Malta North: Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon
A Maltese experience isn’t complete without a trip to Gozo, Comino and the Blue Lagoon. With limited time, the best way to experience is to go on a local-guided tour. I opted for the combination of a cruise to the Blue Lagoon and Crystal Lagoon around Comino and a jeep safari of Gozo. It was perfect!
I had to get up early today, was picked up at 8:15AM on point at park hotel. They’re really on time here! We got to the dock at the northern end of the island of Malta around 9AM. The Barbarossa sailboat didn’t get there at 9:30AM. We were early!
The boat was like the wooden gullet boat I took in Turkey, but smaller. Chris, the captain, was friendly and with his good sense of humor, immediately made us feel comfortable. There were a few couples onboard, some older travellers, but mostly young people.
First, we stopped at the Blue Lagoon. I was so excited, the water was indeed very blue… well more aqua, and very clear. It’s like a swimming pool in the ocean.
We docked at the outer edge of the lagoon. The boat’s too big to get any closer. I borrowed a floater and a snorkel gear. We had an hour to explore on our own. Everybody just swam next to the boat. I went further inland. I thought I was gonna ran out of time. With my waterproof Olympus on tow, I managed to get a good photo at the top of the small
hill. I had a great view of the whole lagoon. As usual I asked strangers to take my photo, this time, the guy who took it knew how to frame. It was stunning! The colors of aqua and deep blue seduces you to dive in.
I hurried back down the hill, then took a leap from a low ‘cliff’
point! I felt great! Swam back as fast as I could and managed to be back on boat in good time.
Second stop, Crystal Lagoon. I didn’t swim, I just took the 5 Euro small boat tour that got us into the caves around the area. One of them had a massive hole on the
roof, just like what I saw on a postcard. Up on the hill was a tower. The Knights of Malta built them to monitor the lagoon where pirates hid to attack merchant boats in the area. The watchtower helped mitigate piracy: when pirates were detected they set fire at the top as a warning. It was also the place where they filmed the Count of Monte Cristo, and below the tower, was a cave. We went into that cave as well. Cool!
Third stop, Gozo. We separated into groups for the jeep safari. Maryrose was our driver. She was very thoughtful and provided good service. I think it’s sad I was the only one who tipped from the group. The other five were young Polish girls who worked in London.
A healthy cold buffet was included in our tour – pasta salad, tuna, capers, olives, lettuce, tomatoes and bread. I loved their tomatoes, they’ve got the reddest tomatoes here in Malta that I’ve ever seen in my whole life! They grow their own vegetables, and only import some fruits.
Around 2PM, we went on our jeep safari tour for a good 3 hours, passing through towns and countryside — from asphalt, cobbled to dirt roads! Bumpy but I loved it! We dropped by Ta’puni church. There were angels all over. The mosaic on the right-hand entrance resonated with me, and I spent sometime just taking it all in, contemplating. It was a lady with long hair, looking down on a book, above her head was the Holy Spirit and behind her an angel. I must have contemplated too long because Maryrose fetched me as all the others were already back in their jeeps, and I’m the only one they’re waiting for! “It’s beautiful isn’t it, you can lose track of time!” Maryrose said.
The most stunning stop was Fungus Rock and the place where there used to be a rock bridge, which collapsed only recently. Nonetheless, it was still a breathtaking sight. The rock pool was nature’s work of art, like a painting bucket of crystal green and deep blue by the ocean.
We passed by the capital, Victoria. Then we went to the salt pans. The original ones were at least 200 yrs old. Salt was so white and tasted subtle, not too salty. We also passed by Calypso cave, where the nymph Calypso took Ulysses there as captive for 7 yrs. The cave was inaccessible to public though, nonetheless, there was a great view of the bay from there. Bought a postcard of Gozo at the store, which cost only 20 cents.
On the way, we passed by Malform, and finally to our last stop where we had a great view of all the three main islands of Malta archipelago: Gozo, Camino and then Malta.
We reached the dock by quarter past 5pm. Bus in Comino was waiting to pick us up. There was heavy traffic along the way but I just fell asleep from exhaustion. The heat got me. I reached back the apartment past 6pm.
Been a long but satisfying day!
