Blue Lagoon, Comino: how to avoid the crowds

Every summer the Blue Lagoon shows up on the front of someone's holiday photos. By July it shows up on the front of the news, too, because it gets so crowded that the Maltese government rations the boats coming in from Cirkewwa.

If you do not want to be in those photos, here is what nobody on the big boats can tell you.

Five minutes versus twenty-five minutes

Hondoq Bay, where we are, is on the south coast of Gozo. From our dock to the Blue Lagoon is five minutes on a jet ski, or about fifteen on a motor boat. The big tour boats come from Cirkewwa on the Malta side, and that is twenty-five minutes one way through open water with a hundred other people. They arrive together, they leave together, and they make the lagoon look like a swimming pool at lunch.

Because we are five minutes away, we can put you in the lagoon before the big boats wake up, or right after the big boats leave. Both windows are quiet, both have the colour you came for, and both let you anchor where you actually want to be.

The two windows that work

The first window is between 8am and 10am. The big boats have not loaded their first trip yet, the water is the calmest it will be all day, and the light is best for photos. We will brief you at 7:30am and you will be the first boat in.

The second window is between 4pm and 6pm. The Cirkewwa boats start their last return run at 3:30pm, and by 4pm the lagoon is half empty. The light is golden, the water is warm from the day, and you can swim the channel between Comino and Cominotto without dodging anyone.

What to bring

• Reef-safe sunscreen, the high-SPF kind
• A snorkel mask if you have one (we have spares)
• A hat for the boat ride back
• Cash for the cold drinks at the kiosk by our dock