We started our first day of the voyage cruising along the Balearic Island cliffs of Mallorca while heading towards Menorca. Brad Robertson gave us an inspiring presentation about the ONDINE Association research, conservation and education program efforts on marine protected areas. Raising awareness to many important issues we face nowadays including plastic use and pollution.

The afternoon was spent walking around Ciutadella, historic quarter surrounded by medieval streets filled with palaces, churches and fortresses. This town has a mix of colonial and local architecture bursting with history. The Placa des Born, Ciutadella’s main square, is a gracious affair with 19th-century buildings like the Palau Torresaura with the obelisk at the centre that was raised to commemorate those who died trying to ward off the Turks on 9 July 1558. The Cathedral of Ciutadella, from the 14th-century, was built in Catalan Gothic style (although with a baroque facade) on the site of Medina Menorca’s central mosque. Another great example is the Cathedral del Roser a 17th-century baroque church used nowadays as an occasional exhibition gallery. Our last stop was a visit to the Palacio Senorial with its impeccable decoration.

The final touch of the day was our expedition leader’s poem recital, The Oyster…

The Oyster

 

There once was an oyster

Whose story I tell,

Who found that some sand

Had got into his shell.

It was only a grain,

Though it caused him great pain

For oysters have feelings

Although they’re so plain.

 

Now, did he berate

The harsh working of fate

That had brought him

To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government,

Cry for election,

And claim that the sea

Should have given him protection?

 

No – he said,

As he lay on his shell,

Since I cannot remove it

I shall try to improve it.

So as the years rolled around,

As the years always do

He came to his ultimate destiny – stew.

 

And that small grain of sand

That had bothered him so,

Was a beautiful pearl

All richly aglow.

 

Now the tale has a moral;

For isn’t it grand

What an oyster can do

With a morsel of sand?

 

What couldn’t we do

If we’d only begin

With some of the things

That get under our skin.

 

- Anonymous