Back to Palma Mallorca - AGAIN

 August 16-17 2012

On Thursday morning we finally dragged ourselves away from Cala Portals and headed the short trip back across the bay to Palma. Marc was arriving back from the UK that evening and if everything went to plan we’d be getting our radio back and hopefully having a new battery charger fitted. Then we could fill the boat to the brim with provisions and head for Menorca and on to Sardinia to really get this cruising business started.

We were really looking forward to this next stage of our Mediterranean adventures but a text message we received as we entered harbour put a hold on things. The radio was still not back. It may have been with them for over two weeks but that didn’t matter. Europe closes for August. Quite simply everybody including huge companies simply shut up shop for the whole month and go on holiday. Our radio was apparently sitting on a bench in a deserted workshop at Raymarine somewhere and Walter our marine electrician held little hope of seeing it before September. Definitely not the news we wanted. We were going to have to spend another two weeks in Mallorca at least and we could see summer slipping away.

We decided to provision the boat anyway so hit the supermarket with a big 700 Euro shop. Thank goodness for home delivery. The lot was delivered right to the boat that evening. We welcomed Marc back just in time for him to help load it all onboard. It was just what he needed after a flight from London of course.

We settled in for a few catch up drinks in the cockpit after dinner when a three parts drunk Scott from a charter boat down the dock decided to invite himself to the party. Everybody on his boat had gone to bed so he arrived at ours with a bottle of Gin and many tales about his life. He was harmless so we humoured him until we really wanted to go to bed and indicated so. It wasn’t until next morning that we realised he’d not only left with his Gin but also our tonic and a glass to drink it in.  Thanks Joe from Glasgow.

We really didn’t want to be in the marina on Friday because that’s when all the charter boats come back in and the place turns into an absolute zoo but we were hopeful of at least coming up with a battery charger to make some progress. A morning of chasing proved fruitless with the same response everywhere, ‘August, gone holiday. Come back next month.’

Some of the 'Jeanneau' letters were missing so we decided to remove the rest
but at one stage this is what we had. Jean from Doubletime will be impressed.

We did however have another great lunch at our local in next marina with their menu of the day. It’s hard to beat 9.50 euro for a starter of a huge plate of Paela, a second course of chicken or fish followed by desert and all accompanied by a bottle of wine and water.

Enjoying sundowners that evening we were relieved not to have another visit from Joe but some French charterers from one of the boats did come over and ‘borrow’ some orange juice as they needed it desperately for their vodka. Next morning as they were packing everything off their boat and getting ready to leave they come over to tell us they have some food leftover from their week on the boat, would we want it. So Karen wandered over to have a look only to learn they wantedr to sell it to us. Thanks but no thanks and hope you choked on the orange juice.

It was definitely time for us to get the hell out of there. We had time to kill before we had to come back to Palma yet again so we were going to circumnavigate Mallorca. Throw off the lines, all ahead slow.

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