In the past week we’ve sailed around the south and east coasts of Mallorca and then crossed over to Menorca with friends Nick and Lindy from Reigate. Its been a great week of sailing with good breeze most days and good anchorages, especially the island of Cabrera (a beautifully quiet island off the SE coast of Mallorca which is a nature reserve; a permit is needed to go there and only 50 boats are allowed to stay there overnight) and a lovely inlet at Es Grau on Menorca recommended by a friend David (who visits Menorca in summer but whom we met skiing in Les Carroz! Small world.) Es Grau is a small village with numerous fishing boats and one restaurant where we had the best fish ever (well maybe on par with the crab house cafe in Weymouth). We also went round to Fornells Bay for lunch – its a lovely bay but quite a busy tourist destination so we preferred the quiet local feel of Es Grau and went back there for another night. (thanks David for your recommendations for both anchorages and restaurants – both excellent! And for guiding us around.)

On Saturday we sailed into the historic harbour at Mahon – what a wonderfully sheltered harbour and it’s easy to understand why the English navy made this their base in the Med in Napoleonic times. Sadly many of the historic fortifications have not been well maintained and the town itself was a little disappointing. But it was a terrific experience to sail into the harbour and imagine Nelson and Captain Jack Aubrey sailing in here around 200 years ago.