Dive Malta

Situated just underneath Sicily, Malta is composed of three small islands that hosts some of the most beautiful diving spots of the Mediterranean sea. Malta offers a beautiful sea, a rich history, good food and if you live in Europe is just a couple of hours away from your town.

Best time to dive in Malta

Divers here dive all year round but the best time to dive is in summer, between June and September, when the water reaches even 28 degrees and the days are sunny without the fall of a single drop of rain. In summer you can dive with a 5mm but there are divers that enjoy even a shorty in July and August.

Where to dive in Malta

There are beautiful spots in all three islands of the archipelago: Malta, Gozo and Comino.

Dive sites in Malta

In the main island of Malta the dive spots are spread mainly around the western part of the Island.

The wrecks of Cirkewwa

Cirkewwa is probably the most famous diving spot, it’s where you go at least once in your diving holiday. Situated to the most north point of Malta, just next to the jetty of the ferry that takes you to Gozo is the perfect place to start your diving. It offers a very comfortable diving entrance and facilities and two beautiful and very sealife-rich wrecks. A two dive trips it’s perfect to see both the wreck of the P29 and the Rozi, lot’s of fishes guaranteed.

Blue Grotto and Um El Faroud

Blue Grotto is situated in the south west of the island, near the village of Iz-Zurrieq. The first dive you can go straight to the big and beautiful wreck of Um El Faroud, good chances to see barracudas, jacks and plenty of other fish. For the second dive you can take a relaxed dive around the reefs to the right and left of the inlet and find octopus and morays.

Dive sites in Gozo

Gozo hosts great diving in the western part too.

Blue Hole

Situated just below the Azure Window it’s a roundish hole in the middle of the shore that at the depth of 4mt has a huge opening to the sea. Just underneath it there is a big cave and you can continue the dive around the azure window to the right and follow the reef until you reach the entrance to the inland sea, this can be done in one dive but would highly recommend the inland sea as a separate dive on its own. This is quite a magical dive and the life you will see includes morays, groupers and if you’re lucky some dentex.

The Gozo Wrecks

Not far from the Ferry port of Mgarr you will ascend up into the village of Ghajnsielem, as you go through the village you will see signs on the left hand side that say plainly Dive Wrecks, head towards Xatt l-ahmar and this is where all the Main Gozo wrecks are, the Karwella a Ferry that is situated upright in about 40m of water, this is only one of three wrecks that have been sunk for divers in the area and have been cleaned and made safe for exploration. The other two are The Cominoland and the Xlendi, although Penetration on the Xlendi has now been forbidden. You enter the water from the shore where there are ladders placed for easy exit and entry, follow the reef out at a nice 8 metres then you will see a great drop off that goes to 30+ Metres a fantastic place to stop on the way back to search for morays and octopus, then to the right is the Karwella and the left is the Cominoland. A fantastic dive that you will enjoy time and time again. Torpedo rays, barracuda and jacks are all around these wrecks.

Fungus Rock

You will need a boat to reach this point in the west of Gozo, a big rock in outside the shore that drops to depths of 50 meters plus and offers a nice landscape and good chances to meet barracudas, groupers and rays. Originally known as General Rock due to a rare Shrub found on it, it is now the one of the great dives of Gozo. The walls of this rock are covered in red, yellow and gold corals and has some fantastic overhangs and ledges that are home to some cardinal fish and if you look right at the back some hidden groupers.

Dive sites in Comino

Comino is quite tiny and offers nice diving spots all around. The island was used in the remake of the film “The count of Monte Cristo” and you will be able to see some of the main area when you dive here.

Santa Maria Caves

Santa Maria Caves are and will always be one of the great dives that you will ever do, not because of the wrecks, because there are none, not because of the depth because its quite a shallow dive, but just because of the wonders of the caves and caverns that you dive in just one hour of diving. As soon as you hit the water and start to descend you see a beautiful white sand floor and suddenly get surrounded by shoals of silver sea bream, in their hundreds. If you face into the cove you will then take a right hand turn towards the largest of the caves where you can swim through the entry cavern very easily, the rock bottom doesn’t have much sand on it so you won’t get a lot of silt in the water depending upon the guide you will either make your way through on of the smaller tunnels into the outside cavern (Seaside) or surface in the cave that was used in the “Count of Monte Cristo”, from here you will then go back out and continue the dive on the outside Santa Maria Reef with exceptional swim throughs and beautiful surroundings this is a must dive.

Lantern point

Lantern point is another one of the great dives of Comino, a peninsula that protrudes from the island that has the warning Beacon (Lantern) on the end to warn the passing ships of the danger. The boat will drop you onto a large plateau at about 8m this is really an extension of the land and to the east you will have the drop off which is covered with huge boulders a fantastic hiding place for some of the larger groupers, dentex, morays, octopus and cuttlefish, these are at an average depth of 30m but can go very easily to 50m plus. Shoals of barracuda patrol the reef and due to the Limestone you will have some wonderful chimneys and swim throughs to venture round, there is even a very strange occurrence near the main chimney of a wall of bubble that are escaping from the porous rock, these make a magnificent backdrop for a photo.

Diving Filfla

Filfla is a really tiny island right in front of Blue Grotto in Malta, it is a protected area really rich of sea life, you can even see some sharks there. You’ll need to jump on a boat from a diving center that has obtained the daily permit to visit the island to dive its bottoms. Filfla was used by the British as a target for their bombers during and after the war and you will still find munition under the water around this fascinating little island.

Conclusions

Malta is a gem in the Mediterranean and offers good fun and nice dives. If you’re in Europe this is quite fast to reach and you can enjoy diving all year round. These are really a selection of the dives in Malta and there are many more fascinating and wonderful dives, with sites for neolithic times through to the world war wrecks and later artificial reefs, if you have experienced any of the Maltese dive sites, then share your experiences with us or if you’d like to pop by one day, then let us know.