Malta

1466 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Conor, Jul 24, 2003

Diving Dude

Discussion Starter · Jul 14, 2003

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l have just returned from a 2 week family holiday in Malta, went with the hope of getting four days diving but managed seven.
Diving day 1. Two dives from the shore at the Blue Grotto to the wreck El Faroud, sea temp at surface 24deg at 35mtrs 17 deg.
Great wreck 10,000t tanker 35 mtrs to seabed 16 mtrs to top of superstructure and open for penetration....................................
(the only thing that was on this holiday, maybe due to the fact that l left da missis to go diving)

Diving day 2- Gozo, the inland sea and the Azure window both v,good dives.

Day 3 - Tug boat Rozi and the reef at Marfa point, good wreck great reef.

Day 4 - Boat trip to Comino, to dive Lighthouse reef and cominotto cave both great dives the later being a shallow cave system.

Day 5 - Boat trips to the wreck of the Imperial Eagle which was a malta-gozo ferry sunk in 42 mtrs, another v good wreck, and a second dive on the Rozi.

Day 6- Pretended to be James Bond used diving centres torpedos from tyhe shore to get to the El Faroud again,
This time we were able to travel the full length of the hull and them back along the deck.
Second dive again to the El Faroud, park torpedos, we were them able to go through the rear susperstructure starting in the engine room, then through the cabins ending at the bridge.

Day 7- boat trips to the Torpedo boat in 40mtrs and the blenheim bomber in 42 mtrs

Both good dives however l was expecting the blenheim bomber to be more intact and larger.

l will definately go back, but l would go with a small group and during the winter.

l dived with Deep Blue Diving and was very impressed.

Forgot to add, l `ve now got to work for four weeks untill l go to Scapa and Farnes for 1 1/2 weeks....yippeeee.

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richarddbarker

· #2 · Jul 22, 2003

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I've been to Malta this year too and I really enjoyed the diving. Sounds like you got more boat diving in than me but then I'm only OW so those wrecks where out of my reach

I'd certainly go back as there are plenty of dives on offer.

Would you go back, or do you think it's a visit once kind of place ?

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Mr T.

· #3 · Jul 22, 2003

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That's a very valid question actually Richard.

I've never been to or dived Malta or Gozo, and was wondering from some of you regular or sometime frequenters of the place what you thought about the diving there as a whole?? Decent wrecks?? Coral?? Sea temps?? I get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that the local diving attitude is largely 'BSAC-on-Sea'

Yes? No?

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richarddbarker

· #4 · Jul 22, 2003

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Bren,

I did five days diving, all shore based. I completed this trip report http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/cgi-bin....l=malta but in summary I thought it was excellent.

In terms of BSAC, most shops seemed to focus on PADI training but the divers were from a mixture of agencies. They were more strict than other dive centres I've used. I wasn't allowed below 20m on my OW certfication. I think this is probably a sensible approach in some respects.

Diving Dude

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 22, 2003

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Yes l`d definately go back, but during the winter and mainly for the wrecks.

The boss of the center l used is a trimix instructor and l`m thinking of going back for a trimix course Jan/Feb.

Added

Bren, no it wasn't BSAC on sea

Conor

· #6 · Jul 23, 2003

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I've been there twice, I completed my AOW and DPV specialty there (torpedoeing to the Rozi and Um El Faroud). My gf (at the time) done her OW at the same time.

I would definitely go back, for the wrecks but also for the training and variety. There are a lot of good schools there and the one I used (maltaqua) gave some of the best instruction I have seen, but I will go another school for more techy training.

The night life suffers off season but, if you are there to dive I reckon the diving is better.

Cheers

Conor

Dr Stevil

· #7 · Jul 23, 2003

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Just tried that link and got Deep blue digital, intenet consultants

Think it should have been this one

Hmmm... trimix course abroad, bit more to see I imagine
Chee-az
Steve

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Diving Dude

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 23, 2003

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So Steve you passed my little test.

l thought l'd put the wrong link in to see if any of you lot were awake.

