Diving in Malta — Why the Best of It Is in Gozo

Malta's known for diving: 30 metre visibility, barely any current, wrecks, reef walls and dramatic underwater topography. And the mainland delivers it. The Um El Faroud and Cirkewwa Marine Park are world-class dive sites. But most of what people fly out for actually sits on the sister island. Gozo. MV Karwela, the Blue Hole, Inland Sea, Cathedral Cave, and many more. Dive centers on mainland Malta will visit Gozo to dive these famous sites, so why not just come here directly.

Wreck diving in Malta? Start in Gozo

Gozo's south-east coast holds four wrecks within a few dozen metres of each other. All four were scuttled and prepared specifically for divers to make them easy to penetrate and explore.

Three of them were ferries, sitting close together, all within recreational limits at a maximum depth of 40m. The legendary MV Karwela is the one most divers do first. Sunk in 2006, three decks, and a staircase running through the middle that's become one of the most photographed spots on any wreck, anywhere. MV Cominoland was scuttled the same day. Smaller, but you can safely explore the wheelhouse and dive through the passenger deck. MV Xlendi's the oldest of the three, scuttled back in 1999, but unfortunately she rolled onto her side on the way down. That's why she's the least dived of the group, but swimming along the keel and past the propeller is a dive none of the other three give you.

Then there's MT Hephaestus. An oil tanker that ran aground in 2018 and was scuttled in 2022, she sits deeper and further out than the other three. At 45 metres it's past recreational limits and for technical divers only.

Blue Hole, Inland Sea and Cathedral Cave

On Gozo's west coast, the Blue Hole is a natural sinkhole dropping straight through the rock into open sea, connected by a short underwater archway. The Azure Window used to stand beside it. It collapsed during a storm in 2017, and what's left is now known as the Alps, angular boulders scattered across the seabed that genuinely look like a mountain range. Swim out through the Blue Hole and you can explore the Alps, even underneath them through the many swim-throughs the collapse left behind.

Right next to the Blue Hole, the Inland Sea is a lagoon linked to open water through a tunnel cut straight through the cliff. Tourist boats pass overhead while you're swimming beneath them through the tunnel.

Then there's Cathedral Cave. A short archway opens into a cavern with a huge air pocket above, the kind of space that earns the name. Surface inside it, breathe real air, and look down at the blue light coming through the entrance. The best part: it's perfect even for Open Water divers.

Marine life

Malta isn't famous for its marine life. People come back talking about the visibility, the wrecks, the reef walls. But the marine life's better than its reputation lets on.

Octopus tucked into crevices if you know where to look. Moray eels hiding around the reef. Lazy groupers that just watch you go past. Jacks working the reef, hunting damselfish in short, sharp bursts. Schools of barracuda hanging in open water on the right day, sometimes rays if you're lucky. Flying gurnards and flounders lying on sandy bottoms. Scorpionfish everywhere once your eye are tuned for them. Lots of parrotfish and wrasse playing in the seagrass. Hermit crabs and the dragging borrowed shells across . And nudibranchs, tiny, impossibly colourful, the kind of thing you only notice because your guide points at a patch of nothing and there they are. 

Diving on Malta: what's on the big island

Dive centres on Malta frequent the Um El Faroud wreck and Cirkewwa Marine Park in the west, home to two wrecks, the patrol boat P29 and the tugboat Rozi. These are the only dive sites worth a trip from Gozo. It's just a ferry crossing, and it's all doable with us in one trip if that's what you want.

So, Malta or Gozo?

The people who actually know diving choose Gozo. Less crowded, less rush, a slower island altogether. If you're planning a proper diving holiday rather than a couple of dives between other things, Gozo's where you want to be based.

It holds up outside the water too. Quieter beaches, limestone cliffs worth hiking just for the view, a lot more history than the tourist strip on Malta, and none of the club scene that comes with it. We hear the same story constantly: someone books a diving holiday on Malta, spends weeks looking at photos of the Blue Hole or the Karwela online, and only realizes once they've landed that the sites they were excited about were never on Malta at all.