Last Stop - Mallorca

We were glad to arrive back to sunny Mallorca where we enjoyed two weeks last June and really took a liking to Spanish island life. We decided to stay longer this time (three weeks) so we could paddle board and soak up the magnificent weather. Most importantly, Margo was looking to make up for the six weeks of paddling that she missed last fall after breaking her arm in Maui! She is fully recovered from the curse of the “purple pounder” and was in fine form to paddle….everyday!

We rented an apartment on the promenade or what is called the Pine Walk in Puerta de Pollenca. If we were any closer to the water, we would need to have stayed on a house boat! The apartment we picked had three bedrooms and two baths. This turned out to be handy as our niece Erika was finally able to come for a visit from England, and our friend Cindi Brown and her daughter Tina decided to come for a holiday to Spain as well. You may recall from blogs last year that we attempted to have Erika visit on two occasions, but COVID unfortunately canceled those trips, ugh.

The main reason for our return to Puerta de Pollenca is the amazing paddle boarding conditions that we enjoyed last year. This trip was focused on paddling, paddling, and paddling! Did I mention Margo missing 6 weeks of paddling in Maui!? This part of Mallorca is perfect for paddling as it is situated in a protected bay from the ocean, almost like a large lake. It has incredible glass-like paddling conditions and crystal clear waters that give you wonderful views to the sea floor below and is surrounded by rugged mountains with lots of steep cliffs, caves and inlets for exploring on a paddle board. (Last year we did a lot of touring around the island to learn the history, hike and explore, so check out our blog, “Summer in Mallorca” from June 2021 for a lot more about the island.)

Ideal conditions for paddling, although we did see a few water skiers too!

We rented our boards from the best SUP rental company in the EU, Mallorca SUP. This business is owned and operated by Hannah and Miguel who we met last year. Hannah is a transplant from England and Miguel is local from Mallorca but spent much of his life in Malaga. They have become good friends and we were excited to see them again. Not to mention the number of good laughs we have with them!

Hannah and Miguel also have two faithful assistants, Teddy and Honey:

Hannah & Miguel run their business out of the Laroc Restaurant, but really the whole area between the restaurant and the beach is their office (pretty nice place to work!). They also use a large van to transport the boards to different beaches so that their clients can paddle in other locations nearby.

One day Miguel drove us to Cape Formentor, where you circle a small island on your board and then paddle along the shore all the way back to Puerta de Pollenca. A long paddle but awesome!

Neighboring Cala Sant Vicenc is also a great paddling spot, a little more exposed but very dramatic:

We enjoyed a sunrise paddle with Hannah, Miguel and four of their clients. We started from the beach in Puerta de Pollenca at 5:45am! Very dark, but the water is amazingly warm and perfectly still. The sunrise was a little fogged in, but the water was like glass so it felt effortless to paddle. And it was nice to have a workout and get back to the beach by 10:00am for a beer!

Our friends Hannah and Franco (who were also in the blog last June), along with their new rescue dog Otis, came for a visit in their motorhome from Capdepera, about an hour away. We paddled, enjoyed the beach and had a great visit. They spend their summers on Mallorca so that Franco can lifeguard and have chosen to spend this one living out of a motorhome. This is ideal as many rental apartments do not allow dogs in Mallorca. What a lucky dog Otis is! We are also excited that Hannah has been approved for a working visa in Canada! Franco is working on getting his and we look forward to seeing them all “in the old country” some day. (We told Otis to bring his extra fur coat!) Does anyone know someone in Ottawa that can put a good word in for Franco?

Otis had a snooze in the motorhome so we could get in some paddling.

The day finally arrived for Erika to come a visit! We had a celebratory dinner at La Llonja, an excellent seafood restaurant right in the port. A little rose cava to welcome her to Espana!

Hiking was on the agenda for the following day! We drove down to Capdepera and met up with Hannah & Otis to hike up to the top of a coastal peak. It was a toasty climb but we were rewarded with amazing views of the coastline, the beach where Franco works as a lifeguard, Cala Agulla, and the town of Capdepera.

After the hike we drove down to Capdepera for a closer look and walked out to the light house on the point.

The three of us ventured to the town of Pollenca for a tour around and a paella lunch. We walked up a stairway that seemed to go on forever and came to an old chapel along with some great views of the town. Erika is always a good sport to go wherever we suggest!

Erika woke up with a sore throat on day 4 of her visit and we all thought it was a good idea for her to take a COVID test to ensure she was fine. The test came back positive!! 😩 We were glad to have the extra space which made it a little easier to self isolate to her room and the second bathroom for the next 5 days. We also spent a lot of time outside on our deck. We changed her flight as she was scheduled to leave the next day and started to sanitize everything!

