Gozo

Lovely, colourful Gozo....Mgarr Harbour.


It is just a short passage north of Malta to the islands of Gozo and Comino. We are very keen to do the quick trip there out of curiosity mainly. The Blue Lagoon is supposed to be lovely and Gozo itself has many interesting ancient sites.

We spot a couple of fishermen having a chat along the way....



...then stop on the way to visit the famous Blue Lagoon on the almost uninhabited island of Comino. The lovely anchorage is unfortunately disturbed by the loud noise of a helicopter nearby but we soon realise that a stretcher is being lifted up the hill towards it and obviously someone is being carted off to hospital.

Buildings on the island of note are a tower built in 1618 to provide protection for those passaging between the islands (presumably from pirates) and a tiny medieval church which is rather unique.

A swim in the crystal clear waters is very welcome in the heat of the day as a storm brews in the near distance.



It is a short distance across to the island of Gozo and the sheltered harbour of Mgarr where we are able to find a berth in the marina. There are lots of wonderful photoshoot opportunities in and around this small harbour.



However, we are very mindful of the weather. Long range it looks as though there are some gales heading our way, but there is a nice weather window presenting itself on Friday for our return to Sicily. We are uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to stay longer than we want to here due to weather, or in Valetta Harbour which is untenable in a north easterly gale, and marina berths are very expensive and hard to find. Some weeks later, we are to meet up with a boat which does stay on. Their experience is hair-raising and they are lucky to be alive... more about that later.

Unfortunately Richard gets caught up in taking care of the checking out formalities here in Gozo and does not have the opportunity to see anything much ashore. However, Nick, Karen and Pippy hop on to a local bus and take a ride through very old villages into Victoria (Rabat) which is a fascinating experience. By the time we arrive, a black cloud has filled the sky and torrential rain starts to fall. It is short lived though and Gozo leaves a lasting impression of a place Richard and I should revisit given a little more time.

We depart Gozo around 5pm on Thursday and spend the night at anchor on Comino Island.



We can swim ashore in the crystal clear waters to have a drink in the bar... or,



...sit in the cockpit and enjoy the changing colour in the sky to the north west as the sun goes down.



Richard and Pippy are up and have the boat away from the anchorage at 5.30am which means motoring then motor sailing until around 11.30am when we pass Cape Passaro on the south eastern corner of Sicily.



Once the wind comes in the sailing is superb and we fly along, arriving Siracusa in good daylight.

As the sun goes down, so does the wind, but the sky looks ominous. We are about to experience some severe weather...