Moondancerx's BIG adventure

But not very far - just out of the marina. BUT - just out of the marina is so very nice. Now we have a little breeze blowing through the boat, the water is clean enough to swim in, not as clean as a bit further out into Marsamxett Harbour, but really doable. We have come around the corner of Msida Creek into Lazaretto Creek, as you see from the pictures we are in pretty good company. We are flanked by Ta'Xbiex 'wall' where there are many very large expensive yachts, and Manoel Island where again the super yachts tie to the wall of Manoel Island. We are on a mooring which we are told is available until September. Who knows - we could just as easily be moved off here tomorrow. As I've said before there is a real problem with moorage availability in Malta. Its a very small country and everybody wants to pass through, which means the marinas have to keep some guest moorage available. That is where we have been for the past couple of months - on the guest moorage doc...

Comino is a very small island between Malta and Gozo. As these pictures show it is beautiful all the way around, but the most popular anchorage, which I did not photograph, is called Blue Lagoon. Though the Blue Lagoon is a very beautiful place it has become the destination of hundreds of tour boats daily. So on that day we did take the charter clients into Blue Lagoon to show them what it was like, and as we suspected after they saw some of the more secluded places they preferred not to join the throngs in the lagoon. When Tony and I first arrived in Malta we were very fortunate to anchor in the lagoon before the hoards arrived and it is absolutely gorgeous. The water is crystal clear and bright torquoise. Torquoise Lagoon would be a more accurate description. But once the visitors started to arrive we moved out. So we are gradually finding our way around Malta and for all of her faults she definitely qualifies as a jewel in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Got this shot this morning as Tony was heading out the of marina with a group of students taking their 'Nautical License' training. The Maltese government has legislated that by 2011 all boaters sailing vessels with engines over 30hp must have a nautical license. The Malta Sailing Academy got a contract to teach this course and are already booking classes. Tony teaches the practical part of the course on the water in this R.I.D, which goes very fast. Tony took me for a spin in it today and when he opened up the 110hp engine I screamed and said nooooooooooooo. Didn't like it at all. I felt like a pea on a drum being bounced around with nothing to hold on to. I don't think that's what he does with his students, quite the opposite, he is not teaching them to scare their wives and create a fist shaking wake around marinas, he's teaching them responsible boat handling, knowledge of buoyage systems, man overboard and general boat etiquette. They also have a cl...

Its great to be home. Got home on Sunday morning quite early. We came into Malta in a strong North Easterly which we had been racing ahead of the previous day and night, pushing Gaffer's Girl to get us home before the winds really picked up. Thank God that we were not facing those seas head on. When we were within the last half hour of the harbour entrance our skipper and first mate were at both wheels working quite hard to keep her on course. We got in, docked (unfortunately in the wrong slip) which meant moving her in a deluge with wind which made for a sloppy mooring (my final attempt with her), but no harm done. I got what I went for which was to be out on the water again for a few days (750 odd miles from Gocek to Malta) and familiarisation and manoevering practice on a 50' Beneteau. The gentleman from the yacht brokerage who took delivery of the yacht very kindly drove me back to Msida and into the arms of my lovely husband Tony, who said it was about time I got home...