Nimrod Oceanlord

It was too much to hope for that our Friday  evening flight from Luton would leave on time. An hour’s delay meant that it was nearly 0130 before we arrived at the boat but at least the roads were clear! A quick cup of coffee sitting in the cockpit (it was still around 20+ degrees) and then to bed. We were awoken this morning by our neighbours chatting at around 8am, which is not exactly early but it felt like the middle of the night. We had lots to do to get the boat ready so up we got. Our breakfast (and lunch) consisted of  banana bread Jo made the day before, so it wasn’t long before we were putting up sails and checking everything was working as it should. Peter had done a sterling job on the list we had given him but we  wanted to check that things were set up right. (As every skipper knows, we all have a slightly different way of doing things!)

Finally, around 2.30pm, we set off for the supermarket to do our shop at the hottest time of day as it was now 29 degrees in the shade. €150 later and laden down with food, we walked back to the boat. A late afternoon snack of prawns and fresh bread kept us going for the next set of chores – Bimini, sprayhood, jack stays (length of webbing to attach yourself in bad weather so you don’t fall off the boat!) and the rest of the safety equipment.

Finally, a shower and a gin and tonic in the cockpit before a meal ashore at the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Whilst Jo didn’t need to slow down and chill, Liz certainly did after a very hectic few weeks.

As the sailors amongst you will know, the wind will invariably be coming directly from the direction you want to go towards. Next week’s forecast is no exception. The wind is predicted to be a lovely WSW moving to WNW on Saturday but a NW on Sunday. Perfect wind strength of 20+ knots so we could have had a fast journey over to southern Sicily. However, it looks like we will need to go more NE than we wanted to get across or wait until later on Sunday once the wind has backed towards the SW. The other option is to stay around Malta and find a snug cove on the south side of the island. Decisions, decisions….

There are times that we feel a long way away from Nimrod and our life aboard her when we are in the UK. However, it seems that there are little reminders if you only look for them! The other day I was walking through our local church yard and came across a grave of a soldier killed in Malta during the WWII siege. As you can see from the photo below, he died in April 1942 during some of the fiercest fighting. If our boat hadn’t been moored in Valletta, we probably would have continued to walk past without a second thought.

We are now back in the UK after a lovely few days in Malta. First thing on Easter Monday was spent with Peter, our caretaker, as there was a list of jobs that required his attention. One of them he had pointed out as another boat he is looking after had a similar fault and ended up exploding! Apparently, the switch for the domestic battery bank had become hot, sparked and set fire to the spinnaker sail that was being stored over the batteries. Luckily, we don’t store anything over our batteries or battery switches (seems a bit daft to me) but he did notice that the switch was getting very warm and therefore needs replacing. We switch everything off when we leave the boat so it couldn’t spark but we felt it was better to be safe than sorry so he is replacing the switch in the next few days.

Afterwards, we ventured back into Valletta and were, yet again, incredibly lucky in finding a parking space (they are like gold dust!). We wanted to show John and Ruth the Co-cathedral of St John and this was the first day it would be open to visitors rather than church services since we arrived. It was still as spectacular as ever in its amazing splendour and grandeur.  Photos really do not do it justice. The artisans who built and decorated this church were indeed masters of their craft.  

The pulpit at Co-Cathedral, Valletta

We then had lunch in one of the oldest cafes in Valletta, Caffe Gordino, before catching the Grand Master’s Palace and Armoury before they closed. The Palace was, frankly, a waste of time but the Armoury was quite interesting. It holds one of the most comprehensive collections of armour and medieval weaponry in Europe and chronicles the advancement of the technology involved.  

The Grand Master’s Palace

After that, we dropped John and Ruth back at their hotel so we could leave the car at the marina and walk back to meet them for a meal later. This meant that Jo could have more than one glass of wine! However, first we went via the supermarket to top up our alcohol stock as we were running dangerously low on beer and wine. Both being heavy to carry back to the boat without a car if we left it until we returned next month.

