Crossing to Mallorca

We spent almost a week on the north coast of Sardinia in a port in the little town of Castelsardo as we waited for the mistral winds to subside. We made the most of it by going into town and climbing up to the castle (hence the name of Castelsardo). This picture is looking down at the marina from the top of the castle.

And finally we had a good weather window to cross from Sardinia to the Spanish island of Mallorca. Sunsets are always phenomenal, and the very best on the open sea...

We crossed on new moon, which means "no moon" and no light to detract from the millions of stars and planets in the sky.Two nights of twinkling magic all around us. The milky way rose out of the ocean, crossed the sky, and then sank back into the ocean on the other side. Scorpio was in the southern sky as the big dipper was in the northern sky. Shooting stars all around us....
Because we had such calm seas and wind the stars actually reflected in the water and it appeared as if we were surrounded by twinkling lights above and below and all around us. It made the sleepless night shifts truly worth it !!!

But at last we arrived in our favorite town of Palma, Mallorca. We love the "aliveness" of Palma with it's exuberant energy, music and great food. And since we needed to have some work done on EcstaSea, we made the most of our time here. Evening walks in old town....

Since we have spent much time here in Palma and have posted many pictures on the blog before, and if you want to see some, go to the older posts of July 14, 2011, June 2011, and July 2009.
One of our favorite places is the Diner. Yes, it is an old fashioned American Diner, complete with greasy food and pictures of James Dean and Elvis on the walls. When you've had enough of expensive European cuisine and hunger for some good ole American food, this is the place to go. And we did....

Well, it has finally gotten hot here in the Med. It has been an unusually coolish summer so far with more than normal winds. And now we are sweltering in the hot humid weather and are heading out to anchor around the island in the beautiful, crystal clear water coves that we remember. We aspire to swim and lazily watch the waves roll on by. Sweet summer days have finally arrived.....