30 Balearic beauty – relishing true blue

Never did we expect to find such beauty around the Balearic Islands Our first experience was anchoring in Cala Escondida on Ibiza where we were treated by a beautiful sunset accompanied by the hippie drums saluting the sun on its way down to the sea .

Next morning we pumped up the dinghy to explore the beach and came upon a charming chiringuito, one of the famous and simple little beach restaurants you find on the islands. Here we had a nice carrot juice and a vegan lunch, happily adapting to the local way of life which suited us just fine apart from the yoga exercises.

The calas, little inlets in the rocky coastline, are very suitable for anchoring. Some are impressive with wild nature in a beautiful scenery, great to swim and snorkel or take the dinghy for a hike ashore . Others have charming fisherman villages or little towns worthwhile exploring.

The islands must be hollow if you look at the many caves you find everywhere. We learned they were used by smugglers to store their contrabande.

At Mallorca we visited Tom, a longtime friend who is a captain now and lives on the island when he is free. He and his wife Carrol made a beautiful house and garden in a quiet place in the hills of central Mallorca. Tom showed us around and we admired his place which even has a real Dutch bar for when he gets homesick. We were treated to delicious barbecued tuna on their terrace.

Cala S’a Nau is one of the most beautiful places of the Mallorcan east coast and we were lucky to find a place to squeeze our Kabaal in between the small motorboats. Late in the afternoon everyone went home and we were left in this fairy tale landscape with just two other boats.

This east coast of Mallorca has a longtime history of human habitation which dates back even before Christ. The caves served as home dwellings until well in the last century as we found out when we hiked along the coast the next morning.

Speaking of caves I should mention the trip we made with Carrol and Tom next day. Tom wanted to show us a place where we could visit one swimming inside. When we were anchored in the quite rocky sea near some rocky part of the coastline he told us to put on shoes, bring a waterproof flashlight and swim along. Diving through the narrow entrance we visited an incredible succession of large caves where we had to climb, swim, crawl and walk to find our way. It was one of the most memorable adventures of our trip so far.

Alcùdia, of roman origin but with its medieval walls telling a story of many past times, was the last place we visited on Mallorca so far. We sailed off to Menorca to meet our Spanish family who were eager to show us one more lovely place in their country.

Below is a movie of this episode.