The weather in Mallorca has been pretty windy lately but the hotter temperatures are definitely here to stay and summer is well on the way!
On Friday I had a little charity shop browse and then had a coffee with Ian at Pascalinos where you just can't beat the price of a cuppa with those views 😍 There's still not a very great deal open on Pine Walk and certainly no hotels are open yet but the gardeners were in doing some work on the Miramar's sea terrace. On the way home I dropped in to Lov which is a new little clothes and accessories shop just along from the Eolo on C/Juan XXIII. It would have been rude not to buy anything - so I did! Lovely things, reasonable prices 👍
Saturday's pencilled in diving session was again postponed so that conditions would be optimum for us diving virgins so we took the dogs for a walk through the gorgeous and extremely verdant and shady woods in Cala san Vicente:
We had a coffee at the cafe by the car park at Cala Molins - what a fabulous view of the beach which had quite a few people enjoying the weekend sun:
Seeing that gorgeous turquoise water I suggested to Ian that we return the next day without the dogs for a swim. So we did - and my goodness many other people had had the exact same thought, lots of couples and family groups. All Spanish of course at the moment but everyone observing the correct social distancing:
Once back we walked the dogs and then cycled along the seafront to Bar Bondia which opened yesterday (near Palms Bar and the Pollensa Park Hotel) for a well-earned sausage bap and cheesy chips - their baps are the stuff of legend and come recommended! Then, to walk off the calories 😳 we took the dogs for a walk along the harbour wall.
And so today dawned calm and very warm - D-Day aka Dive Day! We made our way round to Scuba Mallorca in C/d'Elcano and after filling in various forms including medical history, we learned about the various items of equipment and were sized up for wetsuits, fins and masks. I can confirm that putting on a wetsuit is none too easy (taking it off later was even harder!) but eventually we managed it. I can also report that wetsuits are not the most flattering of attire for ladies of a certain age 😂 why oh why didn't I try scuba diving when I was a 20 year old stick-insect; ah well, such is life...... Anyhow, off we went to Cala san Vicente which made it three days in a row there for us. And it was there that we discovered that a buoyancy control device plus gas bottle and all the 'trimmings' weighs about 40kg. It took a great deal of effort not to just fall backwards like a stranded tortoise. At the same time as adjusting to this weight we also had to learn to use the regulator mouthpiece before we tottered after instructor Tom towards the water where mercifully the weight of everything is suddenly almost non-existent. Spitting in a mask proved tricky - it's not my forte as it turns out 😂 - and then on with the mask which means now you only have your mouth to breathe from ie. the regulator. I found going underwater just to kneel pretty challenging as I've never been underwater in my life - I'm not what you would call aquatic essentially! Anyway, cutting a long story short we made our way further out and eventually I let go of the instructor 😂 and we were off.
We had a lovely time and were down for about 40 minutes at just under 5 metres deep; we saw lots of fish including parrotfish and a baby octopus. It was extremely strange to see a few people swimming high above us, you get an idea of what the view was like for Jaws! And just like that it was over and we staggered out of the water and up the beach, sadly looking nothing like Daniel Craig and Halle Berry from the Bond films but in our heads - that was us! 💪
In local news, Restaurant Velomar on Pine Walk is opening as is Corb Mari, and in more general news, German tourists arrived today declaring that they felt very safe to be here - as well they should as we are all very proud of how well we have done here. We just have to hope that this situation remains the case.....
Stay safe and hasta jueves!
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