It would be fair to say we miss the boat, and we miss it a lot, but we have a great opportunity before our next sailing trip to enjoy island life. This means swimming, snorkelling, walking, paddle boarding and hopefully later in the month a little bit more small boating. There is so much to do here on Gozo we sometimes don’t know where to start but a morning on or in the water is usually the best way to go.
We have been really enjoying getting to know a bit more of the island and it’s waters – most mornings skipper Nigel dons his snorkelling gear and heads into the crystal clear mediterranean and sometimes he practices at home 😉
We have found some fabulous spots for our water activities and we usually enjoy a breakfast whilst we are out and about. Luckily we have also found some fabulous spots for our breakfasts too – we even went to a place that turned out to offer an Indian breakfast which we had to try. Our regular spot remains Josiana’s kiosk (food truck) – where we have also found a bonus of fabulous smoothies – great for the warmer mornings. We have to say it is warmer here than Spain, and also very humid at times. The days simply have to be split into two – morning activities and evening activities with a full on siesta (or afternoon watching the Olympics at the moment) when it is hottest. The difference here is that the nighttime temperatures don’t particularly drop – it’s never below 25 – 28 degrees even in the middle of the night. During the day we are looking mostly at 35 degrees plus but we are used to the heat from Spain and as long as it’s respected it doesn’t cause too many problems. We have air conditioning in the apartment where we live but we have found it more comfortable leaving all the windows open for fresh-air flow rather than freezing cold re-circulated air.
One day, after snorkelling, Nigel had gone up to the apartment ahead of me whilst I popped to the shop for get milk…..I came back to find him standing outside the apartment looking very sheepish and slightly upset – when he showed me what was in his hand I too took a step back in shock – half a key …… mild panic ensued before we realised that there was enough of the broken key sticking out to maybe retrieve it. Bearing in mind we were standing there in our swimming gear ! We knocked on the neighbours door hoping they might have tools (they weren’t in) – we managed – to get the key out (and to this day I don’t know how other than we were very lucky) – we had texted the landlords but thankfully were able to tell them it was no longer urgent as my key opened the door !!!! That weekend we were provided with a fresh key, a bit of the good old WD-40 and the hope that we don’t have a similar issue in the future 😉
As we keep saying Gozo is very small – 26 square kilometers but we still keep finding new places to explore – one of them was quite a hidden gem and we really enjoyed snorkelling in this spot Xatt l-Ahmar – even though it’s now August and most definitely the holiday season there were hardly any people there when we visited in the morning. It is quite a steep drive on a single lane track to get down to the rocks where you can go in the water but well worth the drive – and the worried anticipation of “how am I going to get back up!” Luckily in this case on the way back in summer months there is a kind of one way system so you can get the acceleration to get back up the hill without the nervousness of someone coming the other way. We are adjusting to the steep drives down to the coast and are very glad we decided to get a car with a 1.2 engine which has looked after us very well so far …..
I am going to share a photo that someone (an unnamed source) uploded to the internet to show you just where we live – I love the photo and it does serve as a reminder that this really is a small rock in the grand scheme of things.
There are still the odd bits of business to attend to relating to moving to a new place, applying for a bus pass for one – residents here get free bus travel all over Gozo and Malta (on the regular buses, not the fast ones). I applied and got an email telling me it would be 2 to 3 weeks to arrive so imagine my surprise when less than a week later it arrived !! I was very impressed – have yet to use it mind you, that story will be for another blog 😉 Of course Skipper Nigel refused to get a bus pass (even though it’s free) – he thinks he is way to young ! We have, however, used our resident ID cards to take the ferry to Malta – very exciting to finally get our discount which is approximately a quarter what we pay full price. We had a great afternoon out in Malta visiting our friends from Cartagena who had arrived into Valetta after sailing Corfu and the Greek Islands, Southern Italy and Sicily – it was great to hear all their tales and to wave them off on their next adventure the following day heading to Tunisia. It was lovely to be back around the boating community for an afternoon and we went out for a delicious Argentinian steak meal too – absolutely fabulous.
We are looking forward to another friend visiting this week and the village feasts of our village Xlendi too, apparently there is a traditional greasy pole competition ??!!?? We have to find out what that is all about 😉 Maybe we will finally visit Valetta and do a bit of touristing – who knows ?? Watch this space to find out 😉
The Adventures of Gemini J 