To add a little more excitement to the day, our friends Cindi and Tina were also due to arrive that day. I was going to pick them up in Palma and return to our apartment where we could all hang out together. Not so fast, instead Cindi and Tina had to rent their own car and scramble to find their own accommodations. It clearly was not a good idea for them to stay in our apartment. Sorry ladies, darn COVID!

Erika had a sore throat and a stuffy head for a few days, but luckily was not too sick overall. We tested negative every day for the next ten days and remained asymptomatic. Good thing it was a big place, and we could keep our distance along with spending most of our time outside.

We kept our visits with Cindi and Tina outside and tried not to get too close. The beautiful weather allowed us to go for walks and eat outside on terraces. Erika was also able to enjoy the restaurants by take-out:

Hannah and Miguel set us up with a rental board for Tina so she could come out with us on a couple of days. Cindi even did a lesson with Hannah, way to go Cindi!

We did a day trip to Port de Soller with Cindi and Tina (in separate cars of course). We wandered the town and had a delicious lunch at Restaurant Ses Oliveres. Cindi had got the recommendation from the manager at the hotel she stayed at in Palma and it turned out to be fabulous.

Speaking of food, Abbaco is a sushi restaurant in Puerta de Pollenca we had gone to last year and wanted to return. Erika enjoyed the take-out poke bowl at home. She ate pretty well during her quarantining time!

Day 6 of Erika’s COVID arrived, and she tested negative, great news! We headed to Palma to take her to the airport for her trip back to London. The same morning Cindi and Tina left Mallorca to spend 3 days in Barcelona. We were so sorry that Cindi and Tina couldn’t stay with us and appreciate all the rebooking and changing of plans they had to do….lets hope this never happens again!

After dropping Erika off at the airport, we ventured out to the port town of Colonia de Sant Jorge, east of Palma. It was a former fishing colony and is now known for its beaches and coastline:

On the way back home we stopped in a Rafael Nadal’s tennis training center in the town of Manacor. The complex includes a hotel, museum, training center, pool and dozens of tennis courts. The place is huge and Rafael is like a rockstar on the island and mainland of Spain, especially after his 14th win at the French Open this June.

After day 14 in the clear on the COVID front we decided it was safe to join Hannah and Miguel on their friend Javi’s sail boat for an afternoon of cruising, paddling, snorkeling and of course, laughing!

At one point Javi told us to jump off the boat and swim to shore, where we would find a protected swimming hole. It was a magic spot, only accessible the way we had come:

Cape Formentor has a very dramatic coastline, the result of millions of years of pounding surf:

We also stopped in a cove for some paddling:

There were some pretty swish yachts around too:

The food for our trip was prepared by the Laroc restaurant, Hannah and Miguel’s home base for Mallorca SUP. Javier is the owner of Laroc, a great guy we got to know well.

We ate at Laroc several nights and relied on their delicious take-away meals for Erika. We enjoyed some of the best pasta and pizza outside of Italy. If you are ever in Port de Pollenca, don’t miss Javi’s restaurant!

Seafood ravioli and Fiocchi pasta with cheese and pear:

Another favorite restaurant in Puerta de Pollenca was Number 31. Awesome food, ambience and service! (Endive salad with fried cheese, chili king prawns, cod loin with red currant juice, rack of lamb with black garlic and capers, apple crumble):

We celebrated Hannah and Miguel’s engagement with another awesome dinner at La Llonja’s. They are looking at wedding dates in the fall, after the busy summer season has ended. Miguel ordered some amazing seared tuna and sea scallops to start us off, followed by salad, monkfish and prawn kabobs and grilled John Dory fish:

We spent our last two nights on Mallorca at a lovely hotel in Cala San Vicenc. Hannah & Miguel brought paddle boards over to the beach from Puerta de Pollença (about 15 minutes away) for us to use and we spent time on the beach and in the beautiful clear blue water.

We also decided to save Hannah and Miguel the trip back to pick up the boards. We wedged them into our ‘huge’ rental car and drove back to the Puerta de Pollenca. I have seen worse loads in vehicles on the roads of Spain but fortunately it was a short drive and there was no police on the road:

This has to be one of the best places to be a dog in Spain. We really enjoyed our time with Otis, Honey and Teddy, our friends pets. Brendon and Bentley were in the house next door to where we stayed, so we had good retriever time too:

Checkout the dog-sharks in Mallorca!

Time to head back to Denver….as my mother would say, “if you don’t leave, you can never come back.” Didn’t make us feel much better, but it is true!

Hasta luego!