English Corner: Captain’s Log with Stefan Lawrence .  Com cada dilluns, la visió particular d’un apassionat del mar i la navegació tradicional mediteerranea nascut a Nova York  

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English Corner: Captain’s Log with Stefan Lawrence .  Today: shark fin soup !

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English Corner: Captain’s Log with Stefan Lawrence .  Today: Finca Sonreal

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So certain am I that you will have a wonderful time, I´ve taken the liberty of planning your next day out.

That’s right, everything down to the food you should bring. Take note: one loaf of Mallorquin bread, a few ripe tomatoes, some cured cheese, Serrano ham, olive oil salt and pepper. Don´t forget a knife and a cork screw! Fuel up the car, pile in the fam and buckle up, next stop – finca Son Real.Trust me I haven`t steered you wrong yet.

How to get there. You will find the entrance to Son Real between kilometre markers 17.6 and 17.7 on the MA-12 motorway running from Can Picafort to Artá. The entrance is on the northern side of a long straight stretch. Two stone columns, each topped with a stone bollard, mark the entrance and from there a road leads you towards the houses of the possession which can be seen two hundred meters away.

Finca Son Real is an old Mallorquin estate turned public. When I say old, we’re not talking a measly five or six hundred years. Settled continuously since prehistoric times remains of human presence on the Son Real estate date back a staggering four thousand years! Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts from the pre-taliotic period 4000 years ago, the Taliotic period 3000 years ago, the Roman 2000 years ago, the Islamic settlement and the middle ages. From an archaeological stand point, this jaw dropping treasure trove makes Son Real the most important estate on the island.

Not impressed by old stuff? Not to worry, to a greater extent I confess neither am I. Quick to blame others, I pawn my archaeological irreverence off on dear old (mean old) granny who, from the deck of her cruise ship refered to Athens´ Acropolis as, and I quote “a pile of rocks!”.

Fortunately for self confessed historical dunces like myself, finca Son Real has much more on offer than “old stuff “. This estate is home to an incredible amount of biodiversity. Forty percent of all flora in the Balearic’s is represented here in multiple different habitats such as pine forests, sand dunes, wet lands and plains. All in all this three hundred and seventy nine hectare estate is a nature lovers paradise.

Capitalising on their Eden, Son Real created four different visitor itineraries, each showcasing a different part of the estate. After a minor donation to help with up keep, one can rent bicycles and tear around the grounds exploring at one’s leisure. I say tear around, in my case more like wheeze and pant. Forget this exercise malarkey, let’s stop for lunch already!

An estimated 25.000 people visit Son Real every year. Sitting hear, gazing out over the entire bay of Alcudia, gobbling our peasant fair under the cool shade of Mediterranean pines, we felt blissfully alone. The estate produces good wine hence the cork screw. They also make and sell sobrassada, and several other delicacies.

If biking around is not your shtick, you may opt for visiting the museum. Designed by Spanish architect Daniel Freixes and held inside the estate’s main building, this museum masterfully combines video and audio with state of the art technology to create an unparallelled walk through time experience. I haven´t seen anything like it on the island except for at Costa Nord museum in Valldemossa, also the work of Freixes.

Sadly most of Mallorca´s land is privately owned, horded and locked away by thirteen so called noble families. Thanks to Fundacion Baleares Sostenible, owners of Son Real estate and participation from banks including the government, visitors like myself can enjoy access to this large once private estate.

Martin Bestard, good friend and technical director of both Son Real and Cost Nord, gave us the royal tour. An avid naturalist not to be confused with nudist, Martin is a wealth of knowledge. A busy man, he always finds time to share his passion for Mallorca with others. The General director of the foundation is Jorge Campos.

Son Real has it´s own Necropolis, unquestionably the most important feature on the estate and quite possible the burial site of kings! I won´t even try to explain the extraordinary archaeological significance of this, I can`t. What I did do was take my family including Auntie Sandra down for a visit.

The burial site is comprised of around a hundred stone tombs many of which are circular in construction. The site is perched directly on the coast so near in fact that in recent years heavy storms and waves have taken their tole. As was common way back when ( scoff, scoff ) nobles and important people were buried with their prised possessions. Warriors may have been entombed with their weapons or jewelry. In one particular tomb archaeologists have found a man buried with his dog!

