David's Diary: Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Passage To Palma, Spain

By 6:00AM we had cast off from the dock and headed out in darkness for the passage to Palma, part of the Balearic islands of Spain. This will be our last big passage for a while and we're looking forward to being based on Mallorca for some time (some English guidebooks call the island Majorca). Just after daylight the sound of the motor brought Jocelyn and Kevin out in the cockpit. There is something special about eating breakfast outside at the start of a passage.

Approaching Palma

We found some wind, raised the sails, and beat into a light Force 3 wind. We passed fish boats and freighters and midway between Ibiza and Mallorca we had another first -- we were further from land than we had ever been in a sailboat. As the wind slowly died and we made less and less progress we finally conceded defeat and put the engine back on. The sun sets at 6:30 and we wanted to be in Palma before dark.

We motored through the late afternoon sharing shifts at the wheel until off in the distance we could make out the island of Mallorca. We had been planning this stop for months and as we approached the city the towering presence of the cathedral was silhouetted against the backdrop of the mountains. We tied to the dock, arranged for moorage, and as a family felt satisfied that another passage had been completed successfully.