Malta 110423 Saturday, diving Gozo

Translate? See Google translation in the sidebar!

Click to enlarge All photos, NF Photo 110423

Malta 110423 Saturday, diving Gozo

Up at 6.00 as we are picked up at 7.00.
Made some bread to bring with us as we did not know if anything woudl be open a it is Easter evening (påskafton) today. At home we should have eaten eggs, but now, forget it!

We were picked up and on our way. Johanna and I went with Véronique. It was raining for a while but not much. It stoped when we were on the ferry. The Ferry left as soon as we were onboard. We were the last cars to load, so we were lucky. It took about 20 min to cross the distance between the two islands. Passing Comino on the way.  We headed north through the city. This island is greener then Malta. And looks nicer, it is better taken care of. Roads are better and houses looks nicer. The harboru is named MGARR harbour.Yea, it spells like that. Arabian influence I guess.

We road along the coast and arrived at the divingsite eventually. Blue Hole - AzureWindow on Gozo. It was very hard to walk here as it was mostly holes an sharp edges all over the place. I think it is sandstone but it looks like lava. It must have been hard for the divers to walk down to the water with all their gear. I thought it was hard with mine. But they did alright, and Macke too. And Johanna photographing of course.

As they came back from the first dive it was sunshine again. And it was getting warm. I had spotted some birds flying and it turned out to be stilts. And a gull and some swallows. Finally something. :) Janet and I walking around the cliffs taking shots. Then the cars started to come. Kiosks for icecream and stuff to eat. And turists. Lots of them.  And more divers.

Diving Azure Window

We headed to the other dive site. It was in what looked like a cave. There was a coffee shop and places where you could take a sunbath. And so we did, after eating something. But Véronique was still in her car so I went back up to get her. She was cold she said. She was born in an island outside south Africa so she was cold. There arrived a lot of tourists that were going an a small boat to see the Azure Window. And lots of families with kids on the side of the little lagoon. The little beach were great for children. I managed to get my back red despite the fact I did not sit long without a shirt. :( 

The ferry tour back was nice and I took a lot os shots. At the shop were a lot of doves that I tried to get a shot at.

After a shower we headed out to shop some food and check the tours to the caves. Then we boiled pasta and eat. Both the divers were sound asleep at 21.00. Janet is reading and I write. The diving is over now and they shall get some photos for the certificate. I bought myself a small Brie cheese and I had about half of it. It was rather good.


Tomorrow night at 17.00 we are invited to Peter and Véronique.

Time to sleep!

More on Malta here:

Malta at NatureFootstep

Anchordiving at Malta

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,  Malta, Bugibba, diving, dykning, anchordiving, divers licence, PADI,,Blue Hole, AzureWindow, Gozo,Styltlöpare, Black-winged stilt

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

Translate? See Google translation in the sidebar!

Click to enlarge All photos, NF Photo 110422 on Malta

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.
.

More on Malta here:

Malta at NatureFootstep

Anchordiving at Malta

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,  Malta, Bugibba, diving, dykning, anchordiving, divers licence, PADI,,Saltiner, saltines, Qawra Point, Qawra, hose sparrow, Little egret

Malta 110421 thursday at Cirkewwa

Watery Wednesday 141

Click to enlarge All photos NF Photo 110428 in Malta

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!

More on Malta here:

Malta at NatureFootstep

Anchordiving at Malta

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,  Malta, Bugibba, diving, dykning, anchordiving, divers licence, PADI,, Cirkewwa, camera, kamera, powershot, canon

Malta 110420 wednesday

Malta was My World for a week.
My World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday 124

Click to enlarge All photos

110420 Wednesday.

After a bit chilly night I woke up at 6.30. A bit early, but it was OK.

The others woke up too and went up at 7 as to planned. We made breakfast from what was on the table when we arrived. Then Peter picked us up at 8.15 and headed for the diving shop. We spent some time there, lookin around the shop. When Peter was ready to start teaching J&M  I and Janet went for a walk. Janet did forgot to get Euros so we had to find a automat to get that. Peter had told us how ato walk to  get to the shore and then back to the hotel. So, we walked, got the money and took a lot of shots at the shore. Janet found a lion she adored. :)  At the hotel we changed to something lighter as it started to get warm. Then we headed back to the diving center. It was not that far. Now we know all of Bugibba. :)

Preparations at the shop

When we came back to the center Véronique was there. She is Peters partner and helps out in the shop when she don´t teach language classes.  Now we went to the diving site at the local shore. J and I passed there before. J&M was taught to handle the compass and I got the underwater-camera in my hands. To put to good use. It was a nice place and both Janet and I was enjoying ourselves. It is so nice to hear and smell the ocean again.

