Gozo

Sometimes you feel like you just ended up in another dimension. You just need to add a few events which have no meaning by themselves but that paint a strange picture once put together.



We went to Gozo for the week-end, my wife had booked an hotel in Xlendi and found a diving centre for me to go scuba diving Saturday and Sunday morning. A few hours before leaving I called the centre to get the address and the directions, I was surprised to discover that it was located in Marsalforn. We didn’t know if we would move around the island with the public transportation or with a rented car or scooter, my wife had never driven on the left side of the street (me neither) so public transportation was my favourite choice but the idea of crossing the island to go to Marsalforn forced me to change my mind. My wife was very clear when she asked for the phone number of a diving centre in Xlendi but it seems it was more interesting that I go dive in Marsalforn for the person who gave her the phone number. The renting agency I called was also located in Marsalforn but luckily for me vehicles could be delivered all over the island so I asked them to meet us at the ferry terminal.



I met my wife at the hotel after work and from there we took the 645 bus to go from Sliema to Cirkewwa where we would take the ferry. We didn’t find any place to buy our tickets before getting on the boat, a man explained to my wife that the fee would be paid on arrival on the island. Once we got there no one was there to ask us to pay anything: thanks for the free ferry! We grabbed the scooter and were on the road around 7PM, with open helmets on I couldn’t stop my eyes from crying like crazy and it was tougher and tougher to see were I was going. The crying was so much that I stopped to put my sunglasses on and also took the opportunity to put on a long-sleeved t-shirt, it would have been a shame to catch a cold in the evening and not be able to go diving in the morning. Here we were on our way to Xlendi and the road was in really bad shape and in many places there was no light on the side of the street; good thing because my scooter light was so weak that it didn’t help me at all to see the street. As if things were not easy enough for us, the road was being repaired so we had to go through smaller roads with no lights that went through the fields. We finally got to our destination, it was quite nice to get to the city in the evening, you couldn’t see the bay but you could get a nice view of water front. I was quite happy with myself because I had managed to get us there with no maps without forgetting to always drive on the left side of the street.



There was no booking in our name at the hotel, we had to get it back from hotels.com to prove the room was already paid; the hotel finally got our booking the day after even though it was done 2 days earlier. The hotel had an internal courtyard and our room had a window on it, there were rooms with the street view and rooms with the bay view. We paid the price of the bay view room and ended up in the cheapest room, we paid our room 2.5 times its price when booking with hotels.com.



I woke up early on Saturday morning because I had to be at the centre at 7:45 AM, I felt like eating breakfast but breakfast only started at 7:30 AM. I went to the restaurant just in case I would get lucky and could see all the food on the tables but sadly the restaurants doors were closed and I left with the memory of the food in my mind to fill my belly. Outside I found my scooter covered with bird shit, the day before I didn’t see that I had parked it an area completely full of bird shit. I didn’t know bird shit when they sleep. When the cleaning was done I drove to Marsalforn with an empty belly hoping I would find a shop where I would be able to buy something to eat and I would not get lost on the way, in any case it would still be easier with daylight. In Gozo the small villages don’t have any directions signs so you can drive for a while not really knowing where you are going and end up in the wrong city. I was driving, trying not to get lost and turning when I found the proper indication. I found myself on a road that led to the sea, I expected to go through Victoria at some point but without any indications decided to wait until I was in a village to find out where I was. I followed the road till the end and found Marsalforn, I found the diving centre after short while.



We hoped on the minivan as soon as the gear was chosen, I was the only one who didn’t speak German among the divers, I tried to hear if I could still understand the language but they were talking much too fast for me. We got dropped close to the dive site and walked the rest of the way. On the sea shore I saw some small pools that were used to catch the salt water, I quickly took a few pictures and put the camera inside its waterproof box because it was starting to rain. What a pleasure to start gearing up under the rain, the guy next to me had a dry suit he just had to step inside the suit to be ready to go as I was still fighting with my suit. There was no wharf, we had to walk on the sharp rocks, jump in the water then put our fins and masks on. The water was quite hot thanks to the rain, once everyone was ready we went underwater; there was four of us: the instructor, an experienced diver, a level one diver and me. As we were around 3 meters under sea level, the level one diver was already 5 or 6 meters deep and not showing any sign of slowing down, the instructor had to go and grab him or I don’t know how deep he would have gone. His ears must have taken quite a beating from the pressure. I saw some tuna hunting and wanted to take some pictures but the camera didn’t power on when I pressed on the switch; I put the camera backwards when I put it back in the waterproof case and forgot to check it before going underwater. It’s a pity but I will have to use my memory to remind myself of the barracuda and the octopus I saw. I came back outside with 100 bars after 40 minutes, I had never breathed so well underwater. The exit was quite tricky, you had to remove your fins and use a rope to climb out; if you were not careful the current would shove you against the rocks so you would really have to wait for the right moment to climb out of the water. It was still raining outside at the end of the dive, I really wanted to keep my suit on because it was keeping me warm but only people in proper clothes could get on the minivan. The blanket felt great on the way back but I felt like taking a good warm bath.
You will get the end of the story next week.