A small boat, and the time to actually stop
We run one trip, and we run it properly — out of Ċirkewwa in Mellieħa.
Aloha Boat Trips is a small, family-run operation. For years we ran private charters around Comino and Gozo. The small-group trip is newer, and it exists because the same question kept coming up at the quay: can we have the private-boat version of Comino, without chartering the whole boat?
Your skipper, Nielias Azzopardi
Nielias is young, but he has been on the water around Comino for as long as he can remember. He grew up working on his father's boat out of Mellieħa — coiling ropes, learning the channel, and finding out which coves stay calm when the wind swings round. Most of what he knows about these waters he learned from his father, one season at a time.
He skippers every Aloha trip himself. Ask him where the water is clearest that morning, or which cave to swim towards, and you will get a straight answer from someone who has been doing it since he was a boy.
What that means on the day
Most Comino trips run on big boats that fill up, stop at the Blue Lagoon and turn round. Ours takes three and a half hours to work its way round the island — three stops where you get in the water, and five more where we slow down for the caves, the reef and the Gozo coast.
The boat is small, which is the whole point. There is room to move, both sun and shade, and the swim stops are long enough to be worth getting wet for. Snorkels, swim noodles and a stand-up paddleboard are on board and free to use, and there is a drink waiting for you when you step on.
How the route gets decided
The order of the stops, and how long we spend at each, is not fixed. It depends on the wind, the state of the sea and how busy the lagoons are that morning. Whether we go inside the Santa Maria Caves or come up close to the entrances is a call made on the water, on the day. That flexibility is the advantage of a small boat, and it is why the itinerary is a plan rather than a timetable.
Booking with us
Availability on this site comes from our own booking calendar. You can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before departure — thecancellation policy has the detail, and thequestions page covers most of what people ask before they book.