Malta 110428 Thursday and last day

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Malta 110428 Thursday and last day

Home going day.  We woke up around 8.00 as we had to pack our things and clean out the appartment. So much garbage you collect only in one seeks time.And I had already thrown some away once. Made a last visit to the roof of the hotel.

Peter picked us up at 11.00 and we headed for the shop. They checked everything that should be checked for the licence and the shots we brought. When we were done we left and headed back to The Mediterranean Sea. Johanna and I stayed on some cliffs in the sun and the others went of walking. I took some cool shots of J. You can hardly see who it is. :)

At 14.30 we headed back to that chinese restaurant. We needed some dinner before going on the plane as there are no food served. The food was as good today as it was yesterday. But we arrived at the owners own lunch so it felt a bit strange. And their kids entertained us. :)

We headed back to the shop for the drive to the Airport. Everything went as planned in there and we said good by to Peter. The sun was setting as we left so I got some shots. I had the same view as before. I was hoping to see Vesuvius, but it was Johanna that did.
We arrived about 10 min early around 23.10. After getting the luggage and locating the cars it was time to say goodby to them and for us to go separate ways.


I was home around 01.00.
.

Mount Etna from the airplane, Photo: Johanna

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Malta 110426 Tuesday and Johannas birthday

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Malta 110426 Tuesday and Johannas birthday

We awoke at 7.30 to celebrate Johanna. Then we went to the hotel lounge to have breakfast.
It was nice sitting there but the breakfast was not better then we had ourselves.

At 10.00 we were at the shop to take the shots for the dinving licenses. It was rainy and windy. Not good for the tour. Then we went to the little harbor where the boat for the caves should be. Sadly enough it was too windy with high waves so the tour was canceled. Now we hope for tomorrow.

On the way back I started to shoot some flowers so JJM left, they decided to go to Sliema for windowshopping. Myself I had a hard time seeking shelter from the rain. Despite the raincape I was wearing.

Back at the hotel I slept for an hour, had some lunch and headed out again. The rain had past over and it was sunshine again. But still windy with high waves. I headed back to Qawra Tower. Enjoying the walk out there to the rough point of land. It was very nice and I have taken lots of shots of the water beating the cliffs.

I was back at the hotel at 16.30 and the others was already there. After some rest we headed out to eat J:s birthday dinner. A struggle as usual. We went to that "ship" restaurant but it was closed so it was just to check them out again. We ended up at Pizza Hut. It was quite OK though. I orderee the Hawaii pizza. Johanna a lasagne and the other two pizzas too. For dessert chocklate cake and icecream. My pizza was so big that I got a box to take two slices back home so I have food for tomorrow. :)

It is 21.30 and the others are sleeping as usual. I am not tired as I slept an h at lunch. Now I just hope the Mediterranean Sea is calm tomorrow. Our last whole day. My daughter do not want to go home. :)

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Malta 110425 Monday, Dolphin day

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NF Photo 110425 at Mediterraneo Marine Park

Malta 110425 Monday, Dolphin dayToday was "swimming with dolphin" day. We went up rather early to catch the bus at 8.20. A bit early but as we don´t know the area it is better to be sure, coming late was not an option. We were sceduled to 10.00 to meet the personal for the dive. It was sunshine but windy. The Mediterranean sea  was abit upset outside the area of the park.

9.45 we were finally allowed to pay the tickets and we were given a quetionaire to fill in and to learn the rules. No jewelry or other sharp stff would be allowed, as was teh plastic tejp I has on a wound. Dolphins are easily hurt and they eat about everything. :) At 10.00 we were let in and got our swimsuits. And further instructions. At the pool we were divided in two groups. So, the four of us and two kids were in one group. Two dolphin males were working.

The first part was to introcuse us to the dolphin. Touching, kissing and taking pics. After that we were out in the water and the dolpin rotated us there. It was so much fun. :)  Lastly there were a time for free swiming in the pool with both dolphins swimming around us. Cool!  The water in the pool was a bit chilly, but the suit took away most of it.