For more details and how you and your kids can help preserve Son Real and other incredible natural spaces, check out The Coast Busters! You may find us on facebook at “thecoastbusters ecoaction”.

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: From the top of the mountains to the bottom of the sea!

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The day starts off with squid pa amb oli and a strong cafe con leche. On any other day this combo would be vile especially for breakfast, but here at this truck stop

where I´m sure the devil left his poncho, it was delicious. Welcome to the sticks, somewhere between a giant water tower and Can Picaford. I´m familiar with this area only because we blow by it on route to Pollensa. It never accrued to us to stop and nosey around. Why today? The Coast Busters and two exceptional expats Brad and Bea.

My wife and I recently started a youth based Eco initiative called The Coast Busters. Simply put, we strive to encourage as many youngsters as possible to get out into the fresh air and take a vested interest in conservation. So taking a leaf out of the youngsters book we decided our first mission should be the creation of a ubiquitous Facebook page. No sooner had The Coast Buster´s page gone live, ZAAAP! there was Brad.

“WOW, babe, come take a look, somebody already likes our page.”

“It´s not one of your silly friends is it?”

“NO, this guy´s for real and eager to lend a hand.”

“That was fast! Strike while the iron’s hot!”

“No $%&#! Batten the hatches I´m calling him”

So I did!

Flash forward, wife, child, dear friend Sandra and yours truly, packed like sweaty sardines inside a busted up Berlingo rattling up the Manacor highway. If that’s not enough, wait, step inside. Apart from a tornado of dog hair, sand up the wazoo and enough mutilated kids books to arouse suspicion, the WTF prise goes to none other than our bright yellow plastic potty! Cirque du Soleil eat your heart out, you should see our little missy´s balancing act at 110km. Wait until Brad and wife Bea get a load of this act.

” Girls, we’re nearly there, clean this bloody car up it’s a disgrace!”

” Relax, there’s nothing wrong, it’s kinda hippie.”

“Hippie my foot, it’s gypsy! There´s a #&%ing potty on the back seat! Make it disappear FAST!

Before long we were all siting around a large wooden table at our hoast’s (and new friend’s) residence, chatting away like old pals. Brad and Bea aren’t the usual suspects. In less than two years they have set up ONDINE, what’s sure to become the best travel and leisure company in the Med, if not the World! Not satisfied with that, they have developed a specialised shark diving course at the Palma Aquarium, come out with a movie “Behind blue glass” with director David Diley and found time to offer The Coast Busters a helping hand. Give it up for these go getters!

Brad is a Scuba expert and the water side of ONDINE, Bea is the mountain mama. They met in Queensland Australia where Brad was coordinator and instructor on liveaboard dive vessels along the great barrier reef. Falling in love and realising their shared passion for education and conservation they teamed up. Bea is also a qualified psycho-pedagogist helping children and families with difficult backgrounds. I told you these two weren´t your run of the mill expats. I must admit sitting alongside these two dynamos made we question what on earth I´d been doing these last two years?

So, to The Coast Busters, the reason I drug my family out into “the sticks mate” as Brad put it. I should think it´s glaringly obvious why my wife and I drove out here. Who better for The Coast Busters to team up with than Brad, a pro diver/teacher and Bea, a psychologist/wilderness expert.

“Guys we love the idea of The Coast Busters. Anything we can do to help, count us in.” And with that begun a wild brainstorming session that lasted a good few hours. We came away from this meeting feeling pumped up and thoroughly invigorated. The Coast Busters had made a good contact, a BIG fish, and we some new friends.

ONDINE is currently developing a conservation and education department with the support of local and international biologists, organisations and government departments. With the view of supporting local conservation projects and creating new ones, Brad and Bea are involving local children from organisations such as The Coast Busters and other local groups.

Did I mention they were also on TV´s popular show Destino España promoting Shark conservation? Check em out ( http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/destino-espana/destino-espana-baleares-iii-bradley/1203170/) or (http://ondineescape.com/).

