comino
Comino caves: the ten we visit, and the tide that opens them
A field guide to the caves around Comino. Which ones you can swim into. Which ones you can only see from a jet ski. And the half-hour window when San Niklaw becomes the colour you saw on Pinterest.
I have been guiding around Comino since the year Joyride opened. People always ask me which cave is the best one. The honest answer is that there is no best, there is just the right one for the day, the tide, and how brave you are with your snorkel.
Here are the ten caves we cover on the safari, and what to expect at each.
1. Santa Marija cave
On the north side of Comino. The entrance is a wide arch that looks small from a distance and big once you are under it. You can swim through to the other side. Best between 9am and 11am because the morning sun cuts through the water and lights up the floor.
2. San Niklaw cave
On the west side of the island, just past Santa Marija. The water inside turns electric blue for about thirty minutes a day, when the sun is at the right angle and the bottom reflects up. We try to be there for that window. If we are not, the cave is still beautiful, just the cooler version of itself.
3. The Crystal Lagoon
Not technically a cave but it lives in the same family. It is a bowl of pale water on the east side of Comino, slightly hidden, and most of the big tour boats from Cirkewwa never come here because it is awkward to anchor. We stop here for a swim every safari.
4. Elephant Rock
Not a cave either, but the natural arch on the south coast that looks exactly like an elephant putting its trunk in the water. The colours under the arch are the best photo on the safari and we always slow down here.
5. The Blue Lagoon caves
There are two small caves on the Cominotto side of the Blue Lagoon channel. You can only get into them from a jet ski or a kayak because the big boats cannot fit. They are quiet even on the busiest day in July.
6 to 10. The smaller cuts
There are five smaller cuts in the cliff that we visit on the safari but that are not really caves in the storybook sense. They are slits in the rock that the swell carved out, some of them three metres wide, some of them barely wide enough to fit a jet ski. We name them after the people who first showed them to us, which is a long story for another post.
What changes the day
- Wind direction matters more than wind speed. A west wind closes Santa Marija and a south wind closes San Niklaw.
- Tide matters for the lower entrances. We do not go into the Crystal cave at high tide because there is no headroom.
- Light angle matters for the photos. Morning is better for the north side, afternoon for the south.