Still Hanging out here in Malta

There are quite a few of us still hanging out here in Malta.  Weather conditions have been less than ideal for moving onwards.  However our cruising friends are a little bemused by the way SY Matelot manages to move on from one place to another.  

We start out tied to a large steel ketch... us and four other vessels.

Richard chats to our neighbour on the catamaran

Its a great spot in calm conditions but we soon spot an easterly heading our way and move on to safer moorings.

However, in the meantime its very social ...

There are two other boats ex Marina di Ragusa and then the catamaran arrives with a delivery skipper on board and spends a couple of days there while a NE gale goes through.

We sit down and work out what we need to do to prepare for our planned Atlantic crossing later in the year.

Also, what is broken and needs fixing, apart from us...

List of boat jobs for Richard and Pippy - Some of them....

Pippy:  Locate computer repair specialist and take hard drive which is making loud scratching noise to get all our photos from 2012 off it if still ok.  Yes drive fortunately still okay but need to ditch the case.  Buy 64 gig flash drive for E50.

Richard:  Supervise major engine service and replacement of some parts. Organise service of existing life raft.

Pippy:  Write another list of boat jobs.

Richard:  Take dinghy to Manoel Island Yacht Yard for repairs.  We cannot find that leak!

Wash red dust from boat

Check bilge and find water … problem with on board fresh water pump

Pippy:  Several trips to Jabsco agent to ascertain what needs to be done.  Yes it is simple and we can do it ourselves

Pippy dismantle water pump and put it on the table in saloon.   Richard replace diaphragm and internal parts then put it back together.  Pippy install water pump and join up plumbing.  Pump works… no leaks (edited simplified version!)

P and R:  Remove lazy bag from main boom and send for repairs

P and R:  Wash main sail – hoist and inspect

Richard:  Figure out why main will not come down

Pippy:  Hoist Richard up mast to bring it down

Richard:  Dismantle main sail from top batcar and inspect to find almost no ball bearings left

Richard:  Walk 2 km to chandlery and buy more ball bearings for batcar

Richard:  Poke ball bearings in one by one, stop swearing so much and locate a rigger to find out why we still have this problem!!!

Pippy:  Buy some food supplies and wheel them back to boat on trolley

Richard:  Have EPIRB checked – yes its okay for another year

R and P:  Take C-Map cards to dealer and talk about having overwritten with new charts… expensive so put in too hard basket.

Pippy:  Walk to chandlery and drop off fire extinguishers (on trolley) for service.  Shop for food on way home as can use trolley for return trip.

Richard:  Check up on dinghy repairs with Manoel Island and arrange to have (new from friends) off shore life raft fitted to stern.

Pippy:  Check bilge to find yet more water in there

Richard:  Find leak and undo and replumb leaking hose fitting to watermaker

Pippy:  Hand stitch spray dodger back together where it is splitting down a seam.  R and P:  Take it down and slide it around so that it fits properly. 

Richard:  Get sail bag back;  Pippy: hand stitch some parts still not fixed

R and P:  Reinstall sail bag on boom while main is in place and stop main sail from falling all over deck at same time.

Pippy:  Now figure out now how we are going to repair sail bag where it falls apart along zipper seam after being installed.

Pippy:  Tie sail bag down with rope as big winds coming (Richard has taken to his bed with chest infection due probably to high levels of dust in the air.

Pippy:  Question mark on accumulator (in line with water pump and provides pressure) which now does not seem to be working – probably needs pumping up but we don’t have a bike pump on board.  Yes Jabsco agent confirms diagnosis. Buy bike pump and get to work.

Try not to shout at one another

Pippy:  Walk 2km to pharmacy to get cough medicine for Richard plus fruit and veg for boat

Pippy:  Optimise a list of photos for blog.  Go to Royal Malta Yacht Club and use their internet to upload photos and finish blog.  See dentist about new crown.  Finish blog in dentist waiting room.

Richard:  Swap our cruiser life raft with an off shore one and have it serviced.

Pippy:  Fill up with water, put more lines on stern to stop swinging, cook dinner, add fenders to stern.

Sit on boat while being lashed by fierce wind from SW then NW after which wash red dust from boat before hopefully getting away Saturday.

Well, Saturday does not happen and in the meantime we are dusted with quantities of red Sahara sand mixed with dust during a howling gale.  Yuck!  The atmosphere is full of it and Richard gets a chest infection.

Now on the breakwater in M'Sida Creek

We move on to a free mooring in Sliema Creek..  More later.  Will publish now before I get thrown out of this bar.

Pippy signing offxxxx

Sunday in Malta

Sunday 19 May

Today we decide to take a day off as have been working on boat since our arrival and it is time for a break.  

  

The old city wall is being repaired in a very creative way

The entrance to Valetta has certainly changed since we were here a year ago.  
The new architecture cleverly integrates with the old.

There is an open air theatre built inside the ruins of a Roman temple.

Valetta is festive as usual

The Malta At War Museum is a highlight of the day.

We take the bus to Valetta then hop on a No 2 bus for Vittoriosa.  Get off at roundabout, cross into old city and turn immediately double left.   

It is not very well marked but we go down a sort of ramp under an archway and see in front of you the Malta at War Museum sign.  It is truly amazing amazing… such a well put together display of items from the Second World War and lots of film footage including rare war time documentary (Malta G.C.) from 1942 produced by order of King George VI.

Richard tells Pippy to get on down there...

Then the highlight, we don hair nets (to keep the helmet clean) and helmets and go underground to explore the 1.5 km of tunnels hacked out of the rock by hand by the local people so that they could have shelter and withstand the intense bombing raids which went on for three years from 1940 - 1943.  It is incredibly claustrophobic and we can only wonder at the courage of the people who spent so much time down here. 

