The boating year in Malta, month by month

Malta has two seasons that matter to a boat: a long, dry, settled summer and a short, wet, windy winter. The boat needs different things in each, and most jobs have a right time of year. This is the year as we plan it.

The figures are long-term averages, taken from Malta Met Office records and from Transport Malta. Any one year can be warmer, wetter or windier.

In short

• The season runs from May to October. July and August are settled and crowded. In September and October the sea is still warm and the bays are emptier.
• About half the year’s rain falls from October to December. Gales are most frequent in December and March.
• The yards fill up in spring. Book the haul-out early, or do it in winter.

January to March: gales, rain and quiet yards

These are the coldest months, with an average air temperature of about 12 to 14°C. The sea is at its coldest in February, at about 15°C. Around a third of the year’s rain falls in these three months. March shares with December the highest number of days with gale-force winds, and winter is the season of the grigal, the north-easterly that blows straight into Grand Harbour and Marsamxett.

Nothing freezes here. The enemies are damp below decks and chafe on deck.

• Keep air moving through the boat, and run a dehumidifier if there is shore power. Our lay-up guide has the full list.
• After every blow, check lines, fenders and covers. The ten-minute berth check is the routine.
• Use the quiet months for long jobs: osmosis treatment (drying out and resealing a hull that has taken up water), a rewire, a new teak deck.
• Book the spring haul-out now if you have not done so already.

April and May: haul-out, antifouling and the first dust

The air warms quickly, to an average of about 16°C in April and 20°C in May. The sea lags behind, at about 16°C in April. The rain tails off. Spring is also one of the two seasons of the xlokk, the warm south-easterly, and it brings red rain: Saharan dust that comes down as mud.

This is the busiest time of year in the yards, because everybody wants to launch before the summer. The jobs that belong here:

• Haul-out, antifouling (the paint that keeps growth off the hull) and new anodes (the metal blocks that corrode so that your propeller and shaft do not). In Malta’s warm water antifouling is a yearly job. See hauling out in Malta.
• The engine’s annual service, before the season and not in the middle of it.
• Teak cleaned, topsides polished, covers and canvas checked.

Transport Malta’s swimmer zones are buoyed off in the bays in spring, and the season covered by a season care plan starts in May.

June to August: settled weather and crowded bays

Summer is hot, dry and reliable. The average air temperature is about 24°C in June and 27°C in July and August, with afternoons around 32°C at the peak. The sea climbs from about 22°C in June to about 26°C in August. These three months bring barely 2% of the year’s rain, and July has the fewest gales of any month. The usual breeze is the prevailing north-westerly, the majjistral.

It is also when everyone is afloat. The Blue Lagoon is full of tour boats every day, and the popular bays are busiest at weekends. Our anchorages guide says which bay suits which wind.

What the boat needs now is protection from heat, sun and salt.

• A rinse with fresh water after every trip.
• Batteries and chargers watched. Heat is what kills them.
• The raw-water strainer (the filter on the engine’s sea-water intake) kept clear, and an eye on the temperature gauge.
• Anodes looked at in mid-season. A hull fouls fastest when the water is warm and the boat sits still.
• Covers on whenever the boat is not in use.

September and October: warm sea, emptier bays, first storms

These can be the best weeks of the year. The bays are emptier once August is over, and the sea stays warm: it does not fall to about 20°C until November. The price is less reliable weather. The rain returns in September, and autumn is the second season for the xlokk and its dust. Watch the forecast more closely than you did in July.

Two dates mark the end of the season. In recent years Transport Malta’s seasonal swimmer zones have run until the middle of October, and the Rolex Middle Sea Race starts from Grand Harbour in the same month, on the 17th in 2026. Season care plans end with October.

• Clear every drain and check every cover before the heavy rain arrives.
• Double the lines and fit chafe protection before the first winter gale, not after it.
• Give the brightwork (varnished wood) its maintenance coat, and service the outboard before it is stored.
• Decide how the boat will spend the winter: afloat with somebody checking it, or ashore. Book the haul-out either way.

November and December: lay-up and the first winter gales

This is the wettest part of the year, and December has as many gale-force days as March. The average air temperature falls from about 18°C in November to between 14 and 15°C in December, and the sea from about 20°C to about 17°C.

• Do the lay-up: soft furnishings aired, fridge propped open, dehumidifier on a timer, batteries on a maintained charge, bilges dry, covers fitted so that water runs off.
• Start the long jobs. Osmosis treatment is best begun early in the winter, and the yards are quieter now than they will be in spring.
• Make sure somebody looks at the boat after each storm.

If you are not on the island, that last point is what a full-year care plan is for. Care visits continue every month through the winter, each with a dated photo report, and Gold adds a berth check when a storm warning is issued. Lay-up work, haul-out and yard fees are quoted separately.

When to book what

Stephen Duffy, who runs Yachting.mt, used to run a boatyard in Mallorca. Yards everywhere fill up in the weeks before the season, and Malta’s are no different. The rule is to book the spring work in the autumn.

Job	When it is best done
Haul-out, antifouling and anodes	February to April. Book months ahead, or haul out in winter.
Engine annual service	March or April, before the season
Teak clean and topsides polish	March to May
Anode check in the water	June to October
Brightwork maintenance coat, outboard service	October and November
Osmosis treatment, rewiring, teak deck replacement	November to February
Lay-up	November