Sept 7th to 25th


We toured Menorca with Kathy and Mike on Gitana and John and Lyn Somma our
dear friends from the states.  John and Lyn were able to meet Kathy and Mike
an hour before they left for Mallorca. We toured Menorca with both couples
separately and found the island to be expectionally rich in pre-historic
remains.  The island has been described as an immense open-air museum. The
majority of the sites are the work of the "talaiotic" people who lived
between 2000-1000 B.C. and are named after the talaiots or huge stone towers
that characterize the Menorcan landscape. There are hundred of these Bronze
Age villages and structures around the island. We did not see ALL of them,
but I will list the ones that were our favorites!! At Talati de Dalt we saw
a taula that was over 10 feet high.  Torralba d'en Salord was a whole
village with written (English) explanations of each structure and their
uses.  Naveta des Tudons had a Naveta which looks like an over turned boat
which was used for dwelling and/or burials.  We were able to go inside all
of these structures which were still standing after 4000 plus years.  We
visited the cities of Alaior, es Mercadal, Ferreries, and Ciutadella.  At es
Mercadel we went to Mare de Deu del Toro which is the highest point of the
island and also ate at a restaurant in a windmill, once with Kathy and Mike
for lunch and then several days later with Lyn and John for dinner.  The
best lunch however, was with Lyn and John at a restaurant in Ciutadella on
the waterfront.  Everything we had was fantastic. We also visited the cities
of Cap de Cavalleria  and Fornells to the north. We went to the south by car
with Kathy and Mike to visit the caves at Cala en Porter called the Cales
Coves.  They were over 200 caves and we all climbed to visit and see as many
as we could.  After about five days, we took Lyn and John with our boat to
see them from a different perspective.  We had lunch and a swim in the
beautiful aqua waters.

We also went to the Menorca Museum in Mao which was excellent.  They have
housed all of the items found in all the sites with an explanation of each.
There was also a short film on the different sites around the island which
was VERY informative.  We also had the pleasure of visiting the chapel of
Santa Maria and listening to a half hour organ concert.  This organ has more
pipes than the organ in the Catherdral in Palma... over 3290!!! It was
dedicated in 1810 and it still sounds great!  We also had the best gazpacho
soup and the best mussels in Mao. The last night in Mao, we played dominoes
with Lyn and John while eating tapas (delicious appetizers) and sangaria.
We then had dinner at a different restaurant and a third restaurant for
dessert. Lyn and I were laughing so much after the third jug of sangaria
that we were in tears!! John and Rudy looking at us in amazement!!

We anchored most of the time just opposite the Collingwood Hotel which
was the hotel where Lyn and John stayed. However, since a weather front was
approaching we tied stern to, on one of the man-made islands, really
floating docks.  It had water, electricity and garbage removal.  Then we
moved to a small harbour closer to the entrance to Mao for a quick departure
to Sardinia.  That morning (9/25) we had a horrendous thunder, lightning and
HAIL storm with winds over 45 knots and hail almost 1/2in in diameter.  Two
or three boats dragged and two boats did collide gently into each other. Not
the best way to make friends, but the memories are lasting!  I think
everyone of the 10-15 boats had their engines on with some using them to get
out of the way of other boats.  As soon as the storm stopped, we were out of
there and on our way to Sardinia.

We dodged another storm shortly after leaving...thanks to Faith! I usually
run right into the heart but she got us around it! About 2 hrs into our 200
mile passage the winds picked up enough to sail for a change. We looked back
a while later and saw a huge thunder head and a squall line approaching. The
sails came down and the radar came on to try and get the best path through
the mess. We did OK! We had some wind, rain and hail...about 3/8in...but we
were now going in the wrong direction. We turned around to follow the storm
and saw off to our starboard side the first water spout we have ever
seen....It was coming right at us. We did a quick U-turn and watched it and
two more that started as the squall line passed by. They look just like
tornadoes with the water as disturbed as the ground in all the pictures you
have seen. Awesome power! The rest of the passage was easy with a lot of
fuel used. Maybe next time the winds will be with us again! We are now in
Italy and will be between Sardinia and Sicily for the next few weeks.