Before a big camping and hitchhiking trip, I thought of getting some experiences, to not be the biggest newbie. I did everything possible wrong in two days, but learned from it.
How to do everything wrong in camping? Find it out.
What is Comino?
Comino is one of the three islands of Malta. It is the smallest island of them, with three people on it, and in those two days there were one more person.
It is a place where many people come to enjoy the island. Some beaches are there, plus some food trucks, where you can get food and water.
The normal way to get there is from the main island taking a ferry to Gozo. Gozo is the second biggest island.
You only pay when taking the ferry from Gozo to the main island Malta.
So when visiting Comino you could take a ferry from Comino to Malta, which is a bit more expensive, then from Gozo, but you are saving the ferry from Comino to Gozo. Also possible to get the price cheaper, when paying black in cash. At least for me it worked.
It is important to get food, isn’t it?
I took some food and drinks with me. After arriving on the island, I went as quickly as possible away from the main beach. The beach was super touristy, so not a place where I needed to be.
I walked through a part of nature, to make it to a different beach. Suddenly I saw a cactus with some fruits on it. I wanted to get camping experience, so why not get a cactus fruit and eat it? It is tasty, so what could go wrong?
A lot!
When taking the fruit off the cactus, surprisingly nothing happened, I was really careful.
I took the fruit to a flat rock, tried to take some spikes off with a stick. Actually I was sure that it was all off. So I started opening the fruit and tried to eat it somehow.
Painful is explaining what happened after best. I had spikes all over my hands. The fruit was good, but not worth it.
Next step was finding people who know what to do. There were a few people camping as well, just more proper, they had a tent. It was a group of French and Maltese people, who were a bit surprised when I asked if they knew how to get spikes off from the finger.
After laughing at me for a while, they gave me the tip to get into the ocean, after a while it should be fine.
Let’s go in the water. Being all by myself, trying to entertain myself while getting spikes out of my finger. It was super hot, but I didn’t want to get out of the water, before I was fine.
I was sticking to the food I had with me and stopped getting some spiky fruits, without equipment. The saltwater actually helped, but not all got out of my fingers.
My packing list & how to do it better?
My packing list was quite simple
- A backpack without stabilizers
- Food and some drinks
- A towel, some cloths and a power bank
What I should have brought, to make it a better experience could have be:
- A air mattress
- A tent (just in case)
- Some light
- A good backpack, which actually can be good for my back
There was a lot to improve on. The most important thing would have been the air mattress, because that can help a lot! Especially after experiencing why it is important to have that with you.
My first night
After wandering around the island, to find a good spot to sleep, I ended up listening to music. I went there and the group from earlier was sitting there. It was the tower of Santa Maria. We were sharing some beers together. I thought of just staying up the tower for the night. Everything was quite well, the view would have been great, but then the light of the tower went on.
It was so bright that a new spot was needed. During that time it was already dark. It was time to search on the internet for a good beach to sleep at. With just having a towel, it would have been good having some soft ground underneath.
When finding a good beach, I went there. It was completely dark. Not a favorite of mine being alone in the darkness. Basically there was nothing to be afraid of, there were just three people living, but still I was afraid. I almost reached the beach, but there was a fence.
I needed to jump over, I didn’t want to search for a different place.
Made it over! It was not my lucky day, because it was not the only fence. After the second fence, finally the beach was there.
It was a rock beach. I was scared so I laid down as fast as possible, finding a spot which was bad, but not as bad as others. It was so uncomfortable, that every body movement was terrible.
The second day
Waking up and seeing the beach was terrible, it was probably the worst place on the whole island to sleep at. After going for a swim and realizing that I was at a private place, where I was not allowed to be at. I got ready as fast as possible and left.
In the morning I heard people, it was the moment, when I realized, that there was a campground. A family there was actually inviting me to breakfast and we had some great talks about Malta, they were from Malta, but living in Belgium.
During the day I was just trying to relax, without doing things, which were not well thought of.
I went swimming and just searched early for a spot, where I would want to stay the next night. Thinking about sleeping at the main beach, where everyone arrived. It was soft and looked good. When people slowly were leaving the island, without new people coming. I decided to start getting comfortable. It was just that I didn’t like the idea of many people coming, maybe in the morning.
When walking along the coast, while the sun was starting to set already. I found a part of the coast, which was standing a bit by itself. There was an outstanding cliff. While getting closer, there was actually a possibility of going there, so I did.
With an amazing view to the island and the water I found my perfect spot.
My second night
Sleeping on a cliff maybe doesn’t sound great, when only a towel. Compared to the night before, everything was great. It was with the nice wind, the amazing view and no rocks destroying your back. The only problematic thing was the mosquitoes, which were also an issue the night before.
It was something to deal with, normal in nature, when not having a tent with you. The night was really good and I was resting well.
When waking up in the morning, I felt great, not a big pain in the back and ready for the day. Going to the family from the day before and saying bye to them, before leaving the island again.
Summary
Doing a trip without any experiences can work out, or go terribly wrong, like in this example. It was good that it went wrong, like that I was able to learn from it. From mistakes, you usually know next time, what not to do.
Comino is a beautiful island, which is during the day packed with tourists, but when being there at night, you almost have the island for yourself.
Important for everyone, take an air mattress with you. It can be a travel air mattress, which is not big and heavy. It can be useful in many situations. For example, when waiting at the airport for a long time, because of a transit. You can just lay down on an air mattress and have it more comfortable.
This was just an example, that everyone is starting with not knowing what to do and making mistakes. Sometimes you need to learn the hard way. There will also be more informative stories about everything, including the topic camping. click here for a more successful camping experience
I would love to hear your experiences about this place, or questions. Share it with me in the comments.
Malta Stories: Camping Comino Malta – How to do it wrong
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