The grigal, the northeasterly, picks up as summer ends.
It comes straight down the channel between Malta and Sicily and it makes the whole northeast coast unswimmable for days at a time.
Twenty-six of the sixty-nine bays on this site are fully sheltered from it.
Why the northeast matters in autumn
In July and August the prevailing wind is usually from the northwest.
From September onwards the northeast becomes far more common.
The bays that worked all summer are often the wrong ones once that switch happens.
A grigal also runs for days rather than hours. It is not a morning to wait out.
The twenty-six with no northeast exposure
Every bay on the site carries a measurement of how much open sea lies in each direction.
Where that figure is zero across the northeast, there is land between the bay and the wind. The water stays flat no matter how hard it blows.
The well known ones are on the west and south coasts. Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa both face west. So do Fomm ir-Riħ and Għar Lapsi on the south side.
In Gozo the list includes Xlendi, Mġarr ix-Xini, Ħondoq ir-Rummien and Dwejra.
The Blue Lagoon on Comino is sheltered from it too, and Mistra Bay is tucked far enough in to count.
What the figure does not tell you
A bay with no exposure to the northeast can still be rough in a northwesterly.
The measurement is per direction, so a bay that is safe today may be the wrong choice tomorrow.
Check the wind direction first, then pick the bay. There is more on the four winds and what each does.
It also says nothing about the water quality after rain, or about how many people will be there.
The other side of the switch
When the grigal blows, the east coast bays that were perfect in August are the ones taking it head on.
Marsaskala, St Thomas Bay, Armier and Għadira all sit open to that direction.
Ferries feel it too. The Comino boats stop before the Gozo ferry does.
Checking on the day
Current wind and sea state are on the sea conditions tool.
Each bay page carries its own exposure figures, so you can see which winds it can take before you drive out there.
Wind here changes direction more often than it changes strength. Check in the morning, not the night before.
