Limerence Update 54

SPAIN - Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona

October 2003

Lat. 41d22N Lon. 02d11E

Limerence arrived unscathed on Dockwise Yacht Transport in Mallorca - Balearic Islands of Spain, after a bouncy ride across the Atlantic. A hurricane in the area made for huge swells and delayed the arrival by one day. It took 13 days for the trip across the Atlantic. The ship carried a light cargo. . . three small sailboats! Dockwise Yacht Transport personnel said the ship would be fully loaded for the return trip to the States for the autumn boat shows. We boarded Limerence on Thursday (by climbing up a ladder) to be ready for the Friday morning “float off”. We spent the day cleaning the propeller and bottom of the boat, and unpacking our duffel bags after two weeks in hotels. It was heaven to be in our own bed!

Dockwise Yacht Transport	Limerence, Thylassa and Ishmael

Before dawn we detected the sounds of water slowly filling the decks of the ship, as it lay moored against the dock at Palma de Mallorca. We were afloat! Scuba divers arrived at first light to pull away the stands from under the boat. Workers threw off our securing lines, and soon we maneuvered our way off the ship. We drove to the reception/fuel dock at the Real Club Nautico de Palma and were assigned a slip. We were familiar with the marina and Palma de Mallorca having spent 10 days on the island waiting for Limerence. We had flown from Florida to Barcelona for several days, then onto Palma. It gave us an opportunity to get acquainted with Barcelona and Mallorca before the boat arrived.

Palma de Mallorca - Balearic Islands	Real Club de Nautico - Palma

The Real Club Nautico is a modern marina in a beautiful historic setting. We were steps from the enormous Cathedral La Seu, and historic boulevards with buses roaring and tourists milling around. Despite it’s prime location, the marina is very quiet. We found a wonderful grocery store close by, and several Internet cafes. We settled in for almost two weeks as we waited for calm winds to make our passage up to Barcelona.  

Castell de Bellver	Judy at the Castell de Bellver	Tour bus

We kept ourselves busy as tourists. One day we rode the double decker tour bus around town, jumping on and off as we wished. Poble Espanyol is a stop that is a replica of famous monuments and examples of Spanish architecture. It gives you a snapshot of the different styles of buildings around Spain, though slightly hokey because it’s not REAL. Far more interesting was Castell de Bellver a nearby 14^th century castle with stunning views of the Mediterranean. It was built originally as a home for a King, and then later became a prison among other uses. The city bought the castle ten years ago to establish a museum for ancient relics. 

Palma de Mallorca	Cathedral

Mallorca is dominated by the Serra de Tramuntana Mountains making the northwest coastline spectacularly rugged. We took a two-hour train ride on an antique tour train though mountain passes and tunnels to the village of Soller for one day. The town has attractive old buildings, gardens and plazas, and gobs of tourists. A short shuttle tram takes you down the mountain to the seaside port. We thought we might stop and anchor in the harbor on our way to Barcelona. We had lunch at an outdoor café and caught the late afternoon train back to Palma. 

Village of Soller	Train to Soller

We are still shocked at the number of tourists in Palma! Germans have bought up 20% or more of the real estate in Mallorca, and at times we heard only German being spoken. . . no Spanish! We also met lots of tourists from England and Holland, but almost no one from the United States. Mallorca is lush and gorgeous – no wonder the royal families of Europe continue to vacation there.

Poble Espanyol	Street Troubadour	"Live Human" statue - Palma

The days were sunny in Mallorca as we prepared to make our passage to Barcelona. However, the winds were ferocious creating huge seas in the Mediterranean. So, we waited. Fortunately we met two America sailboats in Palma also waiting to head north. Rob and Andy on AKKA, and Tom and Vicki on TEMPEST. These were the first American flags we’d seen! We enjoyed getting acquainted, and subsequently made the overnight 120-mile passage to Barcelona in their company. It is nice to have a radio check-in every few hours with buddy boats on overnighters. We arrived in Barcelona on October 22 after a bumpy ride of 23 hours, and took our slip in the Port Vell Marina in the center of historic Barceloneta! We are nearly in the front row with postcard views of Barcelona from our decks.  

Port of Soller	Typical cafe

The marina is very secure despite the fact tourists can stroll along the raised promenade in front of the Museu d’Historia de Catalunya, and look down upon the rows of boats. It is quieter than you would expect, and we are very happy with our location. We had quite a shock last weekend though. . .

We were sitting in our cockpit at 6pm and suddenly heard “Hey Limerence!! Look up here! It’s me! Grant, from Koonawarra!” We practically fainted at the sight of our old friend whom we met three years ago in Mexico. We had sailed together down the Central American coast to El Salvador. Grant, a single hander, departed Barillas Marina in El Salvador in March 2001 bound for Costa Rica. He was in the company of the sailboats, JOSS and KARINA D. That night his 48-foot Hans Christian sailboat exploded at sea! Grant would have perished if friends on his buddy boats had not seen the explosion, and returned to pluck him out of the night ocean. The story is on this website – Travel Updates 2001, number 21. Now, here was Grant calling to us in Barcelona! He had been touring Spain for six weeks and spied our American flag in the marina! After Grant’s accident, he spent many months in hospitals, but now looks well and fully recovered. He remembers little about the incident and still is uncertain of the cause of the explosion. We had a wonderful reunion over the next three days. Life is strange and the world is small! 

Grant Todd	Isolation Tranformer

We are settling into life on board for the winter in Barcelona. First, we had to obtain a transformer to convert the 220 electrical shore power to 110 volts. This was not an easy task. The isolation transformer had to be ordered from England and we waited several days. There are still issues about the configuration of the wiring within the transformer. This is a common problem for U.S. registered boats, which do not have dual electrical systems. Many cruisers have connected their boats to non-isolation transformers, which have the potential for serious problems. We will address this issue in detail over the next months in the technical section of this website.

We have bought a Spanish cell phone, and connected our computers to wireless WIFI to have the Internet onboard. We have found the local markets and plenty of tasty inexpensive wine. The variety of meats and cheeses is delightful. We are adjusting to Spain’s fondness for eating dinner after 10 pm, and closing most stores for three hours in the afternoon. There is a friendly and active cruising community spending the winter here in historic Port Vell Marina! We are very happy we made this decision!

 Fair winds friends,