Malta · Gozo · Comino

Dive Sites in Malta, Gozo & Comino

World-class diving on your doorstep — caves, reefs and wrecks for every level.

Dive sites mappedand counting…

Gozo Shore · 14Comino Boat · 13Malta Shore · 16Malta Boat · 8

DIVE SITES

MALTA · GOZO · COMINO

Featured dive sites

Malta

Cirkewwa Arch

Cirkewwa is the beating heart of shore diving in Malta and the arch is its signature dive. From the entry steps at the old ferry berth on Malta's northern tip you drop into gin-clear water and follow a gentle reef out towards a natural limestone archway spanning a rocky gully at around 16 metres. Swim through and the wall drops away into deeper blue where you'll often see barracuda, amberjack and the occasional passing tuna. Damselfish, wrasse, octopus and moray eels live in every crevice, and the shallows on the return are dotted with sea grass and colourful nudibranchs. Visibility is routinely 25–40 metres, currents are usually mild, and the entry is protected enough to run all year. It's the perfect first dive for visiting divers, an ideal Open Water training site and still endlessly rewarding for photographers and instructors who dive it weekly.

8–20 mAll levels

Malta

P29 Patrol Boat

The P29 is a 52-metre ex-East German Kondor-class minesweeper that served with the Armed Forces of Malta before being cleaned and scuttled at Cirkewwa in August 2007 as an artificial reef. She sits perfectly upright on a sandy bottom in 35 metres of water, just a short surface swim from the shore entry, with her deck at around 20 metres and the top of the wheelhouse in easy Advanced Open Water range. The hull is already carpeted in sponges and algae, schools of chromis and salema hover above the bridge, and grouper, scorpionfish and moray eels have moved into the machinery spaces. Large open doorways and cut swim-throughs on the bridge deck give safe, easy penetration for divers with the right training. Combined with the neighbouring Rozi tug and the natural arch, the P29 makes Cirkewwa one of the best triple-dive shore sites in the Mediterranean.

12–35 mAdvanced

Malta

Rozi Tugboat

The Rozi is a 40-metre harbour tugboat, originally built on the Thames in 1958, that worked Valletta's Grand Harbour before being cleaned and sunk off Cirkewwa in 1992 as one of Malta's first purpose-built artificial reefs. She rests upright on a sandy plateau in 34 metres, with her deck at around 30 and the top of the wheelhouse in the mid-20s — comfortable Advanced Open Water territory. Decades on the seabed have turned her into a living reef: the hull is encrusted in sponges and pink and orange algae, big shoals of damselfish and salema swirl around the funnel, and resident grouper, barracuda and moray eels patrol the wreck. The wheelhouse is still intact and open, giving photographers spectacular framed shots and offering safe swim-throughs for trained wreck divers. Combined with the P29 and the arch, the Rozi is a Cirkewwa classic that never gets old.

18–34 mAdvanced

Gozo

MT Hephaestus

The MT Hephaestus is a 76-metre motor tanker that ran aground in a storm in 2018 and was later purpose-scuttled at Xatt l-Aħmar on Gozo's south coast in August 2022 as an artificial reef for technical divers. She sits upright on a sandy slope in 48 metres, deeper than her better-known Xatt l-Aħmar neighbours the Karwela and Cominoland, with the deck around 42 metres and the top of the superstructure at 38. Because she is so recently sunk the hull is still relatively clean, giving stunning visibility along her full length and a rare chance to explore fresh steel before it disappears under marine growth. Large cargo hatches, the engine room and the bridge offer serious penetration potential for correctly trained and equipped tec divers. This is a decompression dive on trimix, best run as a boat dive with proper support — a bucket-list wreck for anyone diving tec in the Mediterranean.

38–48 mTec

Malta

Għar Lapsi

Għar Lapsi is a small, sheltered cove tucked into the cliffs of Malta's southern coast near the Blue Grotto, and one of the most versatile shore-diving sites on the island. A stone slipway leads straight into calm, shallow water that opens onto a network of caverns and swim-throughs carved into the limestone reef, most of them light and open enough for divers of all levels to explore safely with a torch. Beyond the caverns the reef drops in easy steps to around 18 metres, with sandy patches, boulder gardens and posidonia sea grass beds that hide resident stingrays, octopus, cuttlefish, scorpionfish and shoals of bream. Because it faces south the site is best in flat conditions and is a favourite for early-morning dives, night dives, refresher training and photography. Between dives there's shade, cliff-jumping locals and a small kiosk — a proper Maltese diving day out.

5–18 mAll levels

Malta

HMS Maori

HMS Maori is a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, famous for taking part in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. Just months later she was bombed and sunk at anchor in Valletta's Grand Harbour, and after the war her forward section was refloated and re-sunk in shallow water in St Elmo Bay just outside the harbour walls. Today she rests on a sandy bottom in only 14–18 metres of water, an easy shore dive from the small entry point below Fort St Elmo. Decades of storms have flattened much of the superstructure, but the bow, deck plating, bollards and gun mounts are still clearly recognisable, and cracks in the hull are home to octopus, moray eels, scorpionfish and shoals of bream. Sheltered depth, historic context and easy access make her a favourite second dive and photography site.

10–18 mOpen Water+

Gozo

Blue Hole

The Blue Hole is Gozo's — and arguably Malta's — most iconic dive site, a near-perfect natural chimney carved into the limestone plateau at Dwejra on the island's rugged west coast. From the shore-entry pool you drop straight down through a shaft roughly 10 metres wide to a sandy bottom at 15, then swim out through a huge natural archway at 8 metres that connects the hole to the open sea. Beyond the arch a dramatic reef wall drops away into deep blue, patrolled by shoals of chromis, damselfish and the occasional barracuda, with grouper, moray eels and octopus tucked into the crevices. Divers of all levels can enjoy the arch and the wall in easy recreational depths, while Advanced divers can extend along the reef towards the site of the collapsed Azure Window. In flat conditions the light show inside the hole is unforgettable.

5–25 mAll levels

Gozo

Double Arch

Double Arch is one of Gozo's most spectacular reef dives — a massive limestone rock stack that sits detached from the shore off Xwejni Bay on the island's north coast, pierced by two natural archways stacked one above the other. From the shore entry at Xwejni you follow the reef out across a sandy plateau at around 18 metres until the stack looms out of the blue, then descend to the base of the lower arch at 38 metres and finish the dive shallower through the upper arch at 20. The vertical walls of the stack are covered in yellow and orange sponges, red algae and hydroids, with schools of chromis, damselfish, salema and barracuda circling the arches and occasional pelagics passing through in summer. Because of the depth, distance and potential for current it is a proper Advanced-level dive, best planned with a guide and often extended on nitrox.

18–38 mAdvanced