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Shore Day Trip Live Aboard
Country: Malta Area: Malta
Water Temp: 16 - 26°C (61 - 79°F)
Visibility: 5 - 30m (16 - 98 ft)
Depth Range: 5 - 30m (16 - 98 ft)
Book A Diving Trip OnlineA popular Mediterranean getaway for divers and holiday makers, Malta is a fascinating island with a lot of history and culture to explore above and below the surface.
Book A Dive Center OnlineMalta is based in the South Mediterranean sea between Sicily and Tunisia. The country has many Arabic and North African influences and considering its small size its jam packed with history, Architecture and Beaches giving tourists a wide variety of reasons to visit.
Malta has a variety of dive sites covering all depths and levels including many very interesting wrecks with a lot of history to them. These sit in less than 18m of water to 30m and then 40m plus and range from little tugboats to huge tankers and even wrecks of planes. A lot of the wrecks are deeper than you can go on recreational gear and gas mixes and are only available to technical divers and there is a big tech scene on Malta taking advantage of this.
Scorpionfish, Credit
The Maltese climate is generally very sunny and with one of the highest amount of sunshine hours in Europe means that it is a perfect place for sun lovers to visit. The water temperature varies quite considerably throughout the year from 16C in January to 26C in August, so it’s best to check out the temperature of the month you are going as this could greatly affect the exposure protection that you choose to wear. Due to the generally agreeable climate the dive season does run year round but the best time of year is to dive in the summer and autumn as the winter and early spring can have strong winds and rain which can limit the dive sites available.
Flabellina ischitana, Credit
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A lot of recreational dives around Malta are made from the shore and you can usually get 3 dives a day with this method.
A great dive area from the shore is Cirkewwa, which has reefs and boulders which octopus hide amongst, also two wrecks The Rozi and The P29. The Rozi is a cute little tugboat sitting in 30m of water surrounded by huge shoals of fish compared to the relatively new P29 which is a 50m patrol boat with some swimthroughs and penetration possible.
Joining the fishes,Credit
The combination of the varied underwater environment ranging from caves, wrecks turned artificial reefs, rocks and sandy sea bottoms gives Malta a large variety of marine life to see. You can frequently see Octopus hiding under rocks, squid, cuttlefish, stingrays and much more. A lot of the wrecks now attract marine life and you can see some of the bigger schools of fish in the area hanging around them. There is also the chance to see seahorses, although you need to have excellent eyesight to find them as they are masters of disguise which blend expertly into their surroundings.
There isn’t much large pelagic life around Malta although there is a tuna farm on the coast of the island and a trip can be taken for a swim in the vortex of circling fish, this can be quite disorientating which can lead to you ending up going deeper than expected so it’s not a dive for beginners.
Malta fihes,Credit
The deeper dives usually of wrecks are further offshore so you have to go by day boat to reach them. Most schools do not have their own boats and rent them as and when they have customers and a suitable day and winds to allow you to visit the offshore sites.
Grouper, Credit
Most questions are answered by our
diving community within 24 hours
Malta is easily reached and has an international airport which accepts flights from all over Europe.
Riviera Bay, Malta, Credit
Most questions are answered by our
diving community within 24 hours
To sum up Malta gives a wonderful variety of diving experiences mixed with a historic element above in the ancient architecture and below in the wrecks. This is a country to visit for more than just diving. The easy shore access and flexibility means that you can mix a morning of diving with an afternoon to explore the historic area and fortress in Valetta or have lunch at one of the small fishing villages in the south.
City Gate; Mdina, Malta, Credit
1000+ dives
You enter the water at Wied Iz-Zurrieq (Blue Grotto). We made our way out to the wreck and it emerged from the darkness as our torches illuminated the funnel, from here we headed down inside to the top of the engine room and made our way to the port side of the ship and examined the rooms, along with the slipper lobsters and small sea bream, we emerged at the front of the superstructure and headed to the starboard side of the vessel, a Moray was poking its head out of on of the Pipes on the corridor once at the stern we dropped to the 34 metre level to the Propellor and from here made our way back in towards shore, taking our time along the wall examining the cracks and crevasses for more sea life.
Our safety stop was with free swimming Moray, 3 octopus and over thirty Spanish dancers :)
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Katie Evett
Ah! cool quite large then - did you see them dance?
Julian Goffin
No it looked like it was Mating season to tell you the truth, very busy time under the water i can tell you :)
Katie Evett
lol! sounds charming!