Science by sea: new luzzu route connects Sliema and Valletta to Esplora

Science by sea: new luzzu route connects Sliema and Valletta to Esplora
By Hot Malta Correspondent

At 8:30 on a brisk April morning, the first passengers clambered onto a freshly painted luzzu moored below the Sliema Ferries kiosk. Instead of the usual jaunt to Comino, the boat’s bright red, blue and yellow bow pointed south-east, bound for Kalkara Creek and Esplora Interactive Science Centre. With the blast of a conch shell and a cheer from waiting schoolchildren, Malta’s newest maritime route officially launched—turning the nation’s most iconic fishing craft into a floating classroom.

The pilot service, backed by Transport Malta, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry for Education, runs thrice daily on weekdays and twice on weekends until October. Tickets cost €4 each way; students under 16 ride free with a valid school card. In practical terms, the crossing shaves 40 minutes off the current bus-plus-walk journey from Sliema, but organisers insist the value goes well beyond convenience.

“For centuries Maltese children learned the world from the parish church or the village band club,” said Dr Miriam Vella, Esplora’s director, as the luzzu glided past Manoel Island. “Now they can learn wave physics while literally riding one.”

A cultural voyage
The luzzu itself is the first lesson. Each boat on the route has been fitted with discreet solar panels powering bilingual QR plaques that tell the story of the eye of Osiris painted on every prow. Skipper Carmenu Briffa, a third-generation Marsaxlokk fisherman who donated his vessel for two days a week, says the science centre asked him to keep his nets on board “so kids can smell the sea, not just see it.”

During the 25-minute cruise, educators circulate with tablets, demonstrating how the keel’s shape counters the swell—data pulled live from wave sensors strapped to the gunwale. By the time Esplora’s ochre walls appear, passengers have calculated buoyancy using Maltese tomatoes as makeshift ballast.

Community ripples
The route’s ripple effects are already visible in Kalkara. The long-dormant boat yard beneath Fort Rinella has reopened to service the fleet. Two new seasonal jobs—dock marshal and marine educator—have been advertised specifically for Kalkara residents. Café du Cabestan, a tiny bar opposite the Esplora landing, has extended opening hours and added ftira tal-ħobż biż-żejt to the menu after staff noticed parents waiting for return ferries.

“Since Easter we’ve served more Maltese customers than all of last summer,” beamed owner Graziella Micallef. “And they tip better than cruise passengers.”

Schools scramble to book
State, church and independent schools alike are jostling for weekday slots. St Albert the Great College booked every Monday in May to pilot a new Year-7 curriculum unit called “Islands & Inquiry”. Head of science Luke Caruana showed Hot Malta a draft worksheet: students must plot the luzzu’s GPS track, then model how rising sea levels might alter it by 2050. “It’s STEAM with a splash of patriotism,” he laughed.

Even parents are getting in on the act. The Facebook group ‘Maltese Mums & Dads’ exploded with posts over the weekend; one father suggested a sunset “wine-and-waves” charter for stressed-out guardians. Transport Malta says it is studying demand for a Friday evening adults-only run.

Challenges ahead
Not everyone is starry-eyed. BirdLife Malta has asked skippers to reduce speed near the Rinella reef to protect migrating yelkouan shearwaters. Meanwhile, traditional fishermen worry that increased wake could damage their nets. Dr Vella says Esplora has convened a round-table next week with the Kalkara fishing cooperative and NGOs to draft a voluntary code of conduct.

The weather is another wildcard. The service will pause when gale-force winds are forecast, a decision that already disappointed a group of Gozitan Scouts whose Saturday trip was cancelled last week. “We’re teaching resilience too,” quipped skipper Briffa as he tied a double bowline in 30-knot gusts.

Looking to the horizon
If the pilot succeeds, Transport Malta plans to extend the route to Birżebbuġa in winter, linking Esplora with the fishing village whose luzzu fleet is most at risk from climate change. A grant application to the EU’s Horizon Europe programme—submitted jointly with the University of Malta—seeks €1.2 million for hybrid-electric engines that would cut fuel use by 40 %.

For now, passengers disembark beneath the fluttering flags of Esplora, salt on their lips and curiosity newly stoked. As the luzzu heads back towards Sliema’s glinting skyline, children wave from the aft deck. In that moment, Malta’s past and future ride the same Mediterranean swell—proof that sometimes the shortest journeys carry the longest lessons.