Roberta had checked the times of the various boats but she
wanted us to get to the Mgarr harbour early because she needed to “make
enquiries”. I was joking that she is like a Scotland Yard inspector, always
making enquiries. But her enquiries got results. She found us a boat that would
follow the exact itinerary we wanted to follow.
On this day we were moving from Gozo to Malta where we
were going to stay for the next two nights. Between the islands of Malta and Gozo is the tiny island of Comino
which has a permanent population of three people (don’t ask me their names.). The
famous Blue Lagoon is on the coast of Comino.
This boat was going to take us to Blue Lagoon, show us the sea caves and then
take us to Malta.
For the small payment of €15. And that’s how started my nightmare.
It was not a big boat, not a rowboat but well, it had an engine
and 12 seats in total. Let me find a picture for you. The back of the boat was
open and on the left hand side there was a big opening. The boat pilot
(captain?) told us to sit in the front two seats. But Roberta and I crowded
near the opening on the left. I should have listened to him. The sea was a
little bit rough today due to the wind and the boat bounced along on the waves
like a pebble on the surface of the water.
Did I tell you how everything scares me? Add rollercoasters
to that list. Roberta, of course, was enjoying it immensely, but I was
whiteknuckling on the support rail with one hand. Still, I could not have been
too scared as I was still taking photos with my right hand. Those were not
well-composed shots though, once again I was simply pointing the camera at
things and clicking without having any idea what was actually in the frame. The
boat pilot looked at us from time to time and smiled reassuringly. That did
make me feel better to see that he was not scared. Also, he gave it the gun as
soon as were away from the harbour which made it bounce a little less. Other
than us there was only a couple in the backseats who got thoroughly drenched
while they took photos. They got off at Blue lagoon.
Blue Lagoon was a bit of a let down because pretty as it
was, there was not much to take photos of there. There were a whole lot of
people swimming and tanning so it was again a doing place then looking. The
water stunningly beautiful, very blue and clear, but it’s hard to take photos
of that. We stayed there only about ten minutes then our pilot/captain was
ready to go. He took us this place where there caves in the cliffside all
around us and did a full 360 between them. I took pictures, but the boat was
again bouncing so they are not great pictures.
He again gave it gun and headed for Malta. If
anything the boat bounced more this time. We had already been sprayed with
water, this time we got sloshed. The left leg of my jeans got completely soaked
and my camera also got a faceful of water. Fortunately, I was carrying lens
cleaner spray and a microfibre cloth which I used later in my hotel room to
clean off the salt from the lens and the camera body.
If I am totally honest, the boat ride was not that bad. It
was a bit of a thrill. I have done white water rafting, twice, on the Ganges in
India
and while this reminded me of that it was not nearly that bad. If I had to go
on that boat ride again, I would, even knowing what I know now. I would not go
white water rafting again.
The boat dropped us at Cirkewwa and I remembered that we
were supposed to buy ferry tickets on the way back from Gozo to Malta. That’s
how we cheated them. We didn’t take the ferry back. From here we took a taxi to
our hotel – Hotel Corinthia in St.
George’s Bay.
Again, thanks to Roberta’s expert planning, we were going to live for two
nights in a 5-star hotel, paying what you would normally pay for a BnB in London. Both our rooms
were sea view rooms.
Well, they were supposed to be. The first room they assigned
me was far from Roberta’s room and while hers was proper sea view room, mine
was more of a pool plus sea view. We went down to the reception and asked for a
change. I had taken a picture of the view I had from my balcony and was ready
to go into my irate tourist routine but they didn’t let me. They couldn’t have
been nicer. The girl at the reception changed my room to one next door to
Roberta’s and now I had the same view. That view was stunning.
For the rest of that afternoon we settled in and took
possession. My room had twin beds put together and the reception girl had
offered to get the mattress changed to a double bed mattress. So, I had to wait
for them to do that. In the evening, we went down and walked out of the back of
the hotel, right down to the water. It was not a beach just a sea front, but it
was nice to waves crashing there.
I was realising how much my life was revolving around
photography that I could not think about anything at all without thinking about
its implications in my photos. So, I left my camera behind and just tried to
enjoy the moment.
The compound had many eating establishments. We looked
around and settled on an American diner whose menu seemed to interest us. We
were early so we could have a table otherwise all their tables were reserved
from 2000 onwards. They had a nice burger that I enjoyed. They also had happy
hour with two for one cocktails right now. I don’t want to talk about it.
Because of the way the balcony was facing, the sunset view
from the hotel was not good. But you know what, where there’s a sunset there’s
a sunrise. Wait till I tell you about the sunrise from that room.
