4th July - Cala N Porter

Soundtrack: Ashore a dog is barking for someone to throw a ball for it - behaving just like Pippin used to. Oh, we do miss the dogs still…..

High Point: Cala N Porter is the beach we used to come to during the Weir family holiday a few years ago. We promised ourselves then that we would return in our own boat if we could. And here we are! It is somehow fitting that we’re here today when it is exactly three years ago that we set out from the Mayflower marina in Plymouth.

Low Point: Not sure we had one today – oh dear, that’s asking for trouble…..

From Cala Mitjana, we’d planned to spend the night in Porto Colom, but we’re having such a good sail in the southerly F4 sea breeze that we decide to go on the 11 miles to Porto Christo, despite knowing the town is unashamedly given over to mass tourism. Set in a cala shaped like a swan’s neck and flanked by cliffs on one side and beach on the other, Porto Christo must once have been an attractive place. Now several dreary hotels and apartment blocks overlook the seafront, a marina full of motorboats fills the head of the cala and every few minutes a huge glass-bottomed tripper boat roars in to dock at the pier.

Much of the area designated for anchoring in the pilotbook has been buoyed off for swimmers which gives us little choice with where to go. We’re quite pleased that we manage to squeeze into a calm spot right under the cliffs with the flook out to stop the boat from swinging. After a swim we go ashore and - oh joy! - among the rows of souvenir stalls we find a shop selling fresh fruit and veg.

Happily restocked, we set off the next day for Menorca. After an hour’s motoring to recharge the batteries and cool the fridge, we have a leisurely 30 mile sail in a light southerly until we’re just short of Dartuch light on the southwest corner of Menorca. It’s early evening when we anchor in 4 metres of crystal clear water on sand in Cala Saura, an attractive bay fringed by an almost empty beach with pine trees behind. However it’s open to the south, and the boat’s rocking in the slight swell gives us a fitful night’s sleep.

After a morning swim, we sail closehauled the 12 miles to Cala N Porter, just managing it on a single tack. The breeze goes from a force 2 to a fresh 4, helping us point higher and giving us a bracing finish.