After a lovely dinner at their hotel, courtesy of John,  we came back to the boat and managed to get the wifi going at last. We had bought a “red box” at the London Boat Show that creates a wifi router inside the boat and you can choose how you want to get the signal – wifi, 3G, satellite etc. We had managed to find some free wifi near the yacht club as well as get the code from the yacht club itself but hadn’t managed to get it to work. However, we rigged up the antenna as high as we could and, hey presto, we could log onto it. This made us very happy as this means that we should have access every time we are in the marina now. Hopefully, we will be able to pick up other hotspots as we travel round the island in May.

Tuesday was our last day in Malta and we decided to go to Mosta to see the famous dome. It is the 3rd largest unsupported cupola in Europe and also survived a bombing raid in 1942 when a bomb came through the roof during a church service but amazingly didn’t explode. However, there isn’t much more to see in Mosta so we went onto Mdina to try and see the cathedral there as it wasn’t open to visitors on Sunday when we were there last. I suspect that we would have been impressed if we hadn’t seen either St John’s in Valletta or the dome in Mosta! Still, we had a nice lunch on the ramparts under lemon trees as a final meal of the trip. Then onto the airport to drop the car off and check in.  We seemed to have packed a lot into a few days but can’t wait to be back out again in just over 5 weeks time when we will be taking Nimmie out for a first sail of the season. 

The dome extrior at Mosta

Saturday turned out to be a lovely day so we took advantage to tour the island and go to places we hadn’t seen before. The sat nav was a mixed blessing as it took us down ‘roads’ that were no wider than a track and full of pot holes – mind you, some of the ‘main roads’ were a bit like that! We finally made it to Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples, which are amazing clover shaped temples within 500m of each other and are the oldest free standing Neolithic buildings in the world. Quite stunning.

Temple at Hagar Qim

After that we went to the nearby Blue Grotto but again didn’t bother with a boat ride as the swell looked quite substantial for the small boats that go there and didn’t think it was suitable for John and Ruth.

Cliffs near Dingli

We then went along the coast to the Dingli Cliffs but they probably look much better from the sea. Continuing north we investigated three bays for potential visiting on Nimrod later next month. The first, Gnejna Bay had nothing to recommend it as it had an almost industrial feel to it although it did have a sandy beach. The next two are either side of a promontory with Golden Bay being more famous and much more built up with three huge hotels. The other one, Tuffieha, was delightful with a sandy beach, beach bar and plenty of anchoring room. Sorted!

Tuftieha Bay

We had a lovely evening meal at The Waterpolo Club near to the marina and overlooking the harbour so we had spectacular views of Valletta to accompany a lovely meal. It was only a short drive back to the hotel to drop John and Ruth off before returning to Nimmie.

We spent a couple of hours on Sunday morning doing various jobs on the boat such as inflating the fenders (seemed like a good idea!), checking where the AIS was located, checking the fire extinguishers and also the flares. The reason for checking the AIS (Automatic Identification System) was because we have been thinking about upgrading it to one that transmits our position as well as receiving other vessels. Our current system only tells us where other vessels are but we can’t decide whether it’s worth the cost and effort.

After that we went onto Mdina, the ancient fortified capital, where we were lucky to find a parking space for the car. Apparently, it is traditional to go to Mdina on Easter Sunday. It also didn’t help that two cruise ships were in port in Valletta and Mdina was one of the excursions! However, it was still lovely to wander round the old streets where they were never further than the distance an arrow could travel.

Greek’s Gate, Mdina

From there, we made our way south east to Marsaxlokk , a quaint fishing village that is still very much a working one. It was teeming with people, tourists and locals alike.

Marsaxlokk harbour

There was a large Sunday market selling everything from food to clothes so Ruth was happy! We had lunch in a restaurant run by three sisters and of course, had to have fish! Delicious.

