Article was created by: Danny Jones A Day Out, Rent a Boat, Home School Outing! Schools are closed and won’t reopen until September, so keeping the kids busy whilst giving them a learning experience in a safe way is difficult. We decided to rent a boat and spend a day at sea, spotting as much wildlife as possible. That way we could have a great, relaxing day out and at the same time combine it with a science lesson. We decided that Wednesday would be perfect, the weather was sunny and with a light breeze from the north east the sea would be calm. There were no online lessons that day and as it was mid-week it would be a day when it would be less busy on the water. Home School Outing PLan Before the trip even began, my 12 yr old and I sat down and came up with a ‘wish list’ of some of Malta’s inhabitants that we wanted to see, and where the best places were to view them would be with the minimum of disturbance. We put together an itinerary for our day out on our rental boat. As we would be departing from the little bay of Ramla tal-Bir in the north of Malta, we wanted to explore the Gozo channel, Comino and the South of Gozo. This whole area is a Marine Important Bird Area and is home to 2 species of Yelkouan Shearwater, the Puffinus Shearwater and the Scopoli’s Shearwater which is the larger of the two, so these would definitely be on the list. Rent a Boat in Malta As we had decided to rent a boat for the day, we prepared a coolbox with snacks, fruit, plenty of water, fruit juice and soft drinks. We always prepare enough food to feed an army, and on this occasion it would prove to be just the right amount. Arriving at Bluewaves watersports centre was easy. We set off early, arriving there at 9am and after quickly filling out the paperwork we discussed our itinerary with Kevin, one of Bluewaves’ captains who advised us of the best places to see each item on our wish-list and of the day’s weather conditions. We were then taken to our boat, given a quick familiarisation of handling the boat and the safety features on board and we were on our way. The boat was a perfect size for us, and had a GPS, stereo, plenty of cubbyholes to store our things and most importantly a full sun canopy to keep us out of the hot Mediterranean sun. Comino, The Blue Lagoon As our itinerary included Comino, the Blue Lagoon and the south of Gozo, we decided to first head across the Gozo Channel towards the Blue Lagoon. In just a few minutes we were there and the stunning crystal clear waters were so inviting that we decided to drop anchor and have a quick swim! Back on board our self-drive boat, we headed out of the Blue Lagoon, across to Lantern CONTINUE READING