Could summer be approaching in Menorca

The weather has gone from one extreme to the other this week; we started with a wet & windy weekend.  We hunkered down on the boat watching DVDs whilst Magnum and the other boats danced around the anchorage hoping that we would all swing in the same direction so not to collide.  We were  sharing the anchorage with 2 French and one German boat – we liked the look of the French power boat it has a bit of character.

Our French Neighbours

As the weather improved on Monday we had to make a mad dash in the dingy into town to provision for the week, we are very glad that there is a large supermarket in walking distance.  We then decided it was time that we give the water a try and after struggling into winter wetsuits, boots, gloves, hoods and snorkels we bobbed around the anchorage.  As expected the water initially was not too bad but with about 20 minutes is was just too chilly.  The sea life was scarce we only saw one fish! But lots of sea cucumbers!

The Tuesday was another windy one so again we were confided to the boat, thankfully our DVD collection is not running low as yet and it was sunny so we still had enough solar power to keep up with the laptop demands.

Hurrah for the sunshine! Wednesday saw a change in the weather, it was too hard to resist going for a sail.  We refuelled, and filled with water (10 Euros for 400 liters water and that was the cheap op tion!) and headed out of Mahon harbour with the wind building.  As we left the harbour in the beautiful sunshine our hopes for a sail started to die along with the wind but thankfully as we rounded the first headed landed the wind increased to force 3-4 which made for a lovely couple of hours sailing to Es Grau.

We tucked in and anchored behind Isla Colom with beautiful clear water with only one other boat which soon left as it approached dusk.

Isla Colum

We prepared our dinner and set off to the beach with a bottle of bubbly.

Our lovely picnic

Next day we dingyed into Es Grau a small fishing village with a couple of bars/restaurants on the edge of the S’Albufera Natural Park. We had a lovely walk through the Nature Reserve, one area is salt marshes with a large lagoon.

Lagoon S'Albufera Natural Park

We saw a range of wildlife including this freeky looking thing! It was about 5 inches long.

We then walked out onto the beach and out along the headland, we had some spectacular views of the Cala.

Beach at Es Grau

We walked up and down the various headlands coming across tiny little beaches which were mainly empty apart from the odd naked person. We eventually came out on a headland over looking Magnum.

You can just Magnum in distance

Many of the beaches still had piles of seaweed which has been blown ashore in the winter, not sure what must happen to this is the summer, on the more populated beaches you see this being cleared by tractors but unsure how this would be done in these more remote locations.

Beach piled high in seaweed

We saw a handful of other walkers, most seemed to be tourists rather than locals but the paths are also bridal ways and saw a beautiful horse trotting down a steep path behind us followed by a little dog, when they pasted us we noticed there was another dog sat on the saddle!

Look closely there is a dog standing on the back of the saddle

By the time we returned to the boat we were both baking hot (best weather since we arrived a month ago!) and were considering taking a swim but even dipping our feet in the water was freezing! So we battled with our wetsuits, not easy in over 20 degrees and jumped in for a swim.  Sea life was limited but there were a few weed patches which gave us something to explore.

The following morning we headed in the opposite direction (towards Cala Mesquita) from the village for a walk, this headed inland for a few kilometres but we were soon up and down the headlands overlooking the beautiful blue sea where the countryside often resembles the UK in the spring with the buttercups and other wild flowers.

Again the sun was baking and Mark was in trouble for forgetting to pack the cold drinks but we both forgot about any thirst when we came across a wild tortoise! We knew that they lived in the Natural Park and joked that we wanted to see one but never thought we would come across one on the path! It made our day.

Wild tortoise 

Look how excited Mark is!

Another great day out and even nicer to dingy back to see Magnum happy at anchor.