From all of us at The Coast Busters, we look forward to much collaboration and thank you for your passionate energy, kind hospitably and infectious drive. I´m sure I speak for everyone when I say you both are an asset to Mallorca´s Ecological well being. I know I speak for us when I call you our friends!

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Volunteers without frontiers

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 Unused shopping carts? Throw em in. Car tires, why not? Plastic bags? Ditch em. Bottles, cans, motorbikes, toys. Everything and anything one could push into the water seems to end up there. A lady in my local convenience store summed up this ignorant view nicely: “The sea makes a hole and covers it up”. Personally I don´t get it. By it I mean the mentality behind throwing trash anywhere but in a bin.I remember an incident in Goa I`ll never forget. I was cruising through on my rather cool Enfield motorbike and there she was, this young girl in the middle of a luscious jungle village unwrapping an ice cream. Without hiding her intentions she dropped the silvery wrapper and kept on walking. What!? Filled with self riotous rage I  slammed on the brakes, spun the bike around and went back. “Go pick  that up!” She looked at me incredulously and then at her friend. I was having none of it: “Yes, YOU! The paper you just dropped, go get  it”. An elderly women had come out to see what all the fuss was  about. The young girl, seeing that I was quite serious, went back and with an uncomfortable laugh picked up the wrapper, stuffing it in her pocket. What was I doing? Why bother? It´s futile. Littering in some places is practically second nature.Fortunately not everybody shares this defeatist attitude. Believe it or not, there are those out there willing to pick up behind others for fun. Take the fantastic Mallorquin volunteer based organisation Voluntarios Sin Fronteras. This ever increasing group of diving aficionados have banded together with a mission, To rid the seabed of all it´s rubbish one beach at a time. The idea is beautifully simple, Dive, pick up trash, dispose of it correctly and…..wait for it, have a great time. This week I met the group in Manacor. Jordi, a founding member along with thirty five or so divers had planed the cleaning of Porto Cristo beach. In my eyes what makes these gatherings so special is the community spirit they engender. Divers apart, their entourage of women and children, grandmas, and onlookers, quickly turn the event into a fiesta. Folks, that’s were the magic happens. It dosn´t take a genius to realise one is twice as likely to pass on the message of social and ecological responsibility by coating it in fun. You should have seen the screaming children splashing and chasing the divers  into the water. They had a blast, all the while absorbing and witnessing their role models caring for our planet. Compare this dynamic kinetic learning experience to that of a stale classroom and no wonder why kids litter.

Today´s event was extra special due to the presence of none other than the Australian ambassador to Spain, Mrs. McCarthy. May I say what a pleasure is was to make her acquaintance. Australia is a major player in the fight against pollution. Their international Clean up the world campaign has had monumental success. Now in its 19th year, Clean Up the World, held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), mobilizes an estimated 35 million volunteers from 130 countries annually, making it one of the largest community-based environmental campaigns in the world.The campaign brings together businesses, community groups, schools, governments and individuals in a range of activities and programs that positively improve local environments.

In 1989 a solo-yachtsman and builder had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard – Sydney Harbor. In 1987, Ian Kiernan AO* competed in the BOC Challenge solo yacht race and as he sailed around-the-world, was shocked by the pollution he continually encountered. Having waited years to see the Sargasso’s legendary long golden weeds, Ian’s anticipation turned to anger and disappointment when he found them polluted and tangled with rubbish. “I can’t overstate the disappointment I felt when I found this sea of magic and myth littered with rubbish from discarded flip flops, plastic buckets and disposable nappies to toothpaste tubes and plastic bags” recalled Ian.

Once back in Sydney, Ian enlisted the help of friends and held Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day (1989) which motivated 40,000 volunteers to remove rusted car bodies, plastics of all kinds, glass bottles and cigarette butts from the harbour. Ian and his committee believed that if a city could be mobilise to take action, then so could the whole nation. Almost 300,000 volunteers turned out on the first Clean Up Australia Day in 1990. The next step was to take the concept of Clean Up Australia Day to the rest of the world. After gaining the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Clean Up the World was launched in 1993. http://voluntariossinfronteras.blogspot.com is proud to be a part of  the Clean up the world movement in Spain. If diving is something you do or have wanted to try, go for it. They are always welcoming new volunteers. The only prerequisite is having a diving license which one can get with very little fuss by taking a coarse at www.scubamallorca.com.I must mention that all this was made possible not only by the participation of wonderful volunteers but by the generosity of collaborators and sponsors. 