Next stop was Marsaskala, which was supposed to be quite pretty but we thought it very touristy although it had a harbour and a nice promenade that many people were taking advantage of in the early evening sunshine. It did boast a huge church.

Marsaskala

Before heading back towards the hotel, Liz decided that we should try and find the Easter Day procession in Valletta that was supposed to start at 7pm but we reckoned would still be going by the time we arrived if Friday’s timekeeping was anything to go by! However, we searched in vain for half an hour and then gave up. John and Ruth duly delivered back to their hotel, we popped into the Black Pearl bar close to the boat to have a quick drink and, more importantly, obtain the wifi code. The beer was awful, the bar unhygienic and the router wasn’t even working! Back to Nimmie for a wee dram before bed. Another very enjoyable day.

Tuesday was windy and wet so we decided to go to the old capital of Mdina and its neighbour, Rabat, so we could do some sightseeing indoors! We had decided on Sunday that we would hire a car rather than rely on the local buses. The bus service on Malta and Gozo is extensive and cheap but we figured that we would see more by car over the next few days. We picked our car up from the airport on Tuesday morning for only £8 per day and drove onto Mdina, a wonderful medieval, fortified city in the middle of the island. Its winding streets of light yellow stone were a delight to explore – even in the rain! It appears that much of the parking on Malta is free although there is usually someone to direct you and they expect a ‘donation’ when you leave. We tend to give a euro which seems to keep them happy. We had lunch in an old palace before walking into Rabat which is literally just outside the city walls.

Rabat is famous for the St Paul’s catacombs, an amazing labyrinth of early Christian underground tombs. Apparently, in Roman times you weren’t allowed to bury the dead within the city walls hence the catacombs a short distance away. For €4 we had an audio guide and spent around an hour or so exploring the corridors and tombs. Fascinating. By the time we had finished the tour it was getting dark so we headed back to the boat to freshen up and have a pre dinner drink. We decided to eat locally again and tried the Waterpolo Club, a restaurant with good reviews within a few minutes walk of the marina. It was a delicious meal, washed down with a local Maltese red wine. Our server even persuaded us to have dessert – but she was cute!

New Year’s Eve was a completely different day with blue skies and bright sunshine, if a little windy.
We went to the south of the island to explore a local fishing village, Marsaxlokk. It is the main harbour on the island and is festooned with very traditional and colourful fishing vessels called Luzzus. These boats have eyes painted on them that dates back to pagan times. Apparently, it was here that Bush and Gorbachev met in 1989 to officially announce the end of the Cold War.

After that, we made our way to the Blue Grotto that is only accessible by water but no boats were running so this will be a trip for another day. We did manage to peer over the edge of the cliff to see the entrance. The same thing happened when we tried to visit some ancient temples in nearby Hagar Qim. These temples predate Stonehenge but again these were closed as it was New Year’s Eve. So we finally gave up trying to visit places and made our way home. We stopped off in Valletta and had a late lunch (or early dinner) in Ramplas, a restaurant deep inside the fortifications. It was excellent and in warmer weather you can sit outside and overlook the city gates. We then dropped the car back at the marina to go back into Valletta to celebrate the new year. The bus service was running until 2am so we knew we could get home pretty easily although no doubt with a bun fight to get on one!

The town was buzzing with families out in their thousands enjoying the atmosphere with stalls of Maltese dishes and sweets/cakes plus, of course, mulled wine, beer and cocktails. There was live music to keep the crowds entertained until it started to snow and everyone dove for cover! I’m not sure some of the locals had ever seen snow before by their reaction. Luckily, we had dressed up warm so it didn’t bother us and in a funny way made it feel more like being home. There were supposed to be fireworks at midnight in Grand Harbour so we made our way up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens to get a good spot. However, at midnight, fireworks were set off from a number of locations, including the square we had just left. Ah well, they were still nice in the harbour but not a patch on London.