Blue Lagoon and chav blue drink in a pineapple

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We had originally booked a trip to go with a family run small company to Comino today. It cost a bit more but seemed worth it, however they had to cancel due to not working because of the elections this weekend. I don't understand the reasoning, but it meant we had to find an alternative.

Captain Morgan Cruises are a lot cheaper, offer free food and drink (including booze and soft drinks) plus free (and as it turned out non-existent) wifi. But our hearts sank when we saw the giant over-crowded boat that turned up. Struggling to find a seat, I eventually bargained with an Italian group to get us two seats with a table upstairs that was open but covered, so with sun protection. I was still a bit dubious.

In a nutshell, Captain Morgan Cruises is a ferry service to Comino via Gozo. Yes, lunch is included but they serve it as soon as you arrive for only an hour and the queue looked like it would take at least half an hour so even Glyn decided it was not worth it. There are free drinks all day but the queues again stop anyone having much and they serve it in tiny plastic cups. So upon arriving we decided not to queue for food - I wasn't hungry anyway due to having a large pizza last night. Comino does have a few snack bars and Glyn bought a bap upon arrival, naturally there was nothing veggie available but I was happy with the cup of strawberries we bought instead.

Comino is only 1sq mile and the coastal area is rocky and tiny, so absolutely cramped and people were sunbathing everywhere: on the tiny paths (where they were covered in sand because so many people stepped over them), on the steps, on rocks, just everywhere.

At first we walked away from all of the people but the area we settled at turned out to be a boat Piccadilly Circus and a bit of a long swim away from the white sands area. So we clambered through the throngs and found a pare patch of rock almost big enough to leave out bags on so we could start on our epic swim of the Blue Lagoon.

Make no mistake, the Blue Lagoon is VERY blue and the waters are crystal clear. I used our cheap snorkel but I think the flocks of people had already chased away the majority of the fish. But it was still nice to see through clear and clean water to the white sands below. In the mouth of the lagoon is a huge rock with a sandy beach that people had swum to and so we followed. Getting closer, it became rocky and there were a few shouts of pain as people accidentally hit the rocks. Arriving on the tiny beach, we walked over it and straight into a warm pool that led to a rock tunnel right through the rock and toward the Mediterranean - we had to swim through that even though it was a bit cold. To be honest, the Blue Lagoon was a bit cold being June, I've been before in late summer and it was wonderfully warm but today it took a few minutes to get used to it.

Obviously this rock tunnel had quite a few tourists swimming through it but not so many on the other side. It was a bit more choppy there due to not being part of a naturally protected lagoon, but so nice that Glyn and I could swim around to our own area with no others around for a short time. Snorkelling did reveal a few brown and silver fish, but mainly it was so nice to see so clearly in the sea.

It was a long swim back to our bags, but what a lovely place for a swim! When we returned we saw it was even more crowded as more boats had arrived. It was even difficult to get out of the sea as the route through the rocks was blocked by many fools sitting in every available space. How people are happy to sunbathe with wet people dripping and stepping over them is beyond me but each to their own!

Now I know that this is a bit chav, but I decided I wanted a drink in a pineapple, despite Glyn's frowns. The first place I asked it was €10 for an alcoholic version and €8 for a non-alcoholic version. Maybe not? We settled down on a path no one was using and set our towels out on what Glyn described as dirt but what I described as sand away from the sea. I decided I was having a pineapple drink. - its not like I'd wasted any money on any food today! Glyn wanted a strawberry slush and in hunting for this for him, I found a far cheaper alcoholic pineapple at €6, albeit the service was bad.

All over Comino I saw left over pineapple carcasses but after consuming my blue beverage I noticed there was a lot of flesh inside - I couldn't waste that! As I had no cutlery I had to do this as any god intended and ripped the fruit apart with my bare hands, chewing through it with my teeth. My, face, neck, arms and hands were extremely sticky but it was so worth it.

We had arrived on the island at 12.25pm and it was now getting close to 4pm when our boat would leave - with or without us according to the captain over the speakers, but he was coming back tomorrow. I bet he tells that joke every day. Space was tight but we were happy to go downstairs as upstairs was already rammed. I was determined to get some of my 'free' drinks and so joined the small queue to get two beers for me and a coke for Glyn. I was promptly sent back for two more cokes for Glyn. Now was the time to get the free booze as all the partying Italians who were shouting and singing on the way had passed out over the table next to us, so they won't be queuing for my free beer that's for sure!

Arriving back in Bugibba we decided not to take the minibus provided as the stifling heat on the way there melted us this morning. We stopped for some food then chilled on the warm rocks by the water's edge as the sun went down.

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Photos

Captain Morgan cruise
It's a ferry really!