Malta Diving Special

8/6/2019 Malta Diving Special

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by Lanna Marshall

Buoyant Lift Malta Diving Special

2011MaltaExpectations can be difficult things sometimes surpassed, and some-

times disappointed.Malta 2011 was one suchdive trip that had enormousexpectation built up aroundit booked back in July 2010,Maltexpert divers from pasttrips had built the destinationup to impossible heights over

the intervening 10 months.Blue waters guaranteed,we were promised, beautifullywarm and crisply clear. Sun-shine? Absolutely, its beenbooked. Fish? Of course.Wrecks and caves? Theyre allthere. There seemed nothing

that aweeksdive trip to Malta

couldnt offer.Its my favour-

ite trip, I waitall year for it,enthused onerepeat Maltaoffender, as hemarked downanother dayfrom his count-down calendar,

Nothing ab-solutely nothing can beat it.High promises,high hopes

high expectation indeed for what is ac-tually one of the most affordable weeks

away in the divingdiary. Could a cheapas chips, shore-basedweeks diving off a tinyrocky island really com-pare with the best ofBritish greats, the likesof Scapa and Lochaline

and Lyme; or the D-Dayshores of Normandy ora 1,000 liveaboard inthe crystalline Red Sea?

The DivingOne of the first prom-ises we were to unravelwas that of the spec-tacular Rozi, a dive

John raved rapturously about. Sunk in

1991, the tug boat Rozi rests in about35m of water and is reached from therocky shores of Cirkewwa point on thenorth of the island. An easy stride en-try, and John was off in the lead of oursmall group of followers he clearlyknew exactly where his favourite wrecklay, and the determined swish andswoop of his yellow Forcefins showedhow eager he was to get there. It didnttake long before the shadowy form of a

boat loomed out of the blue at us, a fewbarracuda menacing around the hull.The wreck is opened up at the stern

deck quite wide, so it makes an easypenetration dive; and is cut away else-

Could a cheap as

chips, shore-based

weeks diving off a

tiny rocky island really

compare with the best

of British greats, thelikes of Scapa and

Lochaline and Lyme;

or the D-Day shores of

Normandy or a 1,000

liveaboard in the

crystalline Red Sea?IMAGES:JOHNCORNELL,JO

EBLYTH,

KEITHPRIOR,

MIKEPRICE


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where so you can have areally good look insidethe boat. Although its nota huge tug, its sizeableenough to enjoy a properlook around before heading

back to the reef for somedeco. It made a pretty, enjoy-able and easy dive to breakus in for the week ahead.

But one last stop beforeheading back, for Keithsrapturous raving centredaround a lone anchor justa short swim from the Rozi.Heading off alongthe smooth, white sands ofthe seabed, we came acrossthis enormous anchor, justas Keith had promised.Covered in seaweed and witha few stray fish aimlesslyfloating by, the anchor satdominating the seascapewith nothing else in sight,

just blue and white in everydirection. It was quite im-pressive in its loneliness.

A dive to the Madonna

statue followed from Cirkew-wa that afternoon, finishedwith a relaxed dive aroundthe reef. Monday saw a dive

to visit two tug boats offZonqor Point, resting closetogether and with plentyto see. The swell of the seamade the return swim acrossthe reef quite difficult on

that dive, a problem thatwas more evident as we ar-rived at Anchor Bay for oursecond dive of the day thewaves were chopping aboutand crashing onto the jettyquite worryingly. Despitethis, a few local divers kit-ting up said it would be fineunder the water, and recom-mended a cave dive a bitfurther around the head thatthey assured us would begreat. A number of the groupfound these caves and cameaway waxing lyrical aboutthe beauty of the light there,while a smaller numberchose to dive in the harbourthat was rich in marinecritters.

Ghar Lapsi and a visit tothe crib (a life-size Nativ-

ity scene) after a descentthrough some small cavesproved a strenuous diveon Tuesday for many of



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the group, and a real test ofnavigation skills. The returnclimb to the cars back up thesteep steps with sodden dive

kit proved to be the ultimatefinisher for a few, who neededvital resuscitation with choco-late cigarellos. A second divefor this day was agreed to bea return to the two caves atAnchor Bay, but with churned-up waters and even choppierwaves, this made the experi-ence an entirely different oneto that of only a day previous.

The swim was hard, the caveentrance difficult to locate, thecaves themselves were dark

with nosignof thebeau-tifullightso ad-mired

before,the airwaswarm

and close and thewaters murky withstirred-up sand: apoint that only serves

to prove that the samesite can be a completelydifferent experiencefrom one dive to an-other with only a slightchange in conditions.

Wednesday saw anearly and stunning divearound the wreck of theP29 off Cirkewwa, offer-ing a wide-open tempta-

tion to get right downinside the wreck andhave a good root around something Joe did witha real purposeful glintbehind his mask. A splitin the group saw somegoing off to explore theisland for the afternoon,while others couldntresist returning to the

beacon call of the Rozi.Um El Faroud and areturn to the two tugs atZonqor Point were theorder for Thursday, thefirst being described as



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a challenging but great wreck dive by thosethat reached it. Alex and Lee reported a fantas-tic dive meandering around the reef meanwhile,and Pete and I circled the gulley after a bit of ascare on the way to the wreck, where we foundplenty of random things to rummage amongst old tyres and hundreds of glass bottles, andperhaps most weirdly, a dead electric ray that

was stiffly jammed between a couple of rocks.It would have made a great (if rather sad andmacabre) photographic prop but wheres acamera when you need one? Later that after-noon, an encrusted old cannon and (very muchalive) Moray eel just 10m down on the north-ern reef at Zonqor Point were unexpected andexciting finds for some.

