Gozo, a faded British diving Mecca?

by Richard Booth

Back in the late eighties and early nineties Gozo appeared to be one of the more popular overseas diving holiday destinations. Indeed most of my then diving compatriots visited this island on a regular basis. Today the Egyptian Red Sea resorts such as Hurgada and Nama Bay seem to have taken over as the most popular UK overseas diving destination, a spot that Gozo once occupied. Despite the enthusiasm of my older diving buddies for Gozo, until very recently I had never visited this island. However, I was recently persuaded to spend a week's holiday there.
Situated three miles off the coast of Malta, Gozo is visited by a regular ferry service operating out of the North West corner of Malta known as Cirkewwa. The more affluent can use the helicopter service between the International airport on Malta and Gozo. I however, opted for the ferry service and learnt my first lesson; the ferry in October ceases to operate an all night service. It is therefore worth checking with your travel agent what arrangements apply, for if your flight is delayed, as occurred in my case, you could find yourself having to bear the cost of an additional hotel bill prior to catching the next morning's ferry!
Gozo itself appears to be well serviced with dive shops; indeed most of the islands larger villages appear to have dive operations based in them. I opted to try the dive centre attached to the hotel I had booked, and therefore found myself walking through the entrance of the Atlantis Dive Centre at Marsalforn. During the time of my holiday, a full and current medical was required. Since my visit however, the authorities appear to have eased these requirements and now are apparently accepting a 'self certified medical form' . My log book was also copied and I began to realise that diving certification and medicals were taken a lot more seriously by the local authorities than in other parts of the world that I have visited.

So what of the diving? Well it is a combination of shore and boat dives sites.
Those I visited in the brief time I stayed on the island consisted of the following sites:

The House Cave, one of the Atlantis dive centres 'secret spots', and involves entering an underwater cave entrance and penetrating some distance into a chamber of which the last few upper metres consists of a thermocline caused by fresh water mixing with seawater. You can surface within this chamber and breathe fresh air; however a good torch is required for this dive. Not expecting to do any night diving, I had failed to bring one, but was able to hire one from the dive centre.

The Double Arch (also known locally as twin arch) is part of the Marsalforn reef. It can be dived from the shore but is a long snorkel swim. The dive involves swimming through the bottom arch before ascending and swimming back through the upper arch.
Deepest depth, 40 metres and nearby is a point from which shoals of barracuda and other fish can often be seen.

Cathedral Cave, another cave dive in which one can surface within the cave itself. In this instance, one can shine the torch up two 'drilled' man made wells, once used for the extraction of sea water for the salt pans on the surface.

Calypso Cave: not really a cave as such, but three short underwater tunnels through a reef wall, the lower one being the largest of the three. Indeed one can view this site underwater from the landward side, and from certain angles the caves appear to form a Halloween humanlike face. The lower 'mouth like' tunnel is situated at 32 metres and is the main swim through.

The Blue Hole, a classic Gozo shore dive. However, following a recent storm shower, the resultant down pour of rain had turned the blue hole into a grey one! Initially, underwater visibility was a few inches, but after sinking down a few metres the visibility improved and the access hole to the sea could be clearly seen. This dive involves swimming out over some large boulders, with a good chance of seeing some large resident grouper. Nearby is also a dramatic underwater chimney which one can swim up. Deepest depth completed on this dive was 38 metres.

Coral Cave, once apparently the ceiling of this cavern were covered with coral, but the bubbles of numerous visiting divers has taken its toll with the result that little coral now remains. This site however has two resident sea horses, which with care and a little local knowledge, can usually be located by the local dive guides.

Wreck of the Xlendi ferry. This old ferry used to be one of the boats that linked Gozo with the main Island. However, in November 1999 it was decided to sink the vessel as a new dive site attraction. By all accounts however, the sinking did not go strictly to plan with the result that the slowly sinking ferry was blown by an increasing wind away from the intended resting place, with the result that it eventually sank on an area with a steep slope. The wreck subsequently rolled down this slope and has now settled upside down on the bottom at 42 metres. The superstructure has been crushed and absorbed into the sandy bottom. The dive can be completed from the shore and involves a short swim down the slope onto the upturned hull. Despite being the wrong way up, the wreck still provides an interesting dive, as it is possible to enter the car deck area and swim the entire length of the vessel before exiting and swimming up onto the top of the wreck and exploring one of the two props situated at either end of the hull.

Mgarr Ix-Xini, a small sheltered bay which provides excellent shelter when more exposed sites are too rough to dive. This site also has two underwater caves, and although underwater visibility tends to be a bit disappointing compared to other sites, it does offer the opportunity to see marine life not commonly seen on other dives. In particular this site is noted for common sightings of flying gurnards as well as sting rays, octopus and razorfish.

In addition to the above sites, Gozo offers many other dramatic sites, such as the Inland Sea and Fungus rock, too many sites to dive in the course of just one week.
Sea life around Gozo, whilst not comparable with the Red Sea, is excellent especially when compared to other Mediterranean sites such as Cyprus or Greece.
The diving, arranged through the Atlantis Dive Centre, was well organised and supervised. Most of the divers who accompanied me on the above sites were mainly from Germany and France, and I personally enjoyed the cosmopolitan feel of diving in their company. The majority of the local dive guides however are British, and mainly of a more mature age, but with the benefit of much diving experience and worldly wisdom!
Most of the UK holiday divers I encountered during the week appeared to be repeat customers who booked cylinders and jeeps through the dive centre but organised their own independent diving.
In addition to comfortable clean hotels, Gozo offers restaurants of reasonable quality, as well as various archaeological and historic sites that can be easily visited. Car hire is reasonably cheap, and it is possible to take the ferry across to Malta with the hire car and visit sites on the main island.
Despite receiving its independence from Britain in 1964, it is evident that the local community still retain a deep affection for all things British. There are no language problems and the whole place has something of a welcoming familiarity about it, even down to the shop and road signs.
Would I go back? Well yes, Gozo offers well organised dive centres and varied diving conditions that cater for the demands of both the novice and more advanced diver, as well as offering other attractions for non diving partners and family members...
I suspect that as British divers and organised club trips begin to tire of the increasingly commercialised Red Sea operations, and as individuals seek more secure and safe holiday destinations free from the spectre of international terrorism post 9/11, Gozo will once again feature more prominently as a popular destination. Based on my own Gozo experience, I would also recommend that first time visiting divers consider investing in one of the available dive guide books to this area. If nothing else, it will help with the accurate recording of local dive site names!

Dive Facilities:

Atlantis Dive Centre,
E-mail: info@atlantisgozo.com
Website: www.atlantisgozo.com

Gozo Aqua Sports,
E-mail: dive@gozaquasports.com
Website: www.gozoaquasports.com

Calypso Dive Centre,
E-mail: info@calypsodivers.com
Website: www.calypsodivers.com

The main diving season is April through to the end of October. Diving takes place over the winter months but the weather becomes more unsettled.
Sea temperature in October was 23°C, for which a 5mm wetsuit was adequate.
January/February the sea temperature drops as low as 13°C. requiring an 8mm semidry or dry suit.
Electricity: 240 volts
Current valid UK driving license is required by hire car companies.