Mahon to Ciutadella at 30 knots (by bus)

We stayed in Cala Taulera for one night and then decided to get nearer to Mahon's town centre by picking up a mooring in Cala Rata where Zephyrus and Spirit were already settled. A small charge is made but your rubbish is collected every morning and is much more convenient for shopping and visiting places as well as evenings on board each others boats!

We were keen to see Mahon, especially because we both enjoyed learning about its importance to the British in the Napoleonic times when we read "Master and Commander" a few weeks ago. As we climbed the steps from the harbour we imagined Jack Aubrey (a character from the book) skipping down them in his enthusiasm to reach his new command, The Sophie, and wondered whether we'd be able to spot the pub at which he reposed! That was not to be, but we did enjoy wandering along the historical streets and admiring the views of the stunning harbour. We visited the Menorca Museum and particularly liked the charts of the area dating back to the 16th Century, and took a while to realise why some of them looked so strange. It seems it wasn't customary to draw charts with north at the top and so we were stood in the display hall with our heads twisted over to get an "upright" impression!

We whiled away numerous hours in the cockpit of La Premiere watching the comings and goings of the busy harbour. There was such variety of boats; little "run arounds" zipping to and fro, the huge cruise liners stopping only for a day before a night passage to another destination, glass-bottom boats galore carrying eager sun burned tourists, umbrous grey naval vessels, square riggers, motor yachts and, of course, us! The town too looks down on all this, perched on its fortified cliff top, clearly aware of its historical importance and keen to welcome everyone now that the Mediterranean is no longer a sea of battles, pirates and war.

On the Sunday, we resurrected our Gibraltarian tradition of roast Sunday lunch with Ian and Jo, inviting Neil and Tracey, of Spirit of Solent, too. It certainly went down well, from the yummy tuna and chick pea salad the Zephs provided for starter, followed by roast chicken and potatoes with stuffing and veg, to the apple crumble I had made at Chris' request! Dice games continued well into the evening and I think all had a good time.

I had been disappointed that we had not sailed into Ciutedela on our arrival in Menorca and so we decided to take a bus across the island for a day visit. This had the added advantage that we got to see a little bit of the inland area as well, because the main road to Ciutedela takes you right across the centre of Menorca. It is not as mountainous as Mallorca and I was struck by the dry stone walls separating the fields which reminded me of England. The journey took about an hour and we turned the corner from the bus station and quickly found ourselves in the heart of a mediaeval town. We made our way down to the harbour, stopping at one of the numerous bars for a coffee and then on, past the yacht club, to the headland. There, to our surprise, was the "Arcadia", a ship we are very familiar with having lived in Ocean Village just around the corner from her home port, at anchor and disgorging its passengers into a couple of its lifeboats to ferry them ashore! After a little more ambling we came across a museum and had a leisurely look around at the artefacts displaying the history of the island. By this time we were ready for lunch but failed in our attempt to find a locals back street bar with a "Menu del Dia" and we settled on an Italian place with a reasonable set menu. Unfortunately we did not time things well enough to visit the windmill but I admired it from the outside. The bus took us back to Mahon where we bumped into Ian and Jo who informed us that we were all having dinner on Spirit, which was welcome news. Just time for a much-needed cuppa and a snooze before another evening of good food, wine, chatter and games!

Ian and Jo set off for Sardinia at 5am the next morning. There had been some quite strong winds in the last few days and we didn't fancy another swell hindered trip like the one from Moraira to Ibiza and decided not to accompany them. Besides, we were still considering sailing further north round Menorca to visit Fornells, a place popular with Spain's King, apparently. A day and a half later we realised the forecast was too good to miss and with the sea having had time to flatten out a little we decided to head east too!