With its sheltered bay and deep waters, St Peter's Pool in Delimara regularly features in guidebooks as one of Malta's most idyllic swimming spots.

But holidaymakers who made it to the far-flung bay today found out that getting to the beach is only half the mission these days.  

Photos taken this afternoon and sent to Times of Malta show scores of sunseekers seated on towels by the sea - but with not a single person in the water. 

READ: Armed with buckets, men rush to clean Kalanka slime

Patches of dreaded sea slime - believed to be caused by fish farm operators incorrectly preparing frozen bait to feed their fish - have invaded the picturesque bay, keeping bathers on the shore and away from the oily residue. 

Teams of men equipped with buckets and foam tubing were subsequently dispatched by fish farm operators to clean up slime at nearby Kalanka bay. 

The sticky slime is very hard to wash off and can cause irritations.

"The place is swarming with tourists, but nobody is swimming," a reader told Times of Malta. "The sea and inlet are full of the white slimy stuff." 

Operators have been given until next Thursday, September 22, to present management plans to relocate their cages further offshore and stop polluting the sea. 

The Planning Authority was originally meant to take action 10 days ago, before it decided to give operators a further two-week grace period at the eleventh hour.

'The sea and inlet are full of the slimy stuff': St Peter's Pool