There is even a birthing room.  We wonder at how many babies were actually born here… quite a few obviously.

This amazing early device converts AC to DC!

To our great surprise when we come out into the daylight and walk down into Grand Harbour, we find it is International Maritime Day and entrance to the wonderful Maritime Museum is free. 

To top it off we are able to catch a free ride on a pilot boat across the harbour back to Valetta. 

Here we explore the waterfront then find our way back to the Upper Barakka Gardens for a free open air concert by the Drop Out Band.  Wonderful voices and musicians plus a few other hi jinks!

This amazing lift takes us from the Port to the Upper Barakka Gardens

It is 6pm before they pack up and we stay until the last, dragging our weary bodies home to Matelot for an early dinner and bed.  What a lovely day out. 

Startup Matelot 2013

26 April – Arrivo

Not much wind on our passage to Malta

It’s a long journey from Auckland international Airport to Marina di Ragusa, interspersed with many hours sitting in airports along the way, but once Pippy puts her foot on the ‘runway’ pontoon, its as though she has never been away.  Its 10.30 pm and the wind as usual is fresh, humming its tune through the many riggings in the darkness.   There are many warm greetings over the next few days from familiar faces, beginning with the delicious spicy lentil soup made by our wonderful friend Tracy on SY At Last, which is devoured with relish before crashing into bed for a long sleep.

The gentle Buon Giorno the next morning reminds Pippy she is back and it is not long before we are both sampling a large drippy gelato ice cream in a cone and shopping for bread from the local bakery.  The Expresso Americano con Latte Aparte is still very delicious and still 1 Euro at the marine café.  The Tuesday market of fresh veg still inspires greater spending and purchasing than is really needed.

There are many jobs to do on board and soon we are well into the swing of life at Marina di Ragusa together again.  We work all day on impossibly fiddly jobs which keep turning up as we turn things on and they don’t work immediately, but are always on time for the happy hour wherever it is happening, trying to grab a shower and some clean clothes along the way.

Fortunately for Pippy there is one last music session before all the muso’s depart.  Richard has loved playing guitar with this group and his skill on that has improved tremendously.  We all sing along, mostly out of tune, but it’s a happy gathering knowing it will be the last.  Hugh from SY…..  has contributed hugely to this group, his professional Southern States banjo playing contributing great enjoyment for all and his kindness lending much encouragement to aspiring musicians.  We hear that he has accompanied Dolly Parton in the past and no-one is surprised.

Activity is feverish as April draws to a close and we all know our contracts are to expire and we have to leave or pay.  The queues for the two washing machines are long and the pile of books and unwanted clothing in the laundry keeps growing as people have a last clean out.  The selection for summer reading is excellent.  The clothing recyclers have a bonanza.

We try to stock up on the inexpensive Prosecco we have always enjoyed here but all three supermarkets are sold out to the boats who stock up first and we eventually leave with two bottles on board!  We have a victory on the muesli front though as we find MD Discount Supermarket has just stocked up and we buy all 10 packets!  YES!!  Not so lucky on the delicious Blocco di Cioccolato – a huge block of very dark for 1 Euro…. All sold out.  We have to settle for Cioccolato al Latte instead of extra Fondente.  Never mind as Matelot’s stores are very well stocked.

The spring gales keep on coming.  First of all from the east for a week, then a day of respite before turning to the west for what seems like another week.  We go to sleep every night to the sound of it howling and it is impossible to get the genoa up on deck and on to the forestay, or do any outside jobs to prepare for our departure.  The Marina kindly extends our contracts until we have a weather break.  It’s a bonus really, because we find we need the extra time to get ready for departure and make good use of every day.  

There is an opportunity on the last Sunday afternoon (5 May) for us all to meet on the Runway Pontoon for drinks provided by the leftover money from the sale of Marina di Ragusa Cruiser Recipe books.  It’s a great gathering.  Pippy discovers that her birthday gift from Richard of fender covers for the boat is matched by two other cruising wives, who are respectively given diesel and a new toilet for their birthdays.

From that day on each morning a few boats leave, braving the gale whipped seas out in the Sicilian Channel.

Now to the sad goodbyes as the realisation sinks in that we will probably never again see a lot of these people who have played a big part in our lives for the past two winter seasons.  The sadness hangs around despite the many hugs and get-togethers.  Finally on Wednesday 8 May at 7am we throw our lines and along with Venice Lion, Lulu, Feisty, and Geronimo, turn for Malta.  

The wind is down but the sun is not out and grey skies and flappy sails accompany us on our passage across, which is disappointing, as we had a friendly challenge race on with our good friends Jenny and Robert of Venice Lion which does not happen.  

With the exception of two hours when we are able to sail, Matelot’s engine purrs along and it is pleasing that all systems on the boat are working, including the watermaker which makes fresh sweet water for us.

This is our third visit to Malta and we find that our favourite anchorage outside Lazaretto Creek is now riddled with plastic mooring buoys so we motor around to Sliema where we have heard there is an old steel ketch we can tie up to.  It has been a free mooring place for yachts for some time and there is a space for us.  Alongside already are two other yachts from Marina di Ragusa, so we get a friendly greeting and an invitation for drinks on board SY Lazy Pelican at 6pm, where we catch up on familiar faces and local information, especially where we can get the life-raft serviced nearby, a job which has sat at the top of our list for some time. 

Richard is off the boat early the next morning with the liferaft and taking it ashore.  The buzz of traffic can be heard in the distance and buses whizz along the waterfront on their daily routes.

Our 2013 cruising season has begun. ... hahahah!