23rd August 2017

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We left for Gozo at 07.00 after a restless night at anchor outside of the marina at Scoglitti. The crossing was going to be about 52 Nm 

By the time we cleared the headland near Porto Palo a very welcome 10 – 12 knot breeze came in from the SE allowing us to sail for 2 -3 hours.
 

Claire went below for a sleep and soon I could see the hazy outline of Gozo on the horizon. 
 

The waters between Sicily and Malta are very busy with large vessels. Fortunately our course had us crossing their path mostly at right angles which is the best way to transit major shipping routes.

Claire took down our very sad looking Italian flag putting up our brand new Maltese pennant as well as the yellow Q flag as we needed to officially check into Malta.
 

I saw a very strange sight as we were crossing. A bird appeared to be standing on the water! As we got closer I could see that it was actually standing on something which I assumed was a bit of flotsam. 
 

We moved closer still and I could see that it wasn’t an old box or something that the bird was perched on it was a large turtle!! We got very close before the bird flew off with the turtle ducking under the clear water. I saw it clearly, swimming slowly away. Wonderful.
 

As we approached the coast we called the authorities in Valletta on VHF channel 12 informing them of our intention to check in at Mgarr Gozo. (You pronounce Mgarr - MmJarr)
 

We anchored outside of the Mgarr yacht marina and I took the RIB in to present our passports and fill out the entry forms. The first time we have ever had to do this.
 

Everyone had told us how expensive Malta was especially at the height of the season so when an English marinaro asked if I needed a berth for the night as I was walking back to the RIB I nearly said ‘no’ out of hand but I asked him how much it would be for an 11m yacht. To my complete surprise he said 38 Euro’s!! We haven’t paid so little for months so I said that I would check with ‘her in doors’ and get back to him. He showed me the berth we would have and I sped off to tell Claire the good news as I knew she would like to go in for a good night’s sleep.
 

In we went. We had a lovely long shower, eating on board before retiring for the night.
 

We had to leave the marina by 12.00 the following day so we were up and out early to visit the town. We also wanted to find a supermarket as we had been assured that we would get much missed English produce here in Malta.
 

We walked up the hill to the Mgarr town centre detouring through a full size mock up of Bethlehem!! Why it was here I couldn’t really say but it covered quite a large area with many buildings and outhouses.
 

Mgarr was bedecked with banners and flags, it looked very festive but time was ticking on so we walked back down to the harbour stopping in the supermarket where we got Branston Pickle, Sharwood stir in sauces but they were out of Heinz baked beans!! It was such a disappointment. 
 

We also stopped at a small bar with good Wifi and Guinness.
 

We got back to the boat by 11.00 and was gone by midday.  
 

We wanted to anchor in a small bay on the very small island of Camino. Camino sits in the gap between the main Island of Malta and the smaller island of Gozo.
 

We motored past the bay called ‘The Blue Lagoon’ as it was very crowded opting to drop our anchor in the quieter bay of San Niklaw almost opposite the Comino hotel.
 

The water was beautiful, so clear with a temperature that allowed me to jump straight in without acclimatising my body slowly first.
 

An added bonus here was that we picked up the hotels wifi.
 

Later that afternoon a very nice, white Xc-42 pulled into the bay dropping its anchor about 40 meters away. I sat there looking at this yacht and the two people on board knowing that we had seen them before but struggling to place them.
 

After a few minutes it came to me, Isola di Favignana with the strange weather and our failed anniversary dinner.  
 

I stood up, waved and said hello explaining that we had anchored together in the past. They replied saying that they knew straight away where they had seen us as RR is such a memorable boat!! I took that as a compliment. 
 

We agreed to join them on their boat ‘Le Tre Sorelle’ (The three sisters) later for a few drinks.
 

We spent a few hours cleaning the bottom of RR. I was hoping to clean below the water line with a large scrubbing brush. But really struggled to stay under the boat with a snorkel and mask on whilst scrubbing at the same time.
 

So I came up with a cunning plan.
 

I taped two empty plastic water bottles to the handle of a long, stiff brush.
 

When I pushed the brush under the boat the bottles were trying hard to float to the surface thereby putting a lot of upward pressure on the head of the brush so all I had to do was push it backwards and forwards while treading water at the side of the boat. Simples.
 

It worked so well that I cleaned the whole boat in under an hour while Claire followed behind cleaning the waterline with a green scouring pad. 
 

After we had rested and relaxed for a bit we got the RIB off the front of RR putting the engine on before getting changed and crossing to ‘Le Tre Sorelle’ for a beer or two. 
 

The couple, Joseph and Johanna were very nice, hospitable people and we were soon chatting together like old friends. Joe was born and bred in Malta whereas Johanna was Dutch.
 

The time flew by. My stomach was rumbling and I hinted that we should be going soon but they would not hear of it. Instead they invited us to stay to share their dinner with them as they were having Pasta carbonara and could easily add a little more pasta. I went back to RR to turn on our anchor light also bringing back some more drink at the same time.
 

It was very late by the time we did actually leave them. They had given us some good tips for our planned trip ashore in the morning. 
 

 

25th August
 

By mid-morning we were ready to leave RR. 
 

We first took the RIB around to this tiny little inlet that was little more than a crack in the rocks barely wide enough to get the RIB in.
 

We then went back into our bay securing the RIB to a ring on the hotels dock. We walked into reception to confirm that it was OK to leave the dinghy there while we had a drink in the bar. 
 

We did intend to have a drink in the bar you understand but only after our three or four hour walk ashore!!
 

Having got the thumbs up from the receptionist we walked through the bar and out the back onto the very dusty track that led us over the small island of Camino to ‘The Blue Lagoon’.
 

The Blue lagoon is a famous bay in Malta. There is a huge patch of sand in between the Island of Camino and a line of large rocks that are about 200 meters off shore. The sand is covered by beautifully clear shallow water making it a perfect place for swimming.
 

As we rounded the bend for our first view of the bay we were both amazed at the amount of people there. It was really very busy with party boats and ferries dropping hundreds of people off. It did look beautiful though.
 

I asked Claire if she fancied a swim knowing that she would say ‘NO’ as it was so crowded so we walked on past looking for the tower that Joe and Johanna had told us about.
 

It was a very old fortification and apparently if there was a flag flying from the top it was open and you could go inside for a look around.
 

We couldn’t see anything from where we were so we carried on walking along the path past all the fast food kiosks and temporary bars set up for the continuous stream of tourists. There was even a large kiosk with lots of small lockers where you could leave your valuables for 8 Euros a day!
 

Claire spotted the flag first. It was across the other side of the bay and the walk to it took us around the very edge of the cliffs that formed the many inlets around this part of Comino.
 

Everywhere you looked there were boats tucked into impossible anchorages, people were swimming into caves scoured out by the never ending motion of the sea. Canoeist’s were paddling through the gaps in the rocks and the inevitable paddle boarders were making their way across to the lagoon. 
 

When we got to the tower we made our way up the long flight of stairs and across the drawbridge into St Mary’s fort which was built in 1618 to help deter the pirates that were attacking traders sailing between Malta and Gozo.
 

Because of it's isolated location it had to be designed and built to withstand a siege so there was space for sheep and goats as well as water storage.
The views from the roof were fantastic.