After the compass training they made the first dive. And then it was late lunch.

Véronique came down at lunchtime and we all had something to eat at the kiosk.

Divers have to spend a certain time on land before they can dive again. So that was how lunch was planned. That is due to divers sicknes. It takes time for the body to adjust to the conditions over and under the watersurface.

After the next dive Peter drove the party back to the center and then drove us to the hotel.

We relaxed on the roof for a while. There are 2 small pools. and sunbeds. We also located the mini-shop. Then Janet and Marcus went out and I and Johanna took a swim in the indoor pool next to our appartment.

I downloaded todays shots to the computer and when JoM came back we left to find someplace to eat. As time was almost 20.00 we went to Mc D. Then hurried up to the lady that booked tours. We ordered the tour to the dolphins so we are going to swim with the dolhins. After all those years it is finally going to happen.

Diving in Bugibba

Back at the hotel everybody went to sleep. It is said that the sea tires you and it seems like it. Only I am up writing. and drinking a rom and cola. Yes, I bought myself a small bottle this morning.

Peter will pick us up tomorrow at 8.30. Then we are going to the northern part of Malta. Janet and I am invited as there will be room in the car. There will be 3 aditional divers tomorrow. So far I have seen no birds except for house sparrows. Not much for an island like Malta. But there might be some to see tomorrow.

More on Malta  here:

Malta at NatureFootstep

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Malta, Bugibba, diving, dykning, anchordiving, divers licence, PADI,

Malta 110419 Tuesday, traveling day

Translate? See Google translation in the sidebar!

Click to enlarge All photos

110419 Tuesday, traveling day

I woke up much to early. At 5 already. So I ended up with a lot of time to waste. I was
in bed for some time, then went up doing the dishes. Went online and responded to
some coments. Went to ad some more money to my mobile phone. And packed  the
rest of course.

12.25 I left the house. It was fun because My daughter and I came to the parking lot
gate at the same time waving to each other. And we came from two different towns.
What´s the odds for that? Well, I had some trouble reading the instructions so I got a
ticket instead of just paying with the card. But that will do. Both of us got the cars
parked and we met at the gate.

Skavsta is a small airport and very different from Arlanda. But we were boarding in
time, but without my jacket. It slipped out after the security check and when I noticed,
it was to late to go back. But we were going to the summer so, never mind! It was old
anyway.

We had no seats but we managed to get 2seats in one row and two seats on the
other side and the row behind the first ones. My daughter and grand-daughter sat
on the left side and I and my grandson to the right. Which turned out to be trouble-
some with photography as we had the sunset and it was very bright.

We arrived at Malta at 19.10 and was picked up by Peter in a really old pickup. I had
to slam the door in order to close it. It was quite  a distance to Bugibba. Took about
45 min and it started to darken. The island looks a bit different from what I expected.
Lots of old stone buildings and kind of dry. And not much open areas. And left hand
traffic. Kind of scary.

We went to the diving shop first. And then Peter was driving us to the hotel. He will
pick us up at 8.15 the next morning. My daughter and I am welcome to join.

We had room no 9 in he Sunseeker hotel. It is a 2 room and kitchen apartment.
There was a gas stove that looks mean. There were burnt holes on the biggest gas
and I will probably not cook on hat one. After picking our choice of beds we went out
for a walk. We found a place to eat, not that good food but we ate it. Then we found
a woman that offered trips. She had a small booking agency. And she has one
 “Swimming with dolphins”.  We have to think on that.

Time is 22.0 and the others are already sleeping.  The Castle was shot by Johanna
from the frontseat of the car on the way to Bugibba.

.

Mer om Malta dykning här:

Anchordiving at Malta

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,

Anchordiving, Malta, dykning, scuba dive, Bugibba, certificate,