Shifting into an apartment and a Mastless Cruise for the Weekend
We decided that we could not live on the boat with the heat, no air conditioning and the local aroma so on Wednesday we moved into an apartment at St Angelo’s in Birgu. By this stage, too much heat and little sleep and the engineer was exhausted!!
Great spot on the edge of the harbour and lots of cafes nearby. Very cute little town centre up behind us and also another about 500m away.
By Friday we had decided that even though the alternator was not going and no inverter no air conditioning and dodgy fridges. we felt that we had to get away from Marsa and the boatyard for a weekend.
We spent the morning walking around Fort Saint Angelo which the apartments are part of. Amazing construction and great views of the harbour.
At the end of our walk, we spent some time watching the Maltese’s Falcon being moved from their current position in this photo where they were refuelling to an outer berth for collecting passengers the next day. The procedure of shifting took about an hour. They changed the angle of the mast and booms to help with the windage. Hew was very envious of the flag – they had changed from a tatty old one to a brand new one prior to uplifting the passengers.
The evening was dinner at our favourite restaurant this trip “Chill” with Clare and Vic, some more of the MDR cruisers. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g674784-d19976759-Reviews-Chill_Cafe_and_Bistro-Birgu_Vittoriosa_Island_of_Malta.html
We left Sunday morning for two days and just went down the coast to Ponta tal-Grigal. We anchored on the southern end and had two great days there. Lovely to just leap off and go swimming 2 or 3 times a day. The weather was fairly breezy but sheltered from most of the Northwesterly. Other benefit was there were some great caves and not to many boats.
A link to a short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RTFocgChnM
I had to give the dingy a thorough scrub underneath as it already had a lot of growth on it from being in the water for two weeks at the boatyard. Also then washed it with our amazing stainless cleaner, which also really cleans up fibreglass, and the bottom went from yellow to white – very satisfying.
There were enough boats and wakes at night that we lifted the dingy both evenings.
Tuesday morning we left early and back to the shipyards in time for the fridge man and other contractors due on the boat.
Hi Barb and Hew,
good to get your news, we did love Malta and again it was damned hot when we were there, did a great tour of the island( by land).
all good here at Omaha, someone near warkworth might have the dreaded virous. found in waste water, but I guess you are keeping up with the news. House clean, Garden immaculate- will have to change some things around- just for something to do !!
Great to hear from you. Plan to do a land excursion this weekend. Will be interesting to look at something other than the coast. Do you miss all the cruising or are you happily settled in? Apart from lockdown of course.
Just catching up on your blogs – sounds idyllic (except for all the hard work)! Another 2 weeks at least of lockdown in Auckland but the rest of NZ heading for Level 3. Most people are adhering to rules which is good but had enough listening to Covid updates! Otherwise all ok here – have some very tidy cupboards too! Keep sending blogs and great photos – makes us feel as though we are on tour. Cx
Thanks Clare. Interesting that apart from the mask wearing. Rules covid not really mentioned here and you don’t often run into restrictions. Did the other night though when there was a big religious festival and they had a max number and had to sell tickets and block off the streets. Next blog!!