Gzira Ta-Malta (Nov-Dec 2006)

With diving conditions taking a decided downturn in our patch during late autumn, an escape for a “family holiday” to Malta at “pensioners’ rates” seemed pretty attractive as it had come to my notice that there are now absolutely scads of dive centres there, many of which operate year-round. As we soon discovered autumn happens in Malta as well, being traditionally the windy season, during which one can also expect a mixture of sunshine and showers…

and we weren’t disappointed.

However, tourism and diving were fairly successfully reconciled and thanks to the enthusiastic services (custom being at a seasonal low) of 'Maltaqua', owned and run by an expatriate Scot and his Maltese wife (the redoubtable Agnes – who knows all there is to know about diving the islands) I was able to get some pretty satisfactory dives around both Malta and Gozo. It’s my understanding that most diving around the islands is done from the shore and certainly this was true of all that I did whilst there, although I’m pretty certain that had there been more customers around, one or two boat dives would have taken place to wrecks a little further offshore or to the tuna pens for an experience of being surrounded and buzzed by “whoppers” with nowhere else to go.

However, diving from the Maltese coast is not to be sneezed at as deep water is to be found either right under the cliffs as for instance around Dwejra Point on Gozo with the bottom around the 50 meter or better mark, or on Malta, the sunken tug Rozi off Cirkewwa in the north; at about 35 meters in the scour under the stern and the Um Al-Faroud an ex-Libyan tanker at about the same depth just a five minutes or so swim out of Wied Iz-Zurrieq in the south.

Although Malta is an island and as such presents diveable sites under most weather conditions, choosing one can be quite tricky on the day even for locals, as different conditions from those expected are frequently encountered and there is quite a lot of cooperation amongst the dive businesses with respect to actual states at the various locations.

A word of caution is probably appropriate about here, as unfortunately petty theft from vehicles at dive sites is rife and you are well advised to leave no valuables in your vehicle. This is particularly true at St. Elmo, where vehicles have had their windows smashed to get in and where you can be under full-time observation by the thieves’ accomplices from the walls above the site.

However, if you want to dive a WW2 destroyer, still with some intact munitions and photograph seahorses (brown or yellow versions – take your pick), flying gurnards, John Dories, morays and octopuses; all this in less than 19 meters of pretty clear, warm water, then this one is for you. It even has an EXTREMELY greasy spoon café for your gastronomic requirements.

A “desperation” site – variously the Carolita/X-31/X-131 or w.h.y. off Manoel Island is one to avoid unless you’re addicted to silt. But then if you’re suffering withdrawal symptoms for certain UK wreck diving conditions this might be just the ticket – a “rummage” dive.

Paradise Bay (don’t be put off by the corny name) at Cirkewwa up in the north of “the mainland” is a really scenic dive along a modest wall, with some little swim-throughs, large boulders and over huge, lush banks of posedonia, sea-grass all in the generally excellent 30 meter and-frequently-then-some visibility.

The Rozi, which is dived from here or just off the point, is visible in it’s entirety from a long way off in a shallow descent towards it, sitting as pretty as a picture surrounded by clouds of blotched picarel, bream and demoiselles.

Down south, ideally a surface swim of a couple of hundred meters gets you to a good point to start a descent onto the really large Um Al-Faroud, clearly visible from the surface (at this point you may wish to reflect on the catching off here of the reputedly largest ever-anywhere great white shark, an exhibition of which is available for you to admire in the village). This spectacular “wreck” rests on the sandy, otherwise relatively featureless bottom and attracts lots of life including barracuda, amberjacks and other pelagics, presumably to feast on the swarms of “small-stuff” that inhabit it. There’s also plenty of scope for wreckies and wannabes to swim around and up and down inside it – it’s big, but save a bit of gas for a leisurely, slowly ascending swim back to your entry point, keeping an eye out for at least one large grouper and oh-yes a model diver’s helmet concreted to the bottom.

Lastly, but definitely not least, the Blue Hole, Azure Window and so-called Inland Sea (ignore the corny names again – they’re a great dive) at Dwejra on Gozo are spectacular. When I dived here, owing to the somewhat boisterous sea state at the time we did a high-level, negative buoyancy entry into the mini-maelstrom that was the Blue Hole, donning fins when sat on the bottom; after which we investigated the cavern at the back, exited, swam out and under the arch, around the wall to the so-called Azure Window in spectacular visibility and then through the tunnel into the Inland Sea, which unfortunately, due to recent heavy rain and consequent leeching of lime out of the surrounding cliffs was like swimming into a milk-shake.

Perhaps a few remarks in conclusion may be helpful or of interest:

If you’ve worked your way through these ramblings, you’ll probably have a fairly good idea of the likely weather conditions at this time of year, the underwater visibility and of some of the sites.

• The water temperature was a pretty constant 19C.
• My 7mm, two-piece semi-dry was probably a bit over the top, but I was very comfortable throughout, whilst the dive-guide (oh yes – all dives were guided) shivered a little in his one-piece wetsuit.
• The British seem pretty popular in Malta and everyone we had to do with was really friendly, helpful and in the main spoke English.
• Dive kit is not cheap in Malta and the Maltese Lire was about 60 cents to £1 sterling at the time – beware they often call their Lire a pound which it most certainly ain’t.
• Whilst there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of large fish around there nowadays, there are some but the lack is more than made up by the sheer weight in tonnes of the smaller stuff.

Paul Newland