Malta

Crossing from Sicily, we checked into Malta at Mgarr on the northern island of Gozo, the Customs and Immigration officer making the process easy. A few steps from the docks, we were sipping two euro G&Ts on the balcony of the Glen Eagle Bar overlooking the harbor. We were very near the last port of call for the season and the 2,500 nautical miles since County Cork, Ireland, had made us quite thirsty.

After a night tied up at the marina dock, we moved one mile to anchor in the turquoise blue waters of San Niklaw cove from which we snoozed, snorkeled, hiked, and took dinghy rides deep into the sea level caves of Comino Island. Our time there was made all the more enjoyable by the company of John and Moya O’Riordan, our Irish friends and current crew.

Too soon it was time to weigh anchor and sail to Valletta where we tied up at the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Our Irish friends departed, but our social schedule did not relax. As luck would have it, the tracks of the owners of several Hallberg-Rassy boats crossed at this place and time, leading to an informal mini-Hallberg-Rassy reunion, complete with joint tourist excursions, several restaurant meals together, a rousing game of mӧlke on the rocky shore of San Julian Bay, and two lovely barbecue dinners at the home of Leon and Karolina Schulz, our country hosts. We enjoyed immensely the company of Leon & Karolina, Roland Olsson & Vickie Vance, and Art & Karen Strouse.

Our final days of the season upon us, we became occupied by the now familiar routines of preparing the boat for winter storage. We moved to the docks of the Manoel Island Yacht Yard, a naval installation built by the British during World War II and deeded to the Maltese afterwards, it now serves as the island country’s largest yacht services facility. I found the Maltese staff there genteel, though perhaps a bit too relaxed and “mañana-ish” by uptight WASP standards. None-the-less, their Yard was secure and well maintained and their workmen competent. The day came for haul out, after which we moved to an airbnb apartment a few blocks away. Now on-the-hard, Windleblo was ready to sleep peacefully until next season, and the final buttoning up was concluded. (If interested in details on winter storage prep, refer to the September 10, 2011, blog post.)

We flew out of Malta a few days later, the season complete.