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Coastbuster!

A Coast Buster is part of an elite Eco- task force dedicated to preserving and protecting our marine environment. Have you ever cleaned a beach? Maybe you`ve rescued a marine animal. Would you rather swim in the sea than watch TV? If yes, then may be you`ve got what it takes to be one of The Coast Busters!

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English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Mallorca, land of fire and Water.

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Mallorca, land of fire and Water.

What?! Summer´s over, when did that happen? Not on my watch, forget it. There´s still juice in that Orange yet. OK, so what if it is over?

I love September in Mallorca, the electrical storms, fresh evenings, dramatic sunsets. Don´t know about you, but I´ve had all I can take of this heat. On land, under a cement porch cold bear in hand, bring on the rain.

Fortunately for us, last week´s weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. I hadn´t finished the question before my family agreed to come sailing. This would be our one year old´s first day out on the water. Technically that´s a fib, she´s been on multiple ferry trips but those don´t really count.

Quick tip. Don´t let the cool sea breeze fool you, the danger of getting sunburnt whilst boating is much grater than on land. This is due to the sun hitting you both directly and indirectly via the water´s reflection. I can´t stress enough the importance of adequate sun protection, especially when kids are involved. Hats, tea-shirst, creams, are a must, and lots of water!

Thanks to our friends at www.llauts.com in Port of Andratx, our trusty steed for the day was an eight meter fiberglass boat called Dragonera, named after the Dragonera island. She’s a standard llaüt, no bells and whistles. Equipped with a good engine, head, small galley, two berths and a bimini, what else do you need?

“Ladies, I´ll just be a minute with the paper work. Why don´t you go have a quick drink and come back.”

Thirty five minutes later…..

“Come on girls, boat’s ready, I said a quick drink, what on earth are you doing shopping?”

“Oh, you know, girls’ stuff.”

“Girls’ stuff my foot, get your butts over to the boat NOW!!!!”

I can be quite persuasive at times. Shopping? Did they get the Capi anything? Did they heck. Whatever, at least they were on board. Food stored, engine on, we headed out to sea. I decided, seeing as Dragonera island was so close we would head there. A common mistake – most novice boaters keep people aboard too long. Anything more than an hour’s journey without a brake is boring. Keep it simple. Take it from me, If you can do a thirty minute jaunt over to a nice cove for lunch and a swim, fantastic!

Isla Dragonera is breathtaking with her soaring cliffs and deep ink blue waters. Sailing here is an absolute privilege. To top it off we were given an areal display par excellence by one of Mallorca´s brown eagles.Things would have been very different had the moronic developers got their hands on this island. Take the port of Andrax for example, ruined by what can only be described as concrete vomit. Thanks to the hutspa of environmentally conscious Mallorquines literally chaining themselves around the island, Dragonera was spared this fate and is now a protected natural resurve.

The girls were having a fabulous time at the bow modeling their new bikinis. All the while our little mermaid slept lulled away by the putt putt of our small engine and the gentle role of the sea. Shopping was not such a bad idea after all.

Lunch? Nothing gets the tummy grumbling like a day on the water. Keep it simple. Prepping an elaborate meal in a sweltering galley is no fun. We usually opt for some cold cuts, bread and fruit. If your feeling extra chefy, fry up some chicken the night before and make a potato salad from scratch.

A quick sail back from Dragonera lies the crystal clear cove of St, Elm. No finer place to drop the hook, eat and watch Mallorca burn to sinders. BURN? I´m afraid so. As it happens while we ate lunch a massive forest fire raged on land. Helicopters and planes were flying all over the place fanatically trying to extinguish the blaze. The whole thing was surreal. There we were having a refreshing dip and no more than two miles away fire ravaged everything in it´s path. Thanks to Mallorca´s excellent firefighters, the fire was put out without casualties.

