A couple of days ago Christine said she’d like to do a sail around Malta. Every few blocks around Sliema there is a tour company hawking various day trips and when she spoke with one of the vendors, she learned that Thursdays are the sail around Malta day. We mulled that over for a couple of days but in looking at the weather forecast we noticed that Thursday there was to be 20-25 mph winds. That didn’t make being out on the sea very appealing. Besides, with my stomach troubles lately, boating might not be a good thing in rough seas. But, Thursday morning, feeling much better and in spite of the weather, we went for a day-long sail around Malta on a big 2-masted vessel called Faith 2 (I didn’t ask what happened to Faith 1). Even though I say sailed, this vessel does not use sails, so we really motored around Malta.
The tour company picks up customers by bus and takes you to the harbor area referred to as Sliema Ferries. This is where all the tour boats begin and end. We arrived fairly early but the boat was already pretty full. All the upper deck outdoor space was taken, which was fine because we didn’t want full sun all day. We sat along the starboard side on a narrow cushioned seat. Since we were sailing to the south out of the harbor we wanted that side because it would be closest to land. The boat holds a maximum of 254 passengers, but there weren’t that many on board by the time we left, which was good. I’d say there were probably 125 on board. On leaving Sliema Ferries, we saw the sights of Manoel Island and Valletta.




After leaving Sliema Ferries we sailed past the entrance to the Grand Harbor. From the entrance you could see a couple of cruise ships docked down at the Valletta Waterfront. It’s a narrow channel getting into the harbor and we saw a cruise ship sitting out at sea waiting for its turn to enter.



We actually took this same trip around Malta in 2016. We both have very vivid memories of things we saw and we were excited to see all the beautiful, rugged coastline. While Malta is one of the most densely populated places on earth, most of the population lives on the eastern side of the island. In contrast, the western side is much more desolate and there are huge cliffs of limestone. As you might remember from photos of Gozo, the Maltese islands are sedimentary rock that was pushed up from below the sea and Malta forms the crest of a tilted block.
The various landscapes we saw were so interesting. There were areas where the limestone was scoured very smooth and there were many caves carved into the limestone everywhere. The southern edge of Malta is lower than the cliffs to be seen farther up the western side. For the first third of the voyage the island protected us from the winds coming from the northeast, so being on the sea wasn’t bad at all.


Christine was very happy to be sailing.

From the southern coast we turned northward up the west coast and the topography started to change, and so did the wind and seas. We started seeing taller limestone cliffs with beautiful striations and caves.





We got a buffet lunch on board, which was quite a hoot with the increasing winds. The buffet was served in a protected area on the ship. We lined up on the port side, got a paper plate, filled our plates with nice food including cold cuts, pasta salad and green salad and all the fixings. Once you had your plate, you existed the serving area down the starboard side and as soon as a person rounded the corner, salad and other lunch things flew off plates in the wind and people wobbled along to their seats. It was pretty funny seeing people trying to hold the food on their plates while trying not to fall over. Everyone finally seemed to have eaten something, but I’m sure the crew will be cleaning all kinds of food from places where it stuck on the deck.
We sailed past the area where Malta’s Blue Grotto is located and I was surprised to see that the small boats were working today. Typically, with rough seas, the small boats don’t go out. If the weather is better tomorrow, we may try to get to the Blue Grotto.



Next came the Dingli cliffs, the tallest cliffs on the island. You can clearly see the various layers of limestone here. The way that the cliffs are sculpted by wind and water is really beautiful.







A little farther north there was an area where the wind had scraped the vegetation off the limestone leaving white patches on the hillside that I though looked like snow. And there were ledges of beautiful smooth limestone where there were some boulders sitting on the ledge.




Every part of the coastline is so different and so interesting to see how the limestone has been affected. Christine was loving being on the water.

The cruise included a stop at Comino, the smallest of the Maltese islands, whose claim to fame is the Blue Lagoon. We’ve been to the Blue Lagoon a couple of times and so we weren’t that interested in swimming there. It has become a 3-ring circus with vendors selling all kinds of cocktails, especially in cored out pineapples, and unless you rent a chair and umbrella, there’s no place to sit other than high up on sharp, pointy limestone. A real problem for us was getting off the boat and up the embankment. The gangway was high off the ground and you had to time your leap off when a wave had crested and the gangway was going down. Once off the boat, the climb up the steep embankment was a challenge. Some guy passing by, holding a pineapple cocktail, grabbed Christine’s hand and led her up the rough terrain. He didn’t give her much time to be scared and just kind of marched her up the hill. It was nice of him to do that and Christine was appreciative.






We had planned to hike out to St. Mary’s watch tower rather than swim. However, to do that, you have to make your way along a very slanted path that was slippery, while holding on to a rope. We went a little distance, but Christine was a bit overwhelmed by the challenge so we turned back. Instead, we walked around a point to a small bay, nearly deserted, and sat by the water for a while taking in the beauty of the area. Gozo was just across the channel and we reflected on our nice week in Gozo.




We carefully made our way down the hill back to the boat. We still had another hour or so before departing, but it was nice to sit in the shade and relax away from all the action at the lagoon. Christine chatted up some women fro the U.K. Eventually, it was time to leave and we set sail at 5:00 p.m. for the hour-and-a-half sail back to Sliema Ferries. And what a voyage it was!
We now were out in the sea on the eastern side of Malta, right in the path of the 25 mph winds. The seas were quite rough. Fortunately, because we had returned to the boat early in Comino, we had seats in the back of the boat in a somewhat sheltered area. We sat next to a couple from Belgium and in the course of our return to Sliema, we shared the very rough ride and all the commotion going on with people on the ship. No one could stay on their feet very well. A few folks fell causing everyone to cry out for that person. Folks up on the top deck kept having their bags fall down to the lower deck from the rocking boat, nearly knocking people below on the head. The crew started handing out barf bags, which several people made use of. The boat would list sharply to one side and everyone would make a noise. Then the bow would rise up and down and everyone would moan. It was quite a time. One of the U.K. women who was sitting at the back across from us decided to go into the totally covered area down below. This was about 25 feet away from her. After having seen people falling while trying to walk, she scooted across the deck on her bottom which caused one of her friends to laugh so hard I thought she’d fall out of her seat. It was a momentous journey, one that I don’t think anyone will forget. I think the captain did a great job keeping things under control and commenting on the conditions as choppy seas and hoping everyone was having a good time. Fortunately for me, I was feeling much better that day and so did not suffer too greatly from the wild ride. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the last part of the ride because I was hanging on with both hands and couldn’t manage to operate a camera.
After we returned home, wind ravaged but happy, we treated ourselves to a pizza at Peppi’s. It was yummy. And that was the end of a memorable day.
What a day! Hilarious