Friday was reserved for boat diving from aRIB, the first dive of which was the amazingP31, resting in beautifully clear waters at only

20m to the seabed and through which thereare so many openings you can swim from oneend to the other without ever having to emergefrom the wreck itself. The second dive of theday was to the Santa Maria caves off Comino,

which was a series ofthree caves that werealways open at somepoint letting in plentyof glittering sunlight.

From day to day oversix days, the dives

were varied and in-teresting, making forpleasant and gener-ally easy diving. Withwrecks and reefs, andcaves and critters,there was somethingto please everyonein the group we all

came away smiling, and weall looked forward afresh to the next days div-

ing knowing that the water would be clear andblue, the sun would shine, and wed alwaysbe able to find a spot somewhere on theisland that we could jumpin and enjoy a good dive.

Malta:A Promise Fulfilled?So, were the great Malteseexpectations surpassed ordisappointed?

The promises made werenot reneged there wereindeed lapis-blue waters,calm flat seas, visibility



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of 20-30m or more. The sunshone every day we have thepink noses and peeling shoul-ders to prove it. There werecaves where the light shone

blue and white through thequiet waters, and there werewrecks that we could delve

inside with enthusiasm anddidnt need a torch to see whatwe were looking at. There wererocky reefs and strange crea-tures, and John has the photos

to attest that nature is oftenweirder than fiction.

Malta is one of those placesthat seems to be a lot ofthings to a lot of people, andso it cannot disappoint.For the wreckies, there arewrecks aplenty those wedived in shallower waters, andthose we didnt where the

seas are deeper and you needto hire a boat to reach them.For the cave divers, there areendless systems around Malta,Gozo, and Comino, all withineasy reach. For lovers of crit-ters and creatures, althoughAlex spent the week in hopesof a shark sighting (and wasdisappointed in that, althoughI myself was enormously hap-

py to not have seen a singleshark), there is plenty livingamong the rocks and gulliesto seek out and prod andpoke a bit. Except the fireworms we were warned notto poke them.

But although Malta has in thepast been noted for its lack offish-life, its evident that fish-ing restrictions are now havingan effect and fish are returning

to the reefs and wrecks thatmake perfect homes. Barra-cuda on the Rozi and Um El Fa-roud, the curled-up Moray offZonqor Point, the parrot fishand groupers are all testamentto this and point to a wholenew promise that the best ofMalta is actually still to come.

Promises, promises youcan expect Malta to be up

there as one of the best divesites in the Med for a longwhile yet.



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lthough I have been toMalta a number of times

and have family there, I havedone very little diving aroundMalta itself. What little expe-rience of the diving I have isbased around Gozo.

The branch has been visit-ing Malta on and off for manyyears. One of my first branchtrips was to Gozo, organised

by a previous DO, Viv Lowther,in partnership with John Finch.Pete Stiff and Keith Prior havebeen making regular post-East-er visits for the last few yearswith a number of others.

Malta is a very relaxed des-tination and very easy if youare British, as the vast majorityspeak excellent English. TheMaltese also drive on the left or at least thats the theory.In truth the Maltese drive inthe shade rather than on anyspecific side of the road. Visi-tors should also be aware thattime keeping is not a Maltesestrength. I do sometimes thinkthat all Maltese clocks onlyhave the hour hand. Openinghours, timetables, etc, are allintended to give an indicationof when things may or may not

be happening, rather than aliteral statement that they will.Gozo is worse; they only useclocks showing am or pm.

Having visited Malta justbefore Easter, Lanna asked mefor a little piece on my favour-ite dive. I have dived a numberof sites on Gozo, includingthe Inland Sea and the BlueHole, etc. I have also done afew dives on Malta, includethe Rozi, the Imperial Eagle,and the associatedstatue of Christ

and Cave butall of these area few years ago.On this years tripall our dives wereshore dives, mostlyaround the Southand West of Malta.This included GharLapsi, the El Fa-roud at Wied izZurrieq, and theTugs in MarsascalaBay at Zon-qor Point.

I havedecided towrite aboutHMS Maoriin St ElmosBay, Val-etta. Thisis actually

a very shal-low dive andif you stayaround the

wreck you will be pressed toget 15m. It is possible to godeeper but there is little to seeif you swim deeper into theBay. The site is actually quitespectacular right in frontof Valletta. Around the pointto the right is the Grand Har-bour, to the left is Marsamxett

Harbour. Behindyou are the fortifi-

cations of Valletta,also known asthe Palace of theGrand Masters,and one of the fewentrances into thetown. To your rightis the FortizzaSant Iermu.

To get to theMaori site, youdrive around theleft side of the city,

Malta for Twoby Gareth Leyshon

There are a

number of niceswim throughs as

well as open sec-

tions of wreck and

wreckage. We found

plenty to see during

our dive, including

cuttlefish, flat fish,

scorpion fish and

goatfish.

A


IMAGES:SARAHMILLER


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Malta Diving Special

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