Cala Mondragó, Parc Natural de Mondragó, Majorca/Mallorca

Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

Cala Mondragó beach is the place to be seen in Mallorca. Rather the posher place to be seen. 

Located on the southeast side of the island, Cala Mondragó is a sheltered cove in Parc Natural de Mondragó a protected natural space filled with turquoise waters and lined with pine trees. We got there late afternoon with the only spot for a siesta before the sun set was under a few beach pine trees in super soft sand. Pine needles get everywhere! The water was warm and sadly too low visibly to see any fish snorkelling on that day. It’s one of the recommend spots for snorkelling on the island which is why we went, even though it does take long time to get there from most other parts of the island. I remember my goggles keep fogging up so I couldn’t see anyway. Parking is about a 10-15 minute walk however it was quite safe to stow away belongings under a tree to walk around the park. Somebody had left a buggy/pram/stroller filled with belongings when we got there, that was still there after a walk around one of the many trails leading through the park. Returning from walking to the other beach was it had gone. 

The said buggy

Aside from a beach bar there aren’t any convenience shops so bring enough water and snacks to last while there. There’s a hotel and a hotel restaurant, lifeguards in the summer, beach showers, public toilets and you can rent paddle boats.

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May 2022 Part 2. Summer Say’s Hi

Animal Kingdom, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

I’m trying to convince myself at the moment, to life in the moment with August weather. The weather is perfect right now. 31C, not cloudy, the water’s perfect, the evenings are warm.

La Sagrada Familia from Port Olympic. Maybe in 2122 it’ll be finished!

A trip the Barcelona Zoo as usual last week had me a little nostalgic. I grew up in the countyside. My parents had 16.5 acres or 66775.5m2 which consisted of 2 fields rented out to a farmer for sheep, 400m from the road, trees for me to climb, a huge garden to play in. I loved it after dinner when I was allowed to play outside again. The zoo at the moment has the same light, feel in the air. I like going last hour as there aren’t many people around so it feels like I have a tropical garden myself. Every now and then I’m transported in random seconds back to being a kid playing out late on summer evenings. Or in Spain afternoons. It took while to understand why the evening’s in Spain start at 21.00. Anything before is the afternoon.

The prairie dogs just got cuter and cuter

The bitter sweet is the light now is changing as the days get shorter. Summer’s just over 6 weeks in and about 7 weeks it’s autumn fall falling into winter. I’ll happily live in summer temps. Although climate change is hitting. My underwater OlympusTG6 camera has a thermostat and some photos from around this time last year were still on the SD card. The temperature details are only on the playback not when uploaded. The water last year was around 24-25C now it’s 27-28C. I’m not getting as cold swimming and didn’t put it together until seeing difference checking photo info.

Back in May the second half of May the temperature was higher than usual. More like mid June onwards. It’s been like that before every few years but this time it was straight from 24C to about 30C. The water back in May hadn’t warmed up, but I was in the water ASAP as I’d been waiting all year round to be back in my underwater world. Though the Mediterranean side of Spain is known for it’s long summer season it’s only really for 2.5 months you can snorkel without freezing unless midday. Summer really is short. 

May and June are amazing fog/mist days. Usually it starts to the North East from the mountains and works its way across the sea and city engulfing tall buildings leaving you feeling like you’re living and working in the clouds.
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Flamingos of the Delta L’Ebre

Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

Back in late May, we took a trip down the road to El Parque Natural del Delta de L’Ebre in Tarragona to see the flamingos! 

The Delta L’Ebre is also the Spain’s major rice producer making the whole area a heaven for wetland birds. The salt marshes are the perfect location for Catalunya’s Flamingos. Introduced to the park in 1992, most of the them hang out around La Tancada and Trinitat and can be seen all year round.

Flamingos from the road to Barra del Trabucador from Poble Nou del Delta

Along the main road to the Barra del Trabucador that runs alongside La Tancada you can see a few. The main flock back in May were the other side which required going inland, trusting the GPS down narrow roads flanked by rice fields in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully while minimal sign posted after parking in an abandoned building’s ‘garden’ a 5 minute walk we were at the hide. In fact you can walk and cycle to the hide, but we didn’t know this and it was getting late. Sunset was I think 40 minutes away. If looking on the map the whole delta doesn’t look that big, but it is! We stayed just outside the delta (just I thought it was in the delta) and to get to the main spots took at least 25 minutes driving. 

FLAMINGOS!!!!!!!!!
Have to get closer!
In addition to being a haven for wetland birds, the park is a haven for many other insects and animals. Sadly there is a hunting season to ‘maintain populations and culture’. No hunting of flamingos thankfully
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Beauty Finds: Sioris My Soft Grain Scrub Review

Beauty and Skin Care, Lifestyle

Welcome to Beauty Finds. This edition is Sioris My Soft Grain Scrub review.

While there are a few hmm ingredients in a few Sioris products, Sioris has to be one of my favourite Kbeauty brands. Heavily featured are natural ingredients, Sioris is cruelty free and vegan. A few products such as Calm Me Down Cream and Deep In Barrier Cream, the ingredients can vary seasonally depending on what’s available for harvest. The colour may vary because of this and to be honest  I haven’t noticed a different when I’ve used the 2 lotions with the different ingredients. Long term readers know I’m all about natural ingredients and helping nature through skincare. Sioris contributes back to nature via Forests For Life and are also a member of 1% For The Planet. This only makes me love the brand more!      

While my go to facial scrub is Kora Organics Turmeric Brightening & Exfoliating Mask 2-in-1. Sometimes I don’t have time for a mask. Sometimes a girl has to shower and go. Initially I wasn’t going to purchase My Soft Grain scrub as I didn’t need it. I was happy with Kora Organics Turmeric mask. However curiosity got to me. I’m glad it did. Read on for my beauty requirements or skip a paragraph for the review. 

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Under The Med Sea. July 1st-4th 2022

Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

This year I’m fascinated by the baby mullets. There’s more than last year and I’m not sure if this is because the sea bed changed in the winter storms. 

There’s less rocks, more sand. I’ve seen older mullets a little further out feeding by scooping and filtering the sand. Where I snorkel is the nursery. They look so sleek compared to the sea breams with gold flecks that catch the light. 

The saddled sea breams as always say hi and like to chase bubbles from swimmers or maybe the bubbles and kicking of legs stirs up invisible to human eyes plankton snacks. I often spook myself feeling a bubble brushing my leg as I swim, thinking it was a fish nibbling on me only to turn around and see a few saddled sea breams following me. I’m sure it’s a bubble produced while swimming but it’s funny to turn around and see them following me. Almost like my body guards. 

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