Birżebbuġa

Julie

Luckily there’s no swell here. We drop anchor and catch up on some sleep. In the afternoon, we go exploring the nearby village. We step into Coffee Circus China and order a lychee-coconut lemonade, a Huskie beer for Greg, and some dumplings and sushi. What a great spot. Definitely recommended! By late afternoon, we sail back to our boat and I feel completely exhausted. The past two days, I’ve had this strange feeling as if I’ve been on night-time excursions and am running on very little sleep. It doesn’t help that Finn has been waking us up every morning at 5 a.m. for the past few months and stays hyperactive until at least eight. The fact that he likes to tease Nelly at that hour certainly doesn’t make it any easier. The short nights are really starting to take their toll. If anyone has tips on how to curb this behavior, we’d love to hear them. Toys and Feliway sprays unfortunately don’t work, and it feels like we’ve tried everything by now. Sadly, our boat is too small to give him a separate space. The next day, after a slightly better night’s sleep, we take the dinghy to Marsaxlokk, since it’s market day. Upon arrival, we weave between the many colorful fishing boats, known as luzzu. We moor our dinghy easily right in front of the market stalls, where you can find everything: clothing, gadgets, shoes, fruit, vegetables, fish, pastries, cheese, and olives. We stroll around a bit, dodge the tourists squeezing through the narrow paths, and plop down at a terrace at Sweet Steph. After a cappuccino and a ham-and-cheese toast, we return to the market, grab a dorade and some fruit, and sail back to our El Burro with a full basket. In the late afternoon, we go for a walk. At first, the route we chose via Komoot is a bit disappointing because it leads through the town. But soon we take a small path and, to our surprise, end up in the Maltese countryside. Along the way, we encounter wasp nests (paper wasps, or Polistes gallicus, because their nests look like paper), a chameleon (!) and a few angry farm dogs. At one point, I had tears in my eyes and my heart racing as two large dogs barked and circled around me. Little confession: I’m not very fond of dogs. Don’t ask me why. I grew up with them as a child but in recent years, I’ve gotten quite nervous around them. After about six kilometers of walking, we sail back to our boat and end the evening by grilling our dorade on the barbecue. Yummie!

Boat & Crew

El Burro

Swallow Craft Design Group, Swift 33

Gregory Ramis Ferriol

Owner

Finn

Pet, Male

Nelly

Pet, Female

Julie

Owner