Mgarr

Mgarr, Gozo   

We timed our arrival at the entrance to Mgarr harbour on Gozo to be between ferry movements. But, with three ferries running we still had to zip in quickly and then hold to the side whilst one of the ferries left the quay. Meanwhile, a chap from the marina was ready to show us where to berth and help us with the pick-up lines. We were all sorted by 1400.

View of harbour from the Gleneagles Bar   

Mgarr was a bit of a peculiar stop-off for us. Firstly, I seemed to fail to get any decent photos of the place and, secondly, we really didn’t explore the town much. Because it was Sunday afternoon most places were closed but our priority was to complete the formalities with Customs and Immigration for leaving Malta and so we went there first. The Customs guy completed all of the paperwork and rang the Valetta office to check that all was in order with the paperwork there, and then he apologised profusely that the Immigration man hadn’t turned up. We waited for a while but then left our passports with the Customs chap and arranged to return to pick them up later, hopefully after the Immigration checks had been completed.

The Gleneagles Bar   

Next stop was the Gleneagles Bar. It has a great balcony which looks out over the harbour and you just can’t help but slow down, relax and enjoy the view. Sipping ice cold beer seemed to help the ambience as well (although it did seem to make my photo of the bar above slightly blurry). Not a bad spot to check e-mails. Inside, the bar was full of fishing memorabilia. Pictures of sharks that had been caught off the island and shipwrecks on the rocky coastline. Barry had told us to look out for the clock behind the bar; we did and after a moment or 2 spotted that it ran backwards.

Our bar stop and e-mail check had left sufficient time for the Immigration guy to check our passports and so we were able to pick them up on our way back to BV.

The town is a bit of a hike to get up to with a large church beside an open square and a couple of bars/restaurants looking out towards Comino Island. All was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon.

Having completed the Customs and Immigration formalities we had 24hrs in which to leave Malta. The forecast promised a light wind day, but probably just about sailable, and certainly the day with the best wind for our jump to Sicily for the next week. We therefore planned for a prompt start in the morning.

Mgarr, Gozo, Malta