3rd Week in Malta, Motor Cruising and more Issues.

Time seems to be going faster than the work. At the end of the week, we had finally got the water maker replumbed and the fridges and air conditioning working.

Unfortunately, still no alternator due to lack of staff and no inverter due to lack of wiring because the shop was shut for the holidays!!

I had been trying to get the new modem and aerial going but after only being able to get the mobile pick up working and a frustrating day I reverted to calling a friend!! Andrew from “Katherine”

Motor Cruising

Decided to go away again and this time for 3 days with light winds expected for two of them.

This time we headed off in the same direction but the intention was to spend one night at the southeast end and one or two at the northwest end of the island.

On the first day, we went past our bay of the previous weekend but then decided we had not gone far enough so continued past the neighbouring bays.

Past the big commercial port of Marsaxlokk and westward up the southern coast.

We tried out the water maker which was going well so spent the trip cleaning the dirt and dust off the boat. Yes – again.!!! It was very satisfying.

Not many places to stop at and some that looked good either had boats or were non-anchoring reserves. Quite a few old look-out towers around. Most places on that side of the island had very high cliffs.

I was amazed to see fishermen fishing off the top!!

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Gnejna Bay

Early afternoon we pulled into Gnejna Bay or Ras it-Raheb. Very nice spot with three large boats there and several small day boats tucked right into the head of the bay.

We settled in for a swim and siesta. Late afternoon we were expecting a wind change and we looking up above the cliffs then suddenly saw two gust devils – a sudden squall hit with 180-degree wind change. The big yacht next to us obviously had a picnic out as everything went flying- plates, napkins, table cloths, and sundry other items. All accompanied by the big boats taking their time to swing in all different directions.

Luckily we were all anchored well and after 30min everything settled down and we were back to 5 kts. In the interim several boats left – must have decided that was it for the day.

By evening there were only us and one other big boat, but several small boats anchored close in and a couple of campsites.

We went to bed fairly early after a casual BBQ and ready for a good nights sleep.

More Issues

But…Life is never simple on a boat. 2330 approx the bilge alarm went off… took 2 buckets water from the starboard bilge. Engineer aka Hew says no worry just fridge lines defrosting.

0230 bilge alarm again. Another 2 buckets of water – all fresh but a bit salty but Malta water is like that. Not too concerned but I am thinking ‘1 bucket per hour??????’ So lying awake wondering what next!!

0430 – bilge alarm- up again. This time get water out then take up more floorboards in the aft bunkroom- as we took up bunk boards we found one section was all wet. Under that board, we found a spray of water coming out of the hot water hose!!! Turn the valve off. Bail out the water. Go back to bed. Should be ok we think.

Get up at 0630 – no alarm. Go look at bilge on the port side just to check – full of water again. 6 bucket loads!!!! What now???

Seems that the nonreturn valves in the bilge pumps in that section are leaking !!! Never-ending maintenance. Turn off the water cooling for the fridges and that seems to have finally stopped it all. More maintenance.

Decided to give up for day and have a swim then a nice slow breakfast.

Afternoon we took a trip in the dingy around this bay and then the next into the next two – which are Golden bay and home to the Radisson hotel. The area was full of boats and the beaches full of people. We were glad to return to our spot down the coast.

Gave the dingy another good clean and made some padding for where it leans against the passerelle. Followed by a reading afternoon.

North East

Sunday dawned fine and clear and we decided that we better move around the coast to the other side of the island. By the time we got around the northwestern end the wind was up. Motored past a lovely-looking grotto ( left for next time) then on to Selun Bay. A few boats but not too many. Decided to stay for lunch then move later.

As we were considering where to go in the afternoon we watched a very ungainly rower row a RIB downwind to the rocks behind us. Then obviously could not row upwind and decided to get out for some reason. After watching the shambles for about 5 minutes we put our dingy in the water and went and rescued them – as in fact there were five of them four who could not swim upwind back to their boat!

We motored off down the coast looking for another bay for the night which would be closer to the harbor and boatyard in the morning. Couldn’t find anything that looked appealing and/or had space so continued on to the bay just inside Grand Harbour close to our swimming spot in Bighi bay under Fort Ricasoli. The water was not as clear as some of the other anchorages but a good safe anchorage.

We settled down peacefully for the night with few boats around and then the “bangers” started. They continued for half an hour with the battery on the other side of the port firing and then seconds later Kalkara firing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rinella

What a racket and we were right under the fort with all the bits of paper and cardboard flying down through the air. The Maltese’s love these shows but this was so loud that lots of the kids on the beach were screaming each time the gun went off!! https://youtu.be/NoPl3ce_C9c

Back to Boatyard

In the morning it was up early. It is very nice here on the harbour at that time of day with the sun a very mellow yellow colour on all the old stone battlements.

Back into the boatyard to only find our spot on the wall was taken by the owner’s boat!! Lined up were the owner’s 80 foot Sea Falcon, his son inlaws RIB, his son’s RIB and his daughter’s speed boat.

We parked in one of the lifting bays and waited for the management team to turn up. The difficulty was there was no power in the lifting bays – so later on we shifted across the dock directly opposite the smell!

Next Blog:https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2021/08/euro-plugs-and-euro-policy/