Traded down from 964 ft to 40 ft.

Monday morning found us bright eyed and bushy tailed at the dock of Malta. We met Cameron, Kimberly, Kelsey, and Devin Davies at the dock. Then set off in search for transportation. We never did find our rent-a-car so settled for a quick taxi ride to the Marina. We made it there shortly after 9am and met our skipper Dave. He took one look at us and said “We better cancel!” We debated with him and amongst ourselves whether we wanted to test our stomachs and his boat against the 8-13 ft Mediterranean waves. He assured us that he and the boat were fine, so we said “Let’s go for it!!” Our plan was to head for the sheltered calm of the two harbors and see how we would do in the open sea. The first hurdle was to walk the plank (literally!) on to the deck of the ship. So, no steady steps to get on to the boat, only a 10 in plank that bobbed up and down with the boat. Once all aboard we set off. Dave’s boat, The Geisha, is a 40 ft racing X-Yacht. He is a experienced skipper that makes a living by piloting large yachts and racing all over the world. He had just returned from racing in New Zealand. He quickly worked his 8 rookie sea men into shape, cranking cranks and pulling ropes. No one turned green on the first few minutes until we made the harbor. So after the harbor tour it was agreed that we would set off to open waters. All-in-all we had about 4 hours on the boat where everyone got good and WET! Kim and Scott turned a little green in the final hour when we were supposedly going to putter along the coast line but instead headed out to sea. Out in the open ocean the waves were 10 ft + and with us going against the wind we had a good roller coaster of a ride. Many times we had to switch from side to side to keep the boat from tipping. It was not uncommon for the side of the ship to be 10 inches from the water. The skipper thought we did amazingly well for our lack of experience, he was very surprised. He thought we were made of very good stock.

This Malta lighthouse was taken in thought of Aunt Connie

The Disney Magic with Malta in the background, from the Geisha

After getting off the boat and into a couple HOT showers we followed Dave’s instruction to the local bus stop where we boarded the bus to take us to Valletta. There we shopped for souvenirs. Scott found two swords, one Maltese and another Greek, from the same shop that sold Hollywood the sword used in Gladiator. These are now being held by ship security.

See Grandpa they even make Ben & Jerry’s in Malta!!

We then made it to the boat in plenty of time where we made it dinner. After dinner we headed to the comedian Heath Hyche show. Next we headed to bed to prepare for another excursion the next day.

-Dwight, Launnies, Scott and Caitie