A sluggish engine is better than no engine at all

Grand Harbour, Malta

Sailing into Grand Harbor, Malta is amazing. With its imposing walls, it is like stepping back in time. Malta lies just 50 miles south of Sicily and we made landfall in good time.

Berkeley East performed beautifully on the season’s first sail, and we performed beautifully docking her for the first time in months. One of the reasons we went to Malta was to give BE’s engine some attention. It was sluggish and we’d heard there was a good repair company there, plus they speak English, which makes things much simpler. We had it all planned – a day, maybe two for the engine work, a couple of days to tour Malta, then out to anchor on one of Malta’s sister islands, Gozo. What is it they say about the best-laid plans? The engine technicians asked all the right questions and seemed to know what they were doing, as they pulled BE’s engine apart. But after they serviced the injectors, put everything back in it’s place and the engine would not start at all, we began to wonder. Poor Berkeley East went from having an engine that ran badly but always ran, to having no workable motor at all. As they began to explore all the possible problems, we saw our stay in Malta lengthening and the expense rapidly growing. The good news was we were in a beautiful country with plenty to see. So we planned some sightseeing, and started looking for an ATM.

Malta is a small country with big history. The four islands cover about 122 square miles in land area, making it one of the world’s smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world. We took a tip from one of our cruising books and went to see “The Malta Experience” a well-done documentary about the little country. Throughout history, Malta’s location has given it great strategic importance and possession was always in demand. The island was invaded, conquered, sieged and nearly destroyed many, many times. And a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arab, Normans, Aragonese, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French and British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, became a republic in 1974, and joined the European Union in 2004. Today it is home to some nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

While Berkeley East sat waiting for her engine to come back to life, we distracted ourselves trying to see as much of Malta as we could.

We walked, took gondolas, buses and taxis, and even rode the “hop on, hop off” bus around the island. And we when had time, we took our dinghy out for a very wet, exciting spin. Malta is a fascinating place. Grand Harbor and Valletta give a view of the old Malta, while the Northern side of the island is home to modern, chic beach towns and resorts.

We toured as much as we could, tasted Maltese wine (yes, they even make wine) and dined on Maltese delicacies like mussels, rabbit and squid, stopping at every ATM we could find on the way preparing to pay BE’s engine repair bill. While the repair took a little longer, and cost more, than expected, in the end, the engine purred to life and is performing better than it has in years. And, we got so see Malta, a country that was never on our radar but clearly should have been.

A traditional meal of rabbit grilled in wine and garlic

St. Johns Co-Cathedral in the center of Valetta was built by the Knights of Malta in the late 1500’s after the Great Siege. While the interior is extremely ornate, the exterior looks like a fort reflecting the sentiments of the time. The floor is covered in 400 intricate in-laid marble tombstones, decorated with images relevant to the knight buried below.

Mdina, the old capital of Malta, is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the center of the island.