After discovering Valletta, it's time to set off around the Maltese archipelago.
Departure from Valletta: Head for Saint Paul, but watch out for the military!
Leaving Valletta early in the morning, we take a northeasterly course along the coast, lunching at noon in Saint Paul. The boat trip is not particularly difficult, if you pay attention to two dangers: just north of Valletta, in a district of Pembroke, the Maltese army sometimes trains to shoot, in which case ships are asked to go around the training ground, passing 4 miles offshore. This can be seen in three ways: you'll notice that all the ships around don't sail along the coast but round it, which is often the first way to realize that the training ground is in use. Large red flags are also hoisted to warn approaching vessels. Finally, if in doubt, you can ask the Valletta Vessel Traffic System (Valletta VTS) in English on VHF channel 12 whether the field is active or not. Once we've passed Pembroke, we leave the northern cardinal of Ghallis Rock to port, which comes into view as an outcropping reef.
Lunch at anchorage on Saint Paul Island
As the prevailing Maltese winds are north-westerly, there's a good chance you'll have 2 or 3 hours of upwind sailing to reach St. Paul's Bay, about 5 miles away on a direct course. Arriving in St. Paul's Bay, you leave to starboard the fish-farming ponds in front of the small island of St. Paul. The best anchorage is a little further on, in front of the limestone cliffs that give the anchorage its turquoise-blue appearance. If you keep an eye on your depth sounder, you can approach to within a few dozen meters and anchor at a depth of 5 meters (anchorage 1), where you'll be treated to an anchorage full of small fish. in a very pretty setting surrounded by cliffs. If the Saint Paul anchorage is full of boats, don't panic, there are lesser-known alternatives in the area. If you really want to get away from the crowds, the northern part of Mellieha Bay (anchorage 3) is a very little-visited site, but very pleasant at the foot of the cliffs, and often well sheltered on days when the north-westerly wind is blowing at over 15 knots. After lunch at the anchorage, we head north again, towards Comino and its famous anchorages.
Comino, a turquoise paradise
Between Malta and Gozo to the north, the two big islands, we come across the small island of Comino, with its most famous tourist attraction: Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is the lagoon between Comino and the tiny island of Cominotto. An expanse of limestone sand covering just a few hundred square meters, it offers an astonishing view of breathtaking shades of blue. If the place is made famous by its color and fish-filled seabed, arriving in the late afternoon is a great way to avoid the day visitors, who head back to Valletta around 5pm. We'll arrive in the late afternoon, and slip between the two islands, in a narrow but straightforward passage. Just stay in the middle, and there's no risk of tailing off, even with a large draught. You can stay at this anchorage and enjoy an often memorable sunset when the tourists have finally left. To spend the night at Blue Lagoon, you have two options. Either you stay on this side of the bathing area, and tie a mooring line to the stern of the boat to prevent it from avoiding the anchorage during the night, or you leave the anchorage, sail around Cominotto, and pick up a buoy on the other side of the bathing area (marked by small yellow buoys). The lockers here, marked with empty jerry cans, are used by the commercial boats that bring in dozens of tourists every day, but you can borrow their lockers to spend the night, taking care to return them before 10 a.m., when they reenter the lagoon. This solution allows you to enjoy the Blue Lagoon quietly and safely, which is very different from anchoring in the early afternoon, which will expose you to a more crowded and noisy lagoon.
In the early morning, we reluctantly leave Blue Lagoon, but set off on a complete tour of Gozo, which in turn offers new landscapes well worth continuing our cruise.
