DIVING THE ISLANDS
Thinking of a diving holiday? Then look no further than the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. The Maltese Islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino are surrounded by clear blue waters, with long hot summer days and mild winters, when the sun shines on most days. An excellent variety of diving can be found for all qualifications and personal interest. For your safety and enjoyment during your visit, dive with a centre who is a member of the Professional Diving Schools Association who are licenced by the Maltese Tourism Authority.
The underwater reefs and landscapes around the Maltese Islands are varied, as is the marine life which lives here. There are drop offs of varying depths, the dramatic ones where you are able to descend the underwater cliffs to depths of 40m, plus. Pinnacles which rise from the depths to just below the surface, from these pinnacles viewing into the blue and watching the marine life in action, a great photo opportunity.
There are many caves of varying sizes, some large enough to drive a bus inside, Billinghurst Cave on Gozo is possibly the largest and longest and is very popular with divers. Some of these caves allow you, once inside, to surface due to the water levels and fresh air able to enter the inner chambers. Tunnels within the reefs, vertical ones referred to as chimneys and the short ones as swim throughs. Boulders and rocks litter the reefs and seabed, some almost the size of a house.
One of the most popular and unique areas of coastline is Dwjera Point, Gozo a proposed World Heritage site, with its Inland Sea, an 80 metre tunnel linking it to the open sea, the Azure Window which dominates the coastline beside the Blue Hole and Window, which allows divers to reach the open sea, look- alike rocks, such as Big Bear, Little Bear and Crocodile Rock. Its outstanding landmarks on the surface have been the backdrop on many film sets, together with the beauty below, have given pleasure and enjoyment to thousands of tourists and divers alike.
Malta has its own special diving area, namely Cirkewwa, where there are a number of dive sites including the Cirkewwa Arch, the P29 Patrol boat and of course the tugboat Rozi. Two of the most popular dive sites on Comino are Lantern Point and the Santa Marija Caves, known as the Comino Caves.
To further increase the variety of diving the Maltese Government have made environmentally safe a number of ships and boats and scuttled them as artificial reefs or diver attractions. These are proving to be a great success as many varieties of marine life, far too many to name, have made these new reefs their home.
Maybe the pick of these is the massive 3,147 ton 110 metre long tanker the Um el Faroud, broken in two but still upright on the seabed with depths ranging from 20m to 35m. The Patrol boat P31 scuttled off Comino in 2009, with a maximum depth of 22m, add to these other sinkings HMS Stubborn used for an Asdic target, upright, intact on the seabed at 57m.
The tugboat Rozi, possibly the most dived wreck in the Mediterranean, scuttled as an attraction for a tourist submarine which once operated out of Cirkewwa/Marfa Point. WW1 wreck Le Polynesien 6,659 tons 152 metres long liner, sunk in 1918 and WW2 wrecks, HMS Southwold a Hunts-class Destroyer, sunk in 1942, these are popular wrecks for technical divers with depths of 53m to 70m.
HMS Maori, Tribal-class Destroyer at a depth of 14m, SS Margit, a merchant ship, 110 metres long at a depth of 22m, the X127 Water Lighter, a barge with a history of being at Gallipoli, these three ships were sunk around Grand Harbour in 1942. These are just a small sample for divers interested in wreck diving.
Although many of these reefs and wrecks can be dived from the shore, dive boats are available for those off-shore attractions and dive sites. All this, and more, is available to you and it is only approximately a three hour flight from the UK. Whatever your preference of diving it would be impossible to cover all that the Maltese Islands have to offer into during a one week diving holiday, even so, your enjoyment will be assured.