Removing the wetsuit was much harder then take it on. I had a hard time getting it off. :)

Then I saw the last part of the sea lions performance. I had seen some ducks when we arrived so I went there to see if I could take some shots. They had Common Shelduck (Gravand),  Eurasian Teal (Kricka) and Ferroginous Duck (vitögd dykand). The last one is new to me. Then I located some owls in cages. And a terrarium.

The Dolhin show started at 14.00. Johanna sat closes to the pool. Taking picks and writing like crazy. I too took a lot os shots. It was a good show. :) After the show we stayed a while. There were a small pool beside the main one. There was a young dolphin too. The trainers played games with them and it was fun to watch. Johanna took lots of notes and then started to ask the personal a lot of questions. She needed that for the paper she is doing in class. I´d say she got a lot. :) We bought all the shots of course. They are great. Johanna starts to talk english the entire time now and she is good at it.

The lunch was very flexible. I took my sandwich, the others I think,  had icecream or whatever they could find.  :)

The last show was Parrots. It was kind of cool. Some birds for my blog maybe. :)

Then it was time to return to Bugibba. And the lady with the booking. We were supposed  to go to the caves tomorrow. We have an "open ticket" to that trip.
I don´t remember what we had for dinner. It is 21.20 and the others are asleep. I have to stop now as the battery is going low.

Sweet dreams!. 

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Malta 110424 Sunday, Simar

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Malta 110424 Sunday, Simar

Finally a morning when I can sleep. Yet I woke up at 8.00. I had some breakfast and made myself ready for a walk. At 9.30 I left for Simar. I had figured it would take me little more then an hour to walk the distance. I took the streets closest to the water. It was quite nice, sun shining and not too hot. Took some shots along the way. I did stop to shoot a palmtree and a Maltesian gentleman run up to assist me. The palmtree was full of thorns so I appreciated the effort. :)  I also made a stop at a currency machine and at the WC at the divingsite. Just to make sure. :)

When I arrived at Simar refugee I had some trouble locating the entrance. And when I found it it was closed. As I suspected. I had been walking more then an hour and they did not care to open. Despite every place I read about it said it should be open between 10 - 16h. :( Well, I circled the place but did not see much as it was surrounded by dense bushes. But some birds flew in and out so it was not a complete loss. But no waterbirds as I wanted to see. But one bird of prey and some swallows flew around. And sparrows of course. Not much for an island famous for migrating birds. I found a field of Artichoke on the back of the site. Was thinking of harversting one but they were not mature.

On my way back I found my family at the square, so we took the opportunity to sit down and eat. Tehn we had some rest at the hotel before leaving to visit Peter and Véronique. It turned out to be a homewarming party. All divers, Janet and me and some friends to P and V was there. We had some sallad and barbequed meat and sausage. It was very nice. But it got cold after a while.

They had a marvellous appartment. Large with several rooms and the biggest balcony I have ever seen. With a great view as it was the top appartment. And... the lift went directly into the appartment. Cool! Never seen that before.

We left the party at 20.30 Because tomorrow is "Swimming with Dolpins".

.
 

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Malta 110422 friday, birding...well...

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Malta 110422 friday

Janet and I had free time today. The divers were going back t the same place as yesterday so Janet and I were going to do other things. Johanna and Marcus left at 8.15

Then Janet and I went through her photos so far and uploaded them to my computer. Then I looked at the maps to see where I should go. Janet is working out in the workout section. And I tried out the machines as well.

Then we had some lunch and went to town. They had seen some of the lipstick containers I have and I wanted to find them. We did and now I have two of them. And can finally throw away the one I got from Marcus as christmas present long ago. I also bought a calender for 2012 that I saw in the shop. Then we headed for the supermarker and bought some things for dinner tonight. Bread, chips and cheese and some fast food.

At 14.00h I left to see if I could find the Saltines. It was not that hard as I had a map. It took about 30 min to get there. But as I suspected there were no birds. Only a white ibis turned up. A world so empty of birds don´t we have even in the coldest wintertiem. Really strange. I expected a lot of birds. It is Malta the kingdom of migrating birds.

