Bigger swimming area as a result of temporary pontoon

k j vella

Jul 12th 2009, 19:48

I'm sorry to say but mma have spent a lot of money for nothing! In reality the pontoon is inefficient and very dangerous for loading and unloading. i do agree that the swimmers zone is better as it is now but being a floating pontoon it is very unstable. With 5 persons on a side the pontoon is at an angle of 45degrees, not to mention how many people have fallen over while waiting for their boat!. Apart from that people are finding it very comfortable for diving and sunbathing making it impossible for loading and unloading passengers. Even though the swimmers zone is marked people still tend to swim outside this zone. I do appreciate that mma is taking its initiative but it should consult those who are there everyday!

Johnny Xerri

Jul 12th 2009, 17:00

@ M Bencini

Birds migrate to europe to nest not to N Africa.

Every opportunity is good enough to shoot down hunting!!

Apart form the fact that no hunting can legally take place from a shooting range.

michael thomas

Jul 11th 2009, 23:10

I have visited Comino on a number of ocassions over the last few years and having read this article am amazed that the maltese people have let this happen. It is such a beautiful island that is compatible with a national park in the united kingdom. why take away it's beauty and replace it with icecream sellers and sun brollies and loungers.Come on Malta you can do better than that.If you want tacky tourism carry on. Then people will compare you with the spanish costa's yuk!

Marco Palermo

Jul 11th 2009, 21:15

funnily enough most of the umbrellas and chairs are not even being used.
and what's more, good luck if you have the guts to tell one of those umbrella vendors to move his chair and umbrella so you can use the space.... they'll probably eat you alive... and swear quite a bit at you... literally in your face!

G.Grech

Jul 11th 2009, 19:34

@Michel Bencini

"Why don't we go a step further and set up a shooting range close by to decimate the few birds left on their flight path to their nesting grounds in north Africa?"

Since when shooting ranges are used for shooting birds??? And are you sure birds migrate to North Africa to nest???

Well done keep it up!!! LOL

John Borg

Jul 11th 2009, 18:35

I would suggest that the pontoon goes all the way across the lagoon up to Cominotto. In this way visitors can have access by foot to Cominotto and berthing of boats would be much more organized and easy. After all, the pontoon is installed temoparily and with the aim to facilitate visitors.

Joseph Calleja

Jul 11th 2009, 17:59

Another example of how vendors take over public land. Check out the blue umbrellas at the edge of the water, as you can see these are very well organized and not in a good sense. These vendors should not be allowed to set up these umbrellas at will. If they are to rent umbrellas they should be set up no less than a hundred feet away from the water. The pontoon should be anchored outside the Lagoon and boats should not be allowed to berth in the middle of the Lagoon. Picture this pristine area without that ugly pontoon and no cluster of umbrellas, it would seem like the perfect place.. The Malta Maritime Authority should place that ugly pontoon elsewhere and umbrellas should not be so close to the water. The area you see in this picture should be clear. The different coloured umbrellas on the far side seem to be almost welcome but the the blue ones and the ugly pontoon ruin the whole picture.area.

P.Cassar

Jul 11th 2009, 16:59

I have not been to Comino for quite some time and THE PHOTO SHOWS A REAL SHAME to me because I remember the lagoon in its pristine state not commercialised as it has become. What are those coloured umbrellas doing? Has all this arrived on such a beautiful but quite small lagoon. Are the authorities allowing this and have they even given PERMISSION for all this shame on such a small area? Please give us back nature as it used to be and hurry.
I know that you are over-burdened but NGO's please, please note.

Kevin Zammit

Jul 11th 2009, 16:06

@J. Borg

You are right. The umbrella hire people have become real pests. They take over the beach and their very forcefull manner is becoming more than just an amberassement. Look at this picture and one can see the whole beach is taken up which means that if one does not want to pay for an umbrella then the only option is to have to tell them to make space for you ... it has to be the other way around.

Michel Bencini

Jul 11th 2009, 15:55

What sheer ugliness! The idea of installing a pontoon destroys what this beautiful lagoon is all about! More boats will berth to it and pollute the few fish left alive and choke the kids with desel exhaust. Now that is 'safety'. This is the only stretch of decent water in Malta which appoximates the azure of the Caribbean Sea. And what do the Maltese do to it? They assail its pristine natural quality and reduce it to a backyard pool lapped by an articficial forest of blue and pink umbrellas. It's an exercise in bad taste, poor planning and underlines the instinctive contempt for nature which is obviously ingrained in the Maltese psyche. Why don't we go a step further and set up a shooting range close by to decimate the few birds left on their flight path to their nesting grounds in north Africa?

J. Borg

Jul 11th 2009, 15:33

Fine move by the MMA

Now could enforcement authorities check the abuse being perpetrated by the umbrella hire operators who are (as usual) putting up umbrellas on every decent available place - since early in the morning?

or is Comino a banana republic within a greater banana repulic?