Martorell Colonia de Sant Jordi

... proceeded to win the playoffs on the second round. Our prizes – a Noordam coffee mug and a Noordam water bottle – these are referred to colloquially as a Dam Mug and a Dam Jug respectively.

We set off at around 6 p.m. for Tunis – although we do have tomorrow at sea as it takes longer than overnight to get there. There was a wild thunderstorm – actually the weather hasn’t been great ...

And at long last we are on our way ... can't quite believe we are actually starting this journey after all the work, planning, talking .... And we know we've been to San Telmo many times before but this time it is different!! And so good to have Simon's old friends Max & Linsey onboard - after all they were really the people responsible for him ending up in Port d'Andratx to begin with.

We arrived in Cala de Calobra around 5:30. We anchored in the small bay and took a tender to shore. The little village has a small pier along one side of a steep hill and the village is crowded on the hillside raising between two much larger and steeper hills. The whole thing looks like some Hollywood set because of its idyllic setting on the small bay. There are several bars and restaurants where we got drinks and ate an early dinner.

... lunch was served buffet style on the main deck so everyone could eat at their leasure and were it was the most convenient for them.

Waterskiing is very exhausting and after a few hours of playing on the water, the crew loaded everything up and we headed down to coast to the small village of sa Calobra on the Cala de Calobra.

... one you shouldn’t miss if you ever make it to Mallorca.

None of my pics looked very good so, instead of posting my bad pics, below is the link the caves website. Their pics are much better than mine and also show the boats on the underwater lake. http://www.cuevasdeldrach.com/

A fter ...

... waded around in the surf or fell back to sleep on the beach. It was good to get rehydrated after all the alcohol and dancing from last night. It was a nice relaxing afternoon with a beautiful beach view with several other yachts in the bay and a parade of nude or topless people walking by.

One of the girls met a guy on the beach. They spent a few hours chatting and getting to know each other. It was ...

I take a bus to the other side of Palma where there are some small, pretty beaches. Finding them is a little tricky but they are pretty, for city beaches and have a much more Spanish orientation. Some really nice beaches are supposed to be available but I lack the time to work them in (it is large island with slow transit).

My roommate and I go out for the night in Palm central. We walk around and find a little place on a side street ...

... afternoon at the beach back in Playa de Palma. It is so nice to have warm weather with sun. Quite a contrast from Scandinavia. This is an area full of German tourists. Mostly Spring break atmosphere. Apparently it is dominated by package deals. I have seen very few other nationalities here. As an indication, at the airport, Air Berlin dominated the airlines (even though this is Spain it is not Iberia or SpanAir).

... a hotel reservation service at the airport/railway which offers unused rooms at a big discount. No such service in Mallorca. The tourist info desk says they got rid of that service and that they were unable to help. They do, however give me some literature which has a hostel listed in it. I would guess that it is full but it is a starting point from which I can walk around to hotels if it is full.

As I walk into the hotel, there is a living room full of people. They all ...

10 days of enjoying the good life up in the north of Mallorca.

After a turbulent trip I finally arrived on the very first day of my summerholidays and got picked up by my sister and her friend for some shopping in Palma! (Luckily we did not get affected by the ETA attacks, we heared about that much later that day!)
The rest of the day though I spend sleeping at the beach- not ...