Silkeshäger - Egretta garzetta - Little Egret, alone at the Saltines

Then I did not want to go the same boring streets back to the hotel so I started to go around the coast. Figuring it would still take me back. There was another place to check out as well.

It turned out to be a rocky point, Qawra point. An area that was left wild and not built  upon. It was sharp stones of chalk or maybe lava. It looked like lava. It was hard to walk on and I have a hard time thinking birds would like it. At least bigger ones. I only saw a House Sparrow. At least the sun started to shine so it was quite nice.  

Back at the hotel my grandkids was already back. Marcus seemed to have had an incident at the last dive. He had started to cough and accidently throw out the mouthpiece and that was not good. Luckily Peter was close and could help out. But they had to help Marcus to shore. Now he was tired and went to bed as soon as he had taken a shower and eaten a little. But he says he shall dive tomorrow anyway.

Johanna did not want the food we bought so we started the gas stove and boiled some pasta for her.

At 20.00 Johanna is also asleep and Janet ready to do the same. Thsi island takes its tolls as it seems. Tomorrow we will be picked up at 7.00 as we are taking the ferry to Gozo so I will not be too late either. But I had some rom and cola to finish before going to bed. Och drying my hair. And a battery to finish charging.
.

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Malta 110421 thursday at Cirkewwa

Watery Wednesday 141

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110421 thursday

Peter picked us up at 9.30 after a small misunderstanding. We had to wait a while as he had the other divers to work with. When we met them it turned out to be the people we sat beside at the plane to Malta. :)

We were going to the northern part  of Malta today. A place called Cirkewwa. Thats where the ferry to Gozo goes from. Véronique was the second driver but she went back to Bugibba after leaving us, Marcus, Janet and me, up there. This is a barren island. And a lot of buildings everywhere. Not much of a wild nature as I expected. Véronique said they are buidling a lot but most of the flats are empty. Miscalculation or what?

We passed the two reserves I am planning to visit, but they were hardly even visible. Maybe it will be a dissapointment. There were not much birds in the divingsite either. Some sparrows, a gull and a dove.

This diving site was rather boring. But there were a certain wild beauty if you forgot about the buildingsite and the ferry.

While the divers got ready for diving Janet and I spent the time shooting jellyfisk and sharp rock formations. We also entered the tower look-out that was built there. But that was tricky because there were cement particles thrown from the buildingsite and that was not fun.

Johanna and Marcus started to dive before the others. So they made some shallow diving getting used to camera and some cards with speices on it and at omake notes.  And Janet and me took a lot of pics of course. It looked rather nice seeing the bright colors of the foot fins in the water. It looked good to see them against the bottom in he shallow water.

When they were all diving Janet and I walked around a bit. Not much to see so we started to compare her new camera to my equipment. Her new PowerShot, SX230HS has 14x enlargement. It seems like her little camera is as good as my stuff. But probably not as fast as my 400D. Later I realised I had photographed a "turtle", a rock that looked like a turtle head. :)

There were a kiosk nearby where we had lunch and waited out the time they had to spend before the next dive.

After the next dive and the procedure at the shop Peter drove us back to the hotel.

The woman with the tour agency was supposed to leave a message at the hotel during the afternoon, but when we came back there were none. So, we went up to the agency and got it all. We are going on monday. :)  Then we checked out where the bus will leave from.

Walking around a bit checking shops and restaurants. We ended up in a restaurant at the town square. I took a wrap with chicken and the others different pastas. It was rather OK.

Back at the apartment we uploaded all shots to my computer. Both mine, Johannas underwater-camera and Janets camera. And then over to a USB-memory as well. That way we have backups on everything. And we don´t have to send things by mail when we come home.

Johanna and Marcus went through all fish photos as they had to identify them till tomorrow.

I am the last one up as usual. Nighty!

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Two ways....... to spend your time in Malta

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Diving...

...or fishing!  NF Photo 110420 in Bugibba, Malta

The diver is my granddaughter. Diving with Anchordiving at Malta
Watery Wednesday

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