[darlodiver]

Imported post

Mornin all!, could anyone please give me any info re diving on Malta/Gozo.  Mrs Darlodiver and myself off for a week early November. Only ever dived around the uk (which is obviously fantastic!) but looking forward to a bit of Med.
Thanks y'all

 

[Mark Davies]

Imported post

<font color='#000080'>Never been myself but have a work colleague who was an instructor/dive guide there for a couple of years.

I'll make some enquiries about reccommended dive centres and get back to you.

 

[Gimbo]

Imported post

<font color='#0000FF'>My wife and I went to Gozo in July 2002 and dived with Gozo Aqua Sports. I can highly recomend the center and the island although I don't know what it will be like in November. Gozo has better diving with better conditions than Malta and the islanders are more layed back than Malta. Most of the diving is shore based but there is a large variety of sites, normally if there are strong winds and one side than you dive on the other.
There are a couple of dive guide bopoks specifically on Malta/Gozo.

 

[Finless]

Imported post

Dived with Calypso Diving, Marsalforn, Gozo - love the place (although have not been for a few years).

They will arrange transfers from Malta airport, to ferry etc.

Although I have not been for a few years (got my OW/AOW with them 20 years ago) our club always dive with them.

Marsalforn is a good place to stay - lots of bars/restaurants but not rowdy.

 

[skener]

Imported post

dived with subway scuba on comino myself in august, dive leaders were Sara and Marcus, both excellent did two dives around gozo cant remember exact names one was something like fessia rock or black rock? second dive was caves, next dives were around Comino one a cave the other a wall, saw sea horse octupus plenty of bonny fish dont know the names, water temp was around 27 degrees price of a dive was 14 maltese pounds  I went with subway because we stopped on Comino and they were based at our hotel ,and the people are really friendly

 

[richarddbarker]

Imported post

I was in Malta in May this year. Should still be a trip report around here somewhere if you have a search. The diving is excellent, I'm sure you'll really enjoy it, particuarly if you've only dived the UK before  

I tried to do Malta, Gozo and Comino as there are good dive sites on all. There are far more dive sites on Malta than the other two islands. Only managed Malta and Gozo due to not getting booked on Comino trip early enough.

As someone else mentioned it's mainly shore based. The rocks are rough and so I'd strongly recommend thick healed boots. The water was around 18c (surface) in May and I think it will be similar or slightly less in November. You might want to consider your drysuit with minimal undersuit. A number of divers had them on when I was there. I wore a 5mm wetsuit with a 3mm shortie on top. I'd also recommend gloves to protect your hands when exiting the water, you can get push around a little when there's a surge and the rocks are pretty jagged.

In terms of dive guides I used Subway Scuba in Buggiba (they have several offices around the island). They were really good and very competitive on price. Subway and Maltaqua are the longest running dive outfits on the Island, both are usually highly recommended.

The book I got was Maltease Diving by Ned Middleton which I found an excellent book. Good picture of each site, plus detailed description of what you can expect to see.

My best dives were HMS Maori - Valette/Msida Harbour, Wied iz Zurrick (spelling ??) and the Inland Sea - Gozo. Dives I would have liked to do but didn't have qualification/time for...El Faroud, Tug Boat Rozi, Blue Hole - Gozo and Comino Reef. Worst dive I did was the Carolitte Barge in Msida harbour, crap visability with minimal marine life. Imagine if they sunk a canal boat in Stoney Cove.....yep that's it.

I'd definitly go back to Malta again to dive my favourties again and get the ones I missed.

Hope this helps...

 

[Mary]

Imported post

Have to say never made it to Gozo as only had odd days off whilst working out there but dived with dive deep blue based in bugibba (friend of a friend type thing).

Have to say Um el faroud is a great wreck to dive, also the rozi is fun and bizarely on the rozi you can also get to see a statue of the madonna in a niche in the back of the harbour wall, like you do.

 

[Pierre Farrugia]

Imported post

<font color='#0000FF'>Hello,

I dived there nearly everywhere and nearly with every school  

 I think that if you like wrecks Malta and Gozo for marine life . Deep shore dives are at Gozo as well as from shore you can do 100m+ dives. Vis is generally good about 15m to 20m but in Gozo Dwejra from 55m I could clearly see the surface. Temp at that time of year should be about 22'c. If you need any more help just ask.

Regards

Pierre

 

[Simon TW]

Imported post

I did my ow with divewise in July they had four or five minibuses going all over the islands each day.
I'd return and use them again tomorrow.

http://www.divewise.com.mt/

Get wet soon

Simon

 

[Diving Dude]

Imported post

Try this link to my trip report

http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/cgi-bin....l=malta

This is the correct link to deep blue diving

 

[darlodiver]

Imported post

Thanks very much everyone for your contributions, much appreciated as always, plenty there to digest, wish I was there now flying effortlessly through that clear blue water... ugh ... sorry, miles away, ... back to work I guess!
Cheers guys
Darlo

 

[PhilB]

Imported post

As others have suggested many of the best dives are shore dives.  Get yourself a copy of 'A guide to shore-diving the Maltese Islands' by Peter Lemon.  This is the best guide I have ever seen by a very large margin, particularly for its maps and bearings for dive sites.
If you are sufficiently experienced / confident then just hire your tanks and weights and away you go for a fraction of the cost of guided dives and without all the hassle of diving in a big group.
You can even get the best of both worlds from some operators eg Maltaqua who will do you a deal with a couple of days boat diving plus tanks, weights and unlimited fills for the rest of the week.  Highly recommended.

Phil

PS make sure you try the sauteed rabbit with white wine & garlic - fantastic!