Stormy Days

  Porto Petro, Spain
Sunday, September 10, 2006

As was forecasted by many people who have spent more than one Summer here, clouds and rain have stormed through the island during these first two weeks of September. We witnessed the first electrical storm just yesterday night, when sitting in our terrace watching the blinding show of lightning flashes and rumbling thunder. We wanted to walk up to the lighthouse to watch the storm above the open sea, but the imminent rain kept us from moving from our warm shelter. Instead, we moved the couch out into the terrace and comfortably watched as the two stormy bodies moved in from the east and from the west, to meet above Porto Petro.

Just after midnight the watery downpour began covering our scenery in a thick fog-like cloud. The hypnotizing effects of the hard rain made us drowsy with sleep so we retired to enjoy the last few moments of the storm from bed.

03 Mallorcan Boats

This morning the air was cooler and the sky was hung over from the tempest of the night before and even though the weather wasn't ideal, Ed and I rushed to the beach to catch some sun rays. I was surprised to see the water wasn't as clear and still as it always was, but rather dirty and agitated. Where there were usually no waves, now the violent angry whirls of sea water broke on the rocky edges of the cove. Garbage and sea debris were washed up on the shore barricading the entrance to the water, as if the sea was warning off any swimmers from disturbing its ill-temper. Respecting the sea's wishes, most beach-goers were quietly resting on their towels upon the sand, while some walked up to the filthy shore, contemplating whether to go in or not.

02 Procellous clouds

Ed and I relaxed on the rocks until the sun was completely blocked out by dark menacing clouds. Rendering our beach day terminated, we walked back trying to come up with ideas on what to do with the remainder of the day. We concluded that if we had a car, we could probably use dead moments like these to go explore other corners of the island, like the Medieval monastery on top of a mountain or the nudist beach where it is rumored that one can walk 1 km into the sea and still have the water down to your knees. Or the gigantic Campanet caves with calcareous chambers where the subterranean water is practically fluorescent or maybe even visit the ancient roman vestiges in the island.

05 The Fickle Sun

So as we relished on the things we couldn't do due to lack of transport, we decided to head back home, fix some late lunch and watch a movie. Alas, our lazy uneventful day. Tomorrow we go back to work and thus starts the action again. The friendly chats with friends and customers and the enthusiastic dancing behind the bar encouraging people to move when the Dj plays a dirty track. And besides, it's a fun shelter from the deluge and thunder that submerges the nighttime, as opposed to sitting at home in silence. There could be hailstorms and floods going on, tsunamis and hurricanes, the plagues of Egypt and the seven horsemen of the Apocalypse approaching, and no one in The Cave would notice....at least not till dawn.