Cloudy Family Visit

The weather in Malta has been consistently warm and sunny through May, as it is supposed to be. But Tuesday clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped a bit. It must have been because our daughter and son-in-law arrived from Minnesota! Did they bring this with them?

On the walls at Mdina

After a bit of orientation to the neighborhood on Tuesday evening, we set out Wednesday morning from the Sliema ferry terminal on a boat trip along the coast of Malta toward Gozo. It was a terrible trip! The wind was fierce, the sea was rough, and it even rained a bit. It never rains in Malta in June.

Photos at Fungus Rock and Azure Window

Ironically, the only person unaffected was Mary, who often is prone to motion sickness. She was the only one who had taken a pill for it. The rest of us were getting a bit queezey by the time the boat docked at Gozo, and we were happy to get off.

At the Blue Lagoon

Our package included a quick, three-hour land tour of Gozo. We had only 20 minutes at the Azure Window and Inland Sea. Only an hour in Victoria Rabbat and the Citadel. The main entrance to the Citadel was closed for construction work, so we had to walk the long way around and climb lots and  lots of steps to enter through the moat.

Mary is ready to try snorkeling

Back on the boat, we went on to Comino where our boat docked in the Blue Lagoon. We had brought along snorkeling gear. Katherine and Matt are old hands at this. I'd done it a lot in fresh water back in my younger years. Mary was a neophyte. But we all got to snorkel in the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean.

Matt instructs Mary on how to walk backwards with fins on her feet

Our swim in the Blue Lagoon was cut short by a very rare Maltese thunderstorm! (This never happens.) We ran back to the boat, but once the storm passed, our return trip was much smoother. The boat made a couple of near approaches to some unusual seaside caves before deadheading back to Sliema.

A closeup look at some of the seaside caves

Despite the odd weather, it was a good day, and we returned to the flat to shower and change for a good dinner and an early bedtime, since the walking and the swim had us all pretty worn out.