As you can see, there’s never a dull moment. So get out there, take the fam and friends, rent a small boat and explore our spectacular coast. If you don´t have a license don´t worry, you don´t need one. www.llauts.com have many different boating options for you. Tell them Captain Lawrence sent you!

Captain Lawrence

Llaüt El Gordito RCNP

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Sharks!!

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SHARK!

Woke up, had coffee, jumped into a shark tank…you know, just another day in the office for Captain Lawrence.. Feeling a bit sluggish? Forget coffee, take a dip with creatures that could quite easily eat you! Trust me it works a treat.

What on earth possessed me to do such a thing? Who in their wright mind would willingly get into a tank full of potentially man eating monsters? I guess If I needed solid proof that I´m not quite “all there” now I have it. To say the experience was the most unnerving of my life, would be putting things mildly.

I had been freaking out all week trying desperately to find a macho way of backing out. I´m a father, I can´t be engaging in such reckless stuff. That sounds like a plausible excuse. Here goes.

” Ring, ring, Hello, Palma aquarium.”

” Hello, good morning Leticia, how are you?”

” Fine Mr. Lawrence, ready for your shark dive with us?, you must be excited ”

” Excited….ummm? yes well actually I wanted to talk about that.”

” Not afraid are you Captain”

” Me, Afraid, no? ”

” It´s safe Stefan, don´t worry you´ll be fine”

You´ll be fine!, may be in bizzaro world but here on earth I most definitely was not feeling fine. We arrived at the Palma aquarium at 9:00 am sharp, no point in keeping my executioners waiting. I never liked the idea of cremation anyway. Maybe they had me to come early so that should anything happen, the staff could clean my bits from the tank before the sane visitors arrived. “Good morning Stefan, welcome to Palma aquarium. Have you been here before? Let me show you around.” Great! as if I´m not terrified enough, now they parade me around in front of the tanks.

Mother of GOD, these animals are enormous and ” my how big your teeth are Mr. shark, let me guess all the better to eat me with.” In a vein attempt to console myself I had been reciting the idea that things look bigger and closer under water. My friends, believe me that is utter baloney.

I would be diving with Chico, one of the aquariums pro divers. He did this on a regular I was told. First, our gear. Can I swap this puny wet suit for a cage please! Next, we get onto the dive platform, a one meter deep ledge in the pool before going the whole hog. The water was cold and smelt distinctly sharky. I took a few breaths and tried to relax. Surly this was safe. These sharks are kept well fed, there was no reason for them to eat one of us. With that, out of the dark rose a mammoth beast. For a second I could not believe my eyes. A sand tiger, one of the BIG sharks had come onto the platform and was swimming directly at me. Before I could pee in my wetsuit it had touched my foot with it´s nose. I leaped backwards out of the pool in horror. ” Thats new, haven´t seen them do that before” said Leticia the aquariums press director as I watched the creature sink back into his deep lair to wait for me. I can´t explain what was going through my mind when we finally swam off the ledge and sunk into the main tank. I remember taking one last look at my wife and child´s face, thinking what would become of them if I never made it out again?

The dive was incredible!. Just as I´d been told a billion times, the sharks want nothing to do with you. They swim around occasionally coming closer for a look, then gliding off again. Every thing in the tank seems to mind it´s own business. It was a wonderful symphony of swirling fish and brilliant colors. I wouldn´t say that time flew but before long it was time to go back to the surface. There waiting for me more beautiful them ever were my two ladies and our close friend Anti Sandra. I had made it out in one piece!!!!!!

Truth be told, Palma aquarium would not offer shark dives if it were not safe. For a nominal fee, anyone with a diving license can partake. Leticia, like the aquariums founder are passionate driven people. Their mission was to create a wonderful exciting environment in witch to entertain and educate the public. There is no doubt that their mission has been accomplished! A visit to Mallorca would not be complete without a visit to the aquarium. In my eyes this is one of the best I have ever seen. Would you believe I actually want to get back in the tank! Come visit www.palmaaquarium.com The sharks are just one part of the experience. Did you know you can bring the kids for a sleep over in front of the tanks? How cool would that be for a budding little Cousteau! I would like to thank Leticia, Chico and everybody at the Palma Aquarium for making this amazing experience possible. Stay tuned, next week we play with jets!

