Day Four - Sailing (Blue Lagoon/St. Paul's Bay)

 Do you remember being 21?  Well we have a 21 year old with us and there is a Casino here.  It really brings back memories of my dad and trips to Nevada when we were growing up.  He loved to play and generally broke even or made enough to pay for our trip and he had a great time playing.  That's how it was last night for our 21-year old.  So 8:15 a.m. came early.  That is when we met Alex who drove us to the Harbor where we boarded our sail boat for the day.

Sailing Day

We started out at about 9:30 a.m. and using the motor (not the sails yet)  we headed to Comino Island famous for the Blue Lagoon Bay.  I picked these excursions for the trip based on some recommendations from My Bella Vita Travel Agency.  My sister Laura and I had used MBV in 2019 for an ancestry trip to Italy and it was probably the best trip I have ever taken.  So MBV set up the sailing day for us.

Little did I know, William loves sailing and has always wanted to be at the helm.  They had planned a sailing trip for Crystal's birthday this past year and it got confusing and canceled and he was quite disappointed.  Our guide told William he could absolutely steer and William was having the time of his life.  It was just so cool that this excursion that we picked was exactly what William had on his heart to do.

William and our guide.

When we got to Comino Island, we dropped anchor and Ed (our guide) grilled us some chicken and beef kabobs.  Jessica, William, and McKenzie got in the water which was a bit cool!  Today the outside temperature was about 70 degrees.  In the summer it gets to 104.  So the water has not warmed up yet.  But they were brave and jumped right in.  Unfortunately as the seasons are changing, there were a lot of jellyfish in the water.  So they stayed mostly on the paddleboards.

William

McKenzie

Jessica

The water was stunning colors of blue.

After a fantastic lunch, we pulled up the anchor and set up the sail.  The smile on Williams face was priceless as he got to steer the boat with the sail.

Lunch

Wine

Oh by the way, I am feeling much better today.  Thank the Lord.

We then "sailed" over to St. Paul's Bay.  Directly across the bay is a little island rock known for centuries as St. Paul's Island.  This is believed to be the area where the shipwreck occurred as Paul was being taken to Rome to be tried as a political rebel.  The ship with 274 others on board was caught in a violent storm and broke up in the region of this little island.  By some miracle which Paul had foreseen, all on board, though non-swimmers, managed to reach the shore which they then discovered was Malta.

Many tourists visit the little island as part of a day cruise.  It is a reassuring sight for the Maltese to gaze across and see their patron saint perched high on the rock, his hands outstretched and watching over them, keeping them faithful to the Christianity that he gave them almost 2000 years ago.

We dropped anchor again and Jess and McKenzie got in the "cool" water again.  We didn't see the jellyfish over here.  We ate some cake and drank some coffee.  The boat owner's wife had made the cake from scratch and it was delicious.  It was like an angel food cake with strawberry creme in the middle with a whipped topping.  Very light and very good.

It was a full day when we headed back to the harbor to be picked up by our driver Alex.  He took us back to the hotel.  Dave and I then went to a Hunter Douglas Centurion reception.  "Centurion" means we sell Hunter Douglas only.  We talked to a few folks and then headed to dinner with the family at a Hotel Restaurant.  I thought it was very loud inside (I went on sensory overload.)  But the food was great.  After dinner some went with the 21-year old and some went to their rooms.  Which one was I?

A gift left in our room from Hunter Douglas

Palio's Trattoria

Ravioli with prawns