CELEBRATING THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY IN COMINO

Claire Fontaine in the Blue Lagoon, Comino

Today, we celebrate the World Environment Day and The Grandma and her friends have decided to visit Comino, one of the three Maltese islands, the smallest, the wildest and the island which is identified as an Important Bird Area.

Comino, in Maltese, Kemmuna, formerly called Ephaestia, is a small island of the Maltese archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea, measuring 3.5 square kilometres in area. Named after the cumin seed that once flourished in the Maltese islands, the island is the least densely populated area in the Republic of Malta. 

More information: Visit Malta

It has a permanent population of only three residents, following the death of the fourth resident in 2017. Administratively, it is part of the municipality of Għajnsielem, in southeastern Gozo. One priest and one policeman commute from the nearby island of Gozo. The island is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve.

Joseph de Ca'th lon in Comino, Malta

Comino is known to have been inhabited by farmers during Roman times, but for long periods in its history it has been sparsely populated, privately owned, or abandoned entirely. 

Its rugged coastline is delineated by sheer limestone cliffs, and dotted with deep caves which were popular with pirates and marauders in the Middle Ages. The caves and coves of Comino were frequently used as staging posts for raids on hapless boats crossing between Malta and Gozo. From 1285 until some time after 1290, Comino was the home of exiled Jewish Prophet and Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia. It was on Comino that Abulafia composed his Sefer ha-Ot, The Book of the Sign, and his last work, Imre Shefer, Words of Beauty.

More information: Hartman

In later years, the Knights of Malta used this island as hunting and recreational grounds. The Knights were fiercely protective of the local game, which consisted of wild boar and hares, in Maltese fenek tal-grixti, upon conviction, poachers were liable to a penalty of three years as a galley slave. 

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant knights. Knights who were convicted of minor crimes were occasionally sentenced to the lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary's Tower. During the French occupation of Malta, Comino served as a quarantine and existing buildings served as an isolation hospital.

The Grandma visits Saint Mary's Tower, Comino

Saint Mary's Tower is the most visible structure on the island. Its background dates back to 1416, when the Maltese petitioned their king, Alfonso V of Aragon, to build a tower on Comino to serve as an early warning system in case of invasion, and to deter marauding Turks, pirates, smugglers and corsairs from using Comino as a hiding place and staging ground for devastating sorties onto the sister islands of Malta and Gozo. Two years later the king levied a special tax on imported wine to raise funds for this project, but diverted the monies into his coffers; the island remained undefended for another two hundred years.

Finally, in 1618 the Knights of Malta under Grandmaster Wignacourt erected St Mary's Tower, in Maltese it-Torri ta' Santa Marija, located roughly in the center of the southern coast of the island. 

More information: Pinterest

The tower formed part of a chain of defensive towers, the Wignacourt, Lascaris, and De Redin towers, located at vantage points along the coastline of the Maltese Islands, and greatly improved communications between Malta and Gozo. The tower is a large, square building with four corner turrets, located about 80 m above sea level. The Tower itself is about 12 m tall, with walls that are approximately 6 m thick, and is raised on a platform and plinth that are approximately 8 mhigh.

During the French Blockade (1798–1800), St Mary's Tower served as a prison for suspected spies. In 1829 the British Military abandoned the site. 

Visiting St Mary's Tower in Comino

For several decades it was deemed to be property of the local civil authorities, and may have been used as an isolation hospital, or even as a wintering pen for farm animals. 

The tower again saw active service during both World War I and World War II. 

Since 1982 the tower has been the property of the Armed Forces of Malta. It now serves as a lookout and staging post to guard against contraband and the illegal hunting of migratory birds at sea. The tower underwent extensive restoration between 2002 and 2004. Today, it remains the most notable structure on Comino.

A tiny Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the Holy Family Upon its Return from Egypt is located above Santa Marija Bay. Built in 1618, and enlarged in 1667 and again in 1716, the chapel was originally dedicated to the Annunciation. It has been deconsecrated and reconsecrated at least once in its history, when Comino was devoid of residents. 

The earliest record of a chapel on this site dates back to the 12th century, and can be seen in a navigational map of the period, located in the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.

 More information: Comino-A World Unto Itself

Tina Picotes at Santa Marija Chapel

In the past, and well into the 20th century, whenever the seas were too rough for the Gozitan priest to make the crossing to Comino for the celebration of Holy Mass, the local community would gather on the rocks at a part of the Island known as Tal-Ħmara, and gaze across the channel towards the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rocks, in Maltese il-Madonna tal-Blat, in Ħondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo, where Mass was being celebrated. They followed along with the progression of the Mass by means of a complex flag code.

The island has a karst landscape supporting sclerophyllous shrubland. Some limited afforestation with pine trees has been carried out. The sand-dunes at Santa Maria bay retain some native vegetation, including Vitex and Tamarix trees. The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports fifty to eighty breeding pairs of yelkouan shearwaters.

 More information: Bird Life

Between Comino and adjacent islet of Cominotto, in Maltese Kemmunett, lie the transparent, cyan waters of the Blue Lagoon, in Maltese Bejn il-Kmiemen, literally Between the Cominos. 

The Blue Lagoon is a picturesque bay with a white sandy base and rich marine life. It is popular with divers, snorkelers and swimmers. Other beaches on Comino include Santa Maria Bay, in Maltese Ramla ta' Santa Marija and St. Nicholas Bay, in Maltese Bajja San Niklaw.

 More information: Malta Guide

Try to leave the Earth a better place 

than when you arrived. 

Sidney Sheldon