Captain Lawrence

Llaüt El Gordito RCNP

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Captain Lawrence takes the plunge!

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Good day landlubbers! I hope you´re having a magnificent time on our beautiful Mallorca. If you stumbled across last week´s article, you may have read about the wonderful experience we had with SLOANE helicopters.

Good service, better yet, excellent service must be promoted and with that I bring you this week´s winner, SCUBA MALLORCA! Balearics premiere dive centre.

Don´t believe me? Here are a few facts. Owners Mick and Jessie have more dives under their belts than most centers have had hot dinners, 43 years! A PADI 5 star IDC course director, MCA 200 ton Captain, RYA powerboat instructor, etc. Mick is among the world’s most respected professionals. As you’d expect, Mick’s entire team has been hand selected and trained by him! No wonder SCUBA MALLORCA is the oldest and most respected dive center in the North. OK that’s enough about the boss, more about his team and our diving experience.

My wife and I, living on this incredible island were eager to start diving. Not doing so here is a crime. First things first, choosing a dive centre? Disqualifier numero uno, bad customer service. If bobo answers the phone, I´m hanging up. First call, there was bobo “no spekaaa engle…” slam! This went on all day. Just as all hope was lost, Jeanette’s vivacious voice lit up the phone.

“Hello, Scuba Mallorca, how can we help you ?”

“WOW, you speak English, real English”

“Yes, (laugh) we do, how can I help you today?”

“My wife and I would like get our PADI open water certifications.

“Great, come on over, we would be glad to help you”

Mallorca take note. Jeanette loves diving, she is a dive master, hence enjoys her job, is happy and thus shares her good vibe with the client. Trick is you have to be genuine to provide genuinely great customer service.

Fast forward……..wife and I are kitted up on the boat ready to take our first plunge. It´s another hot sunny day in the bay of Pollensa. First dive is in shallow water, two meters, to familiarize oneself with the equipment and build confidence. Safety checks complete, regulators in, giant step and SPLASH! Just to emphasize how safe it is, one of our group was a petite 12 year old señorita diving for her very first time. She did great. My wife´s eyes where like soup plates. To be honest I expected her to freak out, au contraire, I could not have been more mistaken. It wasn´t fear in her eyes, it was excitement. We knelt on the seabed while Sebastian demoed a few underwater skills. It´s important to train with experts. Should you ever encounter a situation that requires quick decisive action, the skills you learn here will keep you safe.

Before we knew it, we were back on the boat stripping out of our gear and giggling like children. Our instructors Sebastian and Tom were phenomenal. Back at base for some important theory, lunch, then back on the boat for a deeper dive. PADI open water certification can be completed in 3-4 action packed days, depending on client preference. We did ours in three days, no problem. “OK guys, suit up, buddy check, inflate your BCDs and join me in the water” ” Yes sir”

Next dive was around 9-12 meters. The skills we learnt in our shallow dive prepared us well. Before long we were on the seabed looking up at a curtain of beautiful silvery air bubbles. Obviously the deeper one goes the more intense the experience. But remember, diving is not about being cool or rushing. Deeper is not always better. Actually most of the good stuff is in relatively shallow waters. Should you ever feel pressured by a dive center or literally out of your depth, find another center such as SCUBA MALLORCA and report the old one to PADI immediately.

OK, ok, so what did we see down there? Well, we saw lots of colorful fish, an octopus, sea urchins, crabs, many shells, friendly instructors, starfish and some soft corals. Come see for yourself!

My wife and I absolutely loved the experience from beginning to end. We are proud to be certified by the best. Like Sloane, www.scubamalloca.com understands how to treat their clients. The experience was an A plus. As for the rest of you bobos in your empty dive centers, do yourselves a favor, take a leaf out of Mick´s book and repeat after me, customer service, customer service, costumer service etc. Next week it´s !SHARK! diving at the Palma Aquarium. I think we’re going to need a bigger boat? GULP!

