Spirit of Adventure blog

Arriving in to Valletta on a sunny day is always spectacular. We timed our pilot boarding time shortly after sunrise, in order to pass through the breakwaters half an hour later. I discussed our manoeuvre with our pilot; we had to swing on arrival. When we came to our planned swinging position, there was a small fishing boat in our way. We did honk our horn (and probably woke everybody up), but he refused to leave. Two chaps on the boat were reeling in something big, as we could see the fishing rod fully bent. It took them a while, but they were successful. Even from the bridge wing, we saw it was a worthy catch. Once the fish was safely on board they waved us goodbye and moved out of our way.

We swung and came safely alongside just before 8.00am. As I was heading off the Bridge to grab breakfast, my phone beeped alerting me to a photograph of us passing another ship which was docked in the harbour as well. An ex-colleague - who I haven’t seen in 7 years - sent it me, enquiring whether I was currently on the ship. Five minutes later a lunch date ashore was arranged, resulting in a massive rack of ribs in the Hard Rock Café across the ship and two hours of stories and catch up.

Departure was in the capable hands of Staff Captain Simon. We had a pleasant sail away with live music on the Lido deck. I was able to organise the famous cannon salute as we passed the Fort. After departure I went for a stroll on the open decks to see how the sail away went. The band was still playing with plenty of guests enjoying the great weather and atmosphere. It took me a while to complete my walk. I was planning to go for a run on deck 6, but by the time I came back to my cabin, the will had gone, so I decided to skip the run and dinner (I was still full from those ribs) and enjoy my evening by finishing the J. Rollins book I’d started earlier in the cruise.

Kind Regards
Captain Franko Papić