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7th-14th September 2009 - Club Holiday in Malta
The Croy-Tech Group & Maltaqua Team
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The club dive trip to Malta in September was a great sucess. We booked a dive
and accommodation package through Maltaqua (www.maltaqua.com) and we were picked up each day by dive guides Antonio, Dave & Mark in Maltaqua trucks. We did a number of excellent wreck and reefs dives mainly from the shore, as is usual in Malta, but we also
had a days diving around the island of Comino on a very comfortable day boat. We also had two dives from the island of
Gozo, the Blue Hole and the Inland Sea.
Malta is known for some excellent shore diving sites including tunnels,caves and wrecks and we were not
disappointed. We were privileged to dive one wreck (the P31) which had been sunk as an artificial
reef only 3 weeks previously, and the gauges, switches and fittings were all still intact, a great rarity.
Although the wrecks and swim throughs, the clear warm water and the fabulous colours of the water as you
looked into the blue from the tunnels, were the main attractions, we were not disappointed by the marine life including shy
octopus and small morays, well camouflaged scorpion fish, schoaling tuna and jacks in the blue and many colourful reef fishes.
Antonio and his team from Maltaqua were great, and those fortunate to travel to sites in Antonio's truck
got an expert history of the islands as we progressed between our accommodation, the Maltaqua shop and the dive sites.
In addition to the diving, we had time to enjoy some great food (and drink of course), and ended the week
on a cruise around the whole island of Malta ending with a relaxing snorkel in the Blue Lagoon where our D.O. managed to get
stung by a jelly fish.
Dive 1 Sally's
Pool - Cirkewwa : This dive was a bouyancy check dive, we went left through 'swim throughs' saw
some lovely rock formations and a statue of Madonna.
Dive 2 Sally's Pool - Cirkewwa : Went right towards
lighthouse. Very pretty swim throughs, but not very much life.
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Dive 3 P29 Minesweeper - Cirkewwa A
purpose sunk minesweeper the P29 sits in an upright position, it has a very tall mast and many levels, some of which you can
swim through. We saw lots of fish, including Parrot fish. Very picturesque!
Dive 4 Rozi Tugboat - Cirkewwa Point Purpose
sunk wreck Lots of life on this dive, we fed the fish at the bow. Saw nudibranch
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Dive 5 Lantern Point - Comino Beautiful
swim throughs especially round the 'mushroom rock' formations. We saw 2 moray eels, starfish, and a massive stone fish.
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Dive 6 P31 Minesweeper - Comino
Purpose sunk only 3 weeks prior to our dive in early September 2009, this was the sistership
of the P29. Being such a young wreck there was very little life. Most of the gauges and switches were still in situ, which
made this dive rather unique. We were able to swim through the length of the ship and saw a baby octopus on the side of the
bulkhead.
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Dive 7 Um El Faroud - Wied iz-Zurrieq Purpose
sunk approx. 11 years ago, this Libyan oil tanker suffered an explosion whilst in Valletta dry dock, sadly 9 shipyard
workers died during this incident. A plaque (see photograph below) laid on the wreck commemorates this tragic event.
Although a lengthy swim from the shore, this wreck now broken in two, was well worth it. We did a swim through and saw lots
of life, including barracuda.
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Dive 8 Ghar Lapsi - 3m North of Wied iz-Zurrieq
The entry access to this dive site is down about 50 steps (fully kitted) from the car park,
not easy! Entry is via a short swim through the lagoon then via a cave, which brings you out into the open sea. Although
light does enter the tunnel it is quite claustrophobic, and your cylinder often touches the rock. We saw octopus, scorpion
fish,groupers and many nudibranchs.Also baby hermit crabs.
Dive 9 Inland Sea - Dwejra, Gozo
Lovely dive, shallow cove connected to the sea by an 80m natural tunnel. Beautiful rock formations,
lots of life and fantastic swim throughs.
Dive 10 The Blue Hole - Dwejra, Gozo
Despite the trek to get to the waters edge, it was well worth it, as this
was a fantastic dive. It was as if the best had been saved until last! We had to drop down to swim through an underwater arch
to reach the Blue Hole. The life was in abundance in the beautiful clear blue waters, and we saw tuna hunting, amongst other
fish.
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Updated on 18/07/2010 by Shirley Painter
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