Making magic in Mallorca

From the top deck, I grab the swing rope, push off and accelerate in an elegant upward arc over the cerulean-blue Mediterranean Sea.

At the peak of the pendulum, I’m silhouetted in the sunset’s glow for a split second before letting go and splashing into the water

It’s a rinse-and-repeat type of exhilaration.

My wife Kerry and I, our friends Steve and Beryl, the couple from Liverpool and the couple from New Hampshire all take turns on the swing rope, laughing and trash talking everyone’s form.

The eight of us are on a sunset tour aboard the Bonnie Lass — a fully-restored, 1949 wooden Scottish fishing boat that now operates out of Port de Soller on the north coast of the sunny Spanish island of Mallorca.

This is not your typical sunset boat tour where everyone primly sips cava (Spain’s sophisticated sparkling wine), makes small talk and admires the molten mass sinking below the horizon in a blaze of orange and yellow.

Although we happen to do all those things, we also make good use of the aforementioned swing rope and dive from the top deck to swim and paddleboard as well.

No one said having some raucous fun and a sunset boat tour were mutually exclusive.

Bonnie Lass owner, captain and bartender Pete Lucas just wants people to have a good and safe time aboard his vessel.

“People tend to want to do more than just watch the sunset on a sunset cruise,” he said with a laugh.

“That’s why we give you all the options.”

Oh yes, another of those options is having the resident onboard dog, Rumba, swim with you or hop on your paddleboard.

The contrast of the 17-metre ring-netter fishing trawler’s origins and its current home in Mallorca is inspired.

The Bonnie Lass — which means “beautiful girl” — has a classic curved shape from bow to stern and an elegance that works in any locale. It’s also a unique and exciting yacht charter or tour boat in the Med.

After it was built in 1949, the Bonnie Lass followed the herring along the east coast of Scotland until 1973, when it was sold to an Irish guy wanting to try his hand at salmon fishing.

Somehow, it ended up in northern France, where Pete, a former captain of luxury yachts, bought it in 2015, fixed it up and brought it to Mallorca.

Tour or charter

The two-and-a-half-hour sunset tour we did costs 100 euro per person (about C$165).

The Bonnie Lass does private charters, too, starting from 1,000 euro (C$1,650) for a half-day for up to 12 people.

It also does scientific expeditions where people can help deploy underwater cameras, collect water samples, record data and observe wildlife in the morning before having lunch on board and having fun in and on the water for the afternoon.

Check out: https://www.bonnielasscharters.com/

Non-stop to Mallorca

For the first time, Air Canada is flying non-stop between Montreal and Palma, the largest city on Mallorca, with three-times-a-week flights June 17 to Oct. 23.

Palma is the bustling capital, whereas the small beach resort town of Port de Soller, where we stayed and caught the Bonnie Lass sunset tour, is 34 kilometres north.

Mallorca is the largest of the four inhabited islands in the Balearic archipelago in the Mediterranean, which also includes Ibiza (which you may have heard of as party central), Menorca and Formentera.

Mallorca is billed as the ideal beach-resort-palm-tree-tapas-and-cava destination with Spanish, European and international flair.