La rapita- Cabrera - Puerto Petro

We spend 2 nights anchored in San Jordi Bay and we finally get the permit to go to Cabrera but only for one day and on that day, the 26th it will be raining with strong wind on the nose. We can’t stay anchored here with this weather, we leave for La Rapita harbor where we stay two nights enough time to change the oil of the motor, make some provisioning and let the strong wind and big waves pass their way. We meet Al and Sonja, a friendly English couple, who –believe it or not- are traveling on a smaller boat than us! They left Lagos in Portugal mid-March and will go down to Sicilia before going home in Scotland in August. I call the rangers of the Park of Cabrera to know if it’s possible to delay our arrival, the guy is joking on the phone, it seems quite relax. Sonja already told me that only 6 boats where moored there against a capacity of 50, we can go there with no fear to be kicked out (and even without a permit).
We leave La Rapita on 27th at 10am, the wind has weakened but the swell is still there. We will have to sail with the motor for a good hour so we don’t stay stuck and rolling. At last the wind starts blowing in the beginning of the afternoon and we arrive pushed by it and with blue sky in Cabrera around 4pm. This island is a natural national park, formerly property of a lucky landlord, it is now the playground of a bunch of militaries and biologists. It is divided into several maritime zones where you can only sail, anchor at day, or not access. Everything is regulated but it’s probably the price to pay to keep this beautiful island intact. In the “harbor”, in reality a sheltered bay, it is forbidden to anchor and you have to use the buoys, happily they are free. As soon as we arrive we go on land (we land at the main jetty, the only authorized place to do so) and we climb to the castle from which we get a great view point on the whole bay. Trekking is also restricted: we can go to the castle, the museum (closed), s’Espalmador beach, you can indeed walk around half of the bay and go up to the Anciola lighthouse.
The island is sprinkled with “no trespassing” signs, forbidding access to all the others pathways. Frustating… Despite our one day and out of date permit we spent two peaceful nights in Cabrera.
On the 29th we take off at 10am for Puerto Petro on the East Coast, we set our course to pass behind the Conejera (« rabbit » in Spanish, shit did I say it?), Plana, Pobre and Horadada islands. At first the wind is fine N-W force 3 but will become nothing from anywhere once we passed the Punta Salinas and finally will set N-E. We choose the Cala d’Es Homos Morts to drop the anchor, to be back on a very built coast line is quite a shock…