06-12-2016: Beach Day

What does one do after arriving on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean?  Why, go to the beach and soak up the sun and swim!  That’s what Eve wanted to do her first full day in Malta.

Eve came to our flat from her Airbnb Monday morning and had a little breakfast.  By just after 10:00, we were heading to our favorite place on the rocks near our flat.  It is a lovely little spot near a relatively easy place to get into the water.  A couple of the Maltese ladies on jellyfish watch were nearby.  Also, Christine has talked with another Maltese woman who sits nearby about the meaning of various Maltese words that she hears.  Maltese is a very challenging language to learn.  Being a language that is part Romance and part Semitic in origin, it is a mixed up combination of sounds.  As Christine overhears Maltese conversations, she recalls hearing some words from her childhood and wants to know what they mean.  This very nice woman we sit near on the rocks has been helpful with translation.  I will say that all the Maltese people we, meaning mostly Christine, has struck up a conversation with, have been interesting to talk with and very helpful when we’ve needed information.

After baking for a while, one has to get into the water.  Unfortunately, the jellyfish situation hasn’t gotten any better and so real swimming is difficult.  One needs to be on constant lookout for jellyfish and be prepared to change course quickly to avoid them.  Christine talked with someone who said one of the reasons for the jellyfish is that sea turtles are an increasingly endangered species and since sea turtles eat jellyfish, their decreasing numbers mean an increase in jellyfish.

I don’t do much swimming and prefer just to float close to shore.

The Mediterranean is very salty so you are so buoyant that floating is easy.  I feel like a bobber and can just lay back and not have to do anything to float.  The water has really warmed up since we’ve been here and it’s a lot easier to get in the water now.

Christine continues to do some swimming and she heads down shoreline toward Exile Point.  When she sees jellyfish, she kicks madly out of their way.  Today she did head to the shore after seeing a bunch and ended up standing and talking with a woman for a very long time.  It seems that many people have a jellyfish sting story and this woman told Christine about her unfortunate sting and the long-term treatment she had to have as a result.  That really doesn’t help me want to get in to the water much.

Eve also is a big swimmer, but seeing some jellyfish deterred her from going too far.  It really is too bad because the water feels so nice.

At lunchtime, I went back to the flat and made some crisp bread sandwiches.  I stopped at Mr. Maxims next door for some pastizzes and headed back to the rocks.  All three of us read and lounged till mid-afternoon.  Thank God for sunblock!  We’ve been pretty fortunate in not getting a sunburn the whole time we’ve been here except for those little spots that are difficult to reach while putting on sunscreen.  And Christine does get her nose reddened, so I’ll have to remind her more often to reapply sunscreen on her nose.

Late afternoon Eve went off to go back to her Airbnb to shower and rest a bit.  I think she also sat around the corner on the rocks on the sea side below the esplanade and read for a bit.  We rested in our flat.

We had a 7:00 date with Carol and her friend Maureen for drinks.  We went to Peppi’s and sat in the front lounge area.  The Euro 2016 football tournament is happening and so every restaurant and bar has the football tournament tuned in on large screen TVs.  Makes it a little difficult to converse, but we managed.  Maureen is a Brit living in Malta with her brother and teaches English at the school Carol taught at before going freelance.  She seems to be able to keep up her end of the conversation nicely with Carol so it was fun listening to them banter back and forth.  Carol’s back is doing a little better after having had 6 cortisone injections last week.  Hopefully, she’ll continue to improve.

By 9:00, the 3 of us were starving, so we ordered our dinners and Maureen and Carol went off to return to their homes.  I’m still not used to eating dinner so late, which is pretty typical for Europeans.

After dinner we said our goodnights to Eve and returned to our flat.  It wasn’t long before we were in bed and asleep.  It’s hard work lounging on the beach, swimming and reading all day!

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