36.01N 14.18E

Saturday 5^th September, 2015

Fairly quiet time really.
Safely in Gozo which is just North of Malta (they wouldn’t give us a berth in Valletta because of a huge round-the-island race coming up). Nice trip over from Greece in 4 days. C was endlessly worrying about fuel (of which we still have ¼ of a tank plus 40 litres in cans), so we sailed very slowly which was good because we arrived at 05:00 in pitch darkness. Spent 24 hrs in a delightful anchorage near Gozo and then moved in. Marina seems fine but some bloke told C he once had to crawl on his hands and knees (I’ve had to do that too) but because the pontoon was rocking so much. Supermarkets are a bit far away but C is sorting out delivery. I am decreasingly willing to climb mountains in order to stare at a pile of rocks. C says they are ancient rocks but I think all rocks are ancient; Olympia was however worth the climb.

Breakages are under control for once. Gas man mended our cooker which was always blowing out by sticking insulating tape into the knobs! Watermaker man says he can mend it cheaper by sending the bits to France for repair; I suppose if they can make SuperEntendards and Exocets they should cope. My CO alarm keeps going off so needs the bin treatment.

C insists on going out for meals (of which I eat only 1/3) every day, but the food is jolly good and not v/expensive.

We’ll be going back and forth to Blighty but the boat stays here for a year, perhaps even with a working watermaker.

K

It has been so hot for the last few days I even persuaded Keith on a beach trip. Lovely warm , clear water, sand and a nice shady café. The little town of Mgarr has lots of good restaurants and the harbour is busy with ferries and fishing boats. When we come back and it is a bit cooler we will visit the island.

C