Mgarr, Gozo Monday 25th July

Well here we are in funny little Gozo. I say funny because the things we have seen so far are just that! Notable bits are horses and seaplanes and un-pronounceable words (see below). And it is like stepping back 30 years. But its history goes back millennia and we have that aspect yet to explore.

But I digress. Arrivederci Sicilia first. We crossed from Porto Palo on the Southeastern tip of the island. It took us just under 10 hours to do the 60nm, on working jib (changed over from the big genoa for the trip) and initially 1 reef, then 2 reefs in the main - a beat to windward all the way in increasingly lumpy seas.

Very weird to hear over the VHF radio, brings home to you how close we are to the Libyan coast. I quote: "all ships, all ships, this is Nato Warship X. We are here to safeguard the civilian population of Libya from acts of violence. We advise you to go home and stay with your families. Any commercial vessel, fishing vessel, patrol or private vessel in these waters suspected to be a threat to the civilian population WILL BE DESTROYED. No question. Any activity or concerns, call Warship X on Channel 16". Long Navtex messages in the same vein. Bboom. I was worried about the poor chaps for whom staying at home was not an option if fishing was their livelihood and feeding the family was rather important - and having or not a working VHF set - and was that really acting suspiciously?
Very glad to have done it then, as marina and flights booked already and not sure with the current conditions we would have made it otherwise. Sunny and hot, but very blowy and rough seas now. An interesting trip.

Gozo - well we have a little marina, the shore side of which appears to be a building site, although the few pontoons are well laid out, artistically lit with little blue lights and it has everything you need including an extremely helpful young chap to hand you your lazy lines for Med style mooring. Except washing machines. I have sussed that I will need to get a bus to somewhere halfway to Rabat (Victoria, capital of Gozo) to find one. But as we fly home day after tomorrow, I need to make sure boat is left clean and happy for a month.
We will have a chance to explore properly when we get back. We spent a day recovering in Blue Lagoon on Camino island, a whole 1½ miles from Gozo, swimming and clambering on the rocky shore. As the name suggests, a local azure blue hotspot, along with half the weekend population of Malta. Yet to get to Malta - lots yet to do and see on these ancient little isles.

In the meantime, the notable bits are: sharing our harbour with the local seaplane - we're used to waiting on ferries coming and going, not so used to waiting on a plane landing, entering and leaving! And its pontoon is nothing like as glamorous as ours! (See pic) And came across some horses cooling off in the harbour (also see pic). Turned out they were due to race the following day in a final (they had come 2nd and 3rd in the previous heats) - they were beautiful sulky racers (pulling single carriages). And the language. Mgarr is pronounced mmmjar. That's easy. It's all the xx's and ll's and ggh's strung together that become difficult - Maltese is based on Arabic but written with a Roman alphabet and has additions from each of its subsequent invaders. Thankfully they are all also bilingual with English, due to the more recent British influence.

So, packing the boat up tomorrow, to be ready to catch the early ferry Tuesday to Cirkewwa on Malta and onwards to the airport. And back end August to see Gozo and Malta properly - with company…Must get the boat clean, we will have visitors!

p.s Oddly, diesel bug seems to have "b*****ed off". Am I allowed to say that?

p.p.s As I upload this, it is now Tuesday, we have ferried and driven and flown and trained and driven, and are now taking advantage yet again of Geof & Kate's good nature and bed before heading back to Devon tomorrow.