blue blue water.

Paddle board racing quickly got underhanded.

To be honest so did the snorkelling.

Then as we sailed to Ciutadella it was a relaxed lunch of bruschetta with chopped fresh local tomatoes, basil, local olive oil and a touch of salt and pepper. Soul food, salt water and sunshine… and maybe a few more Moscow mules.

Ciutadella was our marina for the evening and we made the most of it, heading out for mojitos along the promenade followed by dinner at Cas Consol who served a us all beautiful meals and had the most marvellous view from the toilet!

“I hear you have a plan” said the Weather.

“mwah ha ha” said Mother Nature.

We ain’t going nowhere fast. The plan was to leave Menorca this morning to sail across to Mallorca but the Tramontana winds had other ideas. We are stuck, with sound company so it’s not so bad, but there is a good chance we are going to have to sit out a couple of days….

We wandered Ciutadella a lot, which was pretty and had decent shops to potter about in.

It was warmer the next day and we wanted to play in the sea. The winds were still too strong to comfortably take the boat out of the marina so we hired a car and took Mike & Abi to Cala Macarella, the loveliest bay from a few days ago. *note the lack of boats anchored in the bay.

We drove home via the mid 19th century lighthouse at Cap d'Artrutx. We had a beer and offered thanks to her guiding light for all.

The sun wanted to make a statement about her own guiding light and offered us the most spectacular show as we drove home that evening, we pulled the car over and sat on the rocks over the sea appreciating every moment of colour.