2 and a bit weeks to Scapa yippeeeeeeeeeee then on to girley seals.

Mark Chase

· #9 · Jul 23, 2003

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I have done gozo twice and I would call it grab a tank and do what the hell you like city. I did all shore dives and the Rozi, gozo ferry etc are all perfictly accessable from shore. So is 80m depth. Just jump off of Reca point and fin out for five mins.

Most if not all the wrecks were sunk on purpos and are a bit sterile compaired to a UK wreck but still well worth a look. Fish life is small but prolific. Occasional big grouper but thats it.

Note we went out in March and the water was 15c so dry suit is best bet that time of year.

I would go again because there are about three dives I couldent do and I want to do but the rest got a bit same old thing after a while. Rock formations are the highlight of the trip with the Blue Hole being No1.

ATB

Mark Chase

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richarddbarker

· #10 · Jul 24, 2003

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Did you dive the Maori ? World War II destroyer around the corner from the Grand Harbour. It's a bit bashed up and only half the stern is laying in accessible water, but there are still shells, etc around and you can swim through a hole in the side and out of the broken back section.

It attracts lots of marine life and you can come back along a nice reef. Max Depth is around 15m so it's great for all levels of diver. I saw an Octopus, various wrase, a shoal of Parrot Fish, scorpion fish and then a 12inch Meditterainian Moray on the reef. It was really colourful, purple with yellow markings. Excellent Dive.

The Viz can sometimes be a bit poor because it's a bit exposed/close to shipping channel for Yacht Mariner at Msida. Also, it's one to avoid if it's rained heavily the previous day as all the rain water from Valletta empties into the harbours and stirs the bottom up.

Conor

· #11 · Jul 24, 2003

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The Maori was my first dive in Malta. The dive was great but I was having a 'buddy from hell' moment with an ex east european Naval diver who was a real bottom crawler, kicking up silt and messing around with anything he found on the bottom, he was the only person wearing gloves and he made sure he used them. The site itself was interesting, the story helps and the setting (surfacing next to the city walls) was great.

richarddbarker

· #12 · Jul 24, 2003

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Funny that, I had a group of four Russians with me when I did the dive. My dive buddy was the guide, fortunately.

Once we were in the water one guy got lost on the way out to the Maori. Because we were spread out and his friends preferred walking on the bottom to finning above it, we couldn't see that he'd gone for about 20 mins. When the instructor signalled to his buddy asking where he was, he shrugged his shoulders. A buddy I'm sure we'd all like to be paired with !!

Fortunately the guy had surfaced and made it safely back to shore.

Good point though, it's a sandy bottom around the wreck itself and when the site gets busy I imagine the viz can be really bad.

Conor

· #13 · Jul 24, 2003

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Eash....I think I may be turning into a diving xenophobe.

Between the boat traffic, the river flow, the bottom composition and the affect of a few truckloads of holiday divers I guess the vis isn't as reliable as elsewhere on the Island, but I'm guessing experienced UK divers would still find it relatively luxurious.

I was lucky as the instructor I was diving with made a lot of effort to get us in the water before the other groups, by the time we left there were about 3 other sets finning around.

I have heard that the Carolita(sp?) barge in the harbour also suffers from quite variable vis for similar reasons, but didn't get the opportunity to visit myself.

richarddbarker

· #14 · Jul 24, 2003

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I did the Carolita in the afternoon after the Maori. The viz on there is far far worse. It's right next to the shipping lane, and is heavily silted.

I was so worried about getting lost I barely looked at anything else but my buddy. I did see a few cardinal fish/wrasse on the way to the wreck and a nice Cuttlefish coming back.

You can see the hole were the torpedo went in and all the twisted metal on the other side were it came out. It's in good condition considering it's position but it's not a dive I'd do again due to the viz and lack of marine life.

Conor

· #15 · Jul 24, 2003

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I see your point, if and when I go back to Malta I would like to visit it to have seen it, but by the sounds of it its not going to be one of those sites that you go back to time and again. Unlike the Um El Faroud.

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