Fair winds amigos, come on back next Tuesday. I hope I will!

Captain Lawrence

Llaüt El Gordito RCNP

English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Mallorca´s King without a crown.

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Hello friends,

Two dead giveaways summer has hit. First, you wake up already sweating and second, the lunatic cicadas are up before you are.

I´m sitting here at Mitj and Mitj in Port Andratx, my favorite spot to eat, write and gaze out across the bay. What a day! Not a cloud in the sky. Throwing caution and diet to the wind, I just powered back two of their enormous BLT´s. Life just doesn`t get any better than this. There is a lovely sea breeze and my pups are playing in the water. Everywhere you turn you are met with beautiful women in gossamer summer dresses, their hair let down in flowing locks over golden shoulders. I´ll be honest, putting my mind to this article is rather hard. All I want to do is sit here in the sun like a fat gecko and take it all in. What a tough life!

This week I´d like to talk a bit about Archduke Luis Salvador and his boat the NIXE. I must preface this article by confessing that in no shape or form will I be doing justice to this great man. Shame on you if you´ve lived on Mallorca and aren´t familiar with this chap. Luis Salvador – now deceased – epitomized the perfect expat. He visited Mallorca, fell in love and spent the rest of his life honoring her with brilliant literary works and innumerable scientific studies. A man of means, he bought large tracks of land and houses up and down the Northern Mallorca coast. One such house without a doubt his most important residence, is the now museum house of Son Marroig. Look it up and go for a visit. In my eyes it´s a must do pilgrimage for anyone setting foot on our island.

Luis Salvador loved this island like no other. A manic naturalist, he would literally adopt trees on the spot if he saw them being cut. One of the things he loved most was the sea. He spent years traveling all over the Mediterranean compiling perhaps the largest body of scientific observations ever made on the area. Some people say he wrote 60 books, others put that number at twice that. His writing was so prolific that scholars are still finding new works to this day.

Tired of traveling aboard commercial liners, the Archduke decided to commission his own yacht. It was the first private mega yacht ever built.The NIXE measured a whopping fifty two meters in length by six meters in breadth. Her main method of propulsion-common in that day-was steam. Apart from the steam engine, NIXE was built with three beautiful masts all of which were gaff rigged.

This revolutionary vessel was home to the Archduke. As such she was fashioned with all the mod cons and comforts a nobleman was accustomed too. What I find very amusing is that Luis had to ask mommy for the cash, giving her some shpeeal that it would cost much less to build than it did and would save him money in the long run, yeah right! What ever he said, she bought it because she……bought it, and in 1872 NIXE was launched.

For the next twenty years NIXE would sail all over the Med calling Mallorca home base. Unfortunately in 1894 at the hands of Mallorquin Captain RafaelVich, the sea would claim her. It happened on a balmy summer night in Algerian waters off cape Caxine. The story goes that the Archduke warned Captain Vich of possible shoals in the area but the captain pushed on. When they hit the rock the boat practically split in half. Fortunately everybody was able to get off alive. Sadly nothing could be done to save the NIXE and to this day she rests on the sea floor.

It wasn´t long before NIXE II was commissioned and back in Mallorca like her predecessor. When Luis Salvador died, the boat and a great majority of his estate was left to the current Mallorquin landlords of Son Marroig. I have visited the estate on many occasions over three years, they are lovely people and great cultural stewards.

Sadly, boats especially wooden ones are tortuously expensive to maintain. I know, I have “El Gordito” a twelve meeter traditional wooden Mallorquin sailboat known as a llaüt. Unfortunately the new owners of NIXE II, unable to foot the bills, decommissioned her, broke her up and sold her as lumber.

I often sail where NIXE sailed, a magical spot known as Sa Foradada located directly below the Archduke´s house. If you´ve got salt in your veins, Mallorca in your heart and you want to know more about our magical island then….

Fair winds amigos, come on back next Tuesday.

Capt. Lawrence

Llaüt El Gordito RCNP

llautelgordito@gmail.com