After an excellent Dolphin-filled departure from Gibraltar, we headed East towards our next destination of Malta. We were following the North African coastline of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, but keeping well outside of their territorial waters.
It proved to be a fairly quiet day at sea after the excitement of the one hundred and twelve Dolphins of three species that we saw in the late afternoon as we left Gibraltar. The clear highlight was a pod of three dispersed Cuvier's Beaked Whales seen during the day on the port side. I was the recorder at the time, so could have looked for them. However, having recorded the position, I replaced Lexie on the starboard side, in the hope she would get to see her first Cuvier's Beaked Whales. Unfortunately, they weren't showing well and she didn't see them. Sadly, the reality of Cetacean watching is that you don't get to see everything and some Beaked Whale sightings can be brief. A pod of nine Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a couple of unidentified Dolphins completed the Cetacean list for the day.
Seabirds weren't plentiful either during the day, with a Gannet and a few Mediterranean, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen. At one point, a Bordered Straw flew past me. I managed to confirm its identification when I found it dead on the deck the next morning.
Our second day at sea as we sailed towards Malta was another relatively quiet day. We spent the day sailing along the North coast of Africa. Around late morning, we passed the spartan Galite Islands, which lie twenty-four miles North of the North West coast of Tunisia.
During the day, my Bird highlights were ten Yelkouan Shearwaters and a couple of large unidentified distant Cory's Shearwaters or Scopoli's Shearwaters. There was also a Gannet and a similar set of Gulls to the first day at sea and I missed an Arctic Skua that Terry briefly saw. I managed to see a short view of a single unidentified Dolphin. But I was pleased to see an immature Sea Turtle which quickly passed along the port side. This was likely to be a Loggerhead Turtle or Green Turtle, which are the two regular species that occur in the Mediterranean Sea. I saw a distant pale brown Butterfly flying North: I suspected it was a Painted Lady, but it was too far away to identify.
We were looking forward to going ashore on Malta on the following day. Dawn occurred before we reached Malta, but we were too close inshore to consider surveying. The pilot boat appeared, as I was taken a few photos of the port.
Malta is composed of three main islands, totally just under one hundred and twenty-five square miles. It has a population of just under five hundred and fifty thousand people and it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
Malta has been inhabited for nearly eight thousand years. Its position sixty miles South of Sicily and just around two hundred miles East of Tunisia and North of Libya has allowed the island to dominate the central Mediterranean before Roman times. It had a long and complex history of many empires occupying the country. The Knights Hospitallers were based on Malta from 1530 to 1798. Soon after the island became the headquarters for the British Mediterranean fleet. The island was vital to the North African campaigns during WW2. Fortunately, it managed to hold out despite a prolonged siege and bombing campaign by the Germans and Italians from June 1940 to Nov 1942. Had Malta fallen, then it would have been very hard for the British to survive in North Africa, which ultimately could have changed the outcome of WW2.
None of the ORCA team had been to Valetta before. One of the passengers who had joined us on the top deck earlier in the trip had suggested taking a boat over to the Three Cities on the other side of the harbour. The Three Cities have retained a lot of their original character and it should be quieter as most of the passengers were likely to head into the main town.
There were regular large ferries to the Three Cities, but we would have a thirty minute wait until the next ferry left. Alternatively, we could get one of these small boats across immediately. The large ferry was four Euros as a return fare, compared to three Euros each way for the small boats. It was worth paying the extra two Euros to get the small boats.
The Three Cities are Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua. They are all fortified cities. Vittoriosa is the oldest dating to the Medieval period, with Senglea and Cospicua being founded by the Knights Hospitallers in the 16th and 17th Centuries, respectively. We landed in Vittoriosa.
It was a short walk along this street from the jetty to the Maritime Museum.
After a drink in one of the cafes, Terry, Karen and Lexie decided to hop on a boat back to the main town. I was keen to keep exploring Vittoriosa. More on that in the next Blog Post.
