Mgarr, Gozo

Vasco da Gama
Ian Strathcarron
Sat 4 Apr 2009 09:44
There is an awful lot of just hanging around on this boating lark.  Apart from excursions to England, Spain, Greece and Albania Ian hung around on the boat in Malta for most of the winter, and now we have been hanging around in Gozo for one week.  We will be glad to get going again.  Apart from the thrill of being at sea, it will give me something to write about on the blog.
 
Mgarr harbour is a very pleasant place to be hanging around in.  From our cabin when I wake up in the morning, I have a beautiful view of the island of Comino through a gap in the harbour wall, and I watch the Gozo Channel Line ferry chugging in punctually at 8. Later in the day, lying on the deck I watch the Gozotan fishing boats coming in and out of the harbour.  They are all painted in bright shades of blue, green, red, yellow or white.  If there is a black line it means somebody in the family has recently died.  One fisherman always travels with two barking labradors on board.  Another eccentric sight are the people who take their horse for a ride in the sea, pulled along by their motor launch.  The horse does not look too happy to me, with just his head snorting above the water, but apparently it's considered to be good exercise and the horse is in training for an important horse race next week.  There is a great antipathy towards Malta on the island.  Even the expats we have met here speak of Malta with a shudder, as if it were the abode of the Great Satan himself.
 
The weather is very settled today but there are regular storms which is why the Captain has not wanted to set off yet.  The next possible good weather window could be next Monday/Tuesday when we could set sail for Sicily.