I've just come back from my first trip that was just for the purpose of diving - so thought I'd post a little about it. Originally I was going to go to Malta by myself and take some speciality courses, but at the last minute an instructor friend of mine came along, so we just hired tanks & weights and explored ourselves. I'm relatively a baby diver, we did 8 dives on this trip and I now have 54 total. This was my first experience shore diving proper, the majority of my dives being boat dives in Honduras.
We flew out from the UK on Air Malta (British Airways and Easyjet do this route as well, but Air Malta were actually cheaper). We hired a car from the airport and spent the first 4 days camping up on the Marfa peninsula, then 2 days over in Gozo where we stayed at a hotel in Victoria. On Malta we hired tanks from Maltaqua in St Pauls Bay, they were lovely, really helpful with sites/weather etc and also helped me set my new reg up which was great, I'd definitely recommend them. On Gozo we got stuff from Moby in Xlendi, again would definitely recommend these guys, great set up, really welcoming to the independent diver.
Dives on Malta: weather meant that Cirkewwa Bay was off limits most of the time, and when we did get there (dived the Rozi) it was packed, divers everywhere, and we're used to having things more to ourselves. Also quite taxing entry/exit in the weather conditions still, for those not used to the area. The dive was awesome though, the Rozi was a bit crowded so moved on quickly and headed up to Cirkewwa Arch. The best dive on Malta I think was the Um-al-Faroud, which was the biggest wreck I've seen so far, spectacular having been cleft in half, visibility was awesome, and made even more special by having it to ourselves (apart from the barracuda and eel!). We also had a lovely dives right by the campsite at L'Ahrax point, at Ghar Lapsi, and the HMS Maori in Valletta which is a great late afternoon dive as you can then wander up into the city, sit in a cafe on a square and soak up the atmosphere of the walled city as well.
Over on Gozo, we dived around the Blue Hole and Azure Window a few times, which is just spectacular underwater topography and well worth several dives.
I'm definitely going to be heading back to Malta at some point, theres so much there to hold interest as my diving progresses, opportunity for cave and wreck diving etc.
Apart from the diving, the cities of Victoria, Valletta and Mdina were all lovely places to wander round in the evenings and eat in outdoor cafes, also recommend checking out Marsalokk (sp?) and eating some fresh fish in the harbour. We also visited some of the prehistoric temples - the world's oldest freestanding structures (>5000 years old). Pretty spectacular.
We flew out from the UK on Air Malta (British Airways and Easyjet do this route as well, but Air Malta were actually cheaper). We hired a car from the airport and spent the first 4 days camping up on the Marfa peninsula, then 2 days over in Gozo where we stayed at a hotel in Victoria. On Malta we hired tanks from Maltaqua in St Pauls Bay, they were lovely, really helpful with sites/weather etc and also helped me set my new reg up which was great, I'd definitely recommend them. On Gozo we got stuff from Moby in Xlendi, again would definitely recommend these guys, great set up, really welcoming to the independent diver.
Dives on Malta: weather meant that Cirkewwa Bay was off limits most of the time, and when we did get there (dived the Rozi) it was packed, divers everywhere, and we're used to having things more to ourselves. Also quite taxing entry/exit in the weather conditions still, for those not used to the area. The dive was awesome though, the Rozi was a bit crowded so moved on quickly and headed up to Cirkewwa Arch. The best dive on Malta I think was the Um-al-Faroud, which was the biggest wreck I've seen so far, spectacular having been cleft in half, visibility was awesome, and made even more special by having it to ourselves (apart from the barracuda and eel!). We also had a lovely dives right by the campsite at L'Ahrax point, at Ghar Lapsi, and the HMS Maori in Valletta which is a great late afternoon dive as you can then wander up into the city, sit in a cafe on a square and soak up the atmosphere of the walled city as well.
Over on Gozo, we dived around the Blue Hole and Azure Window a few times, which is just spectacular underwater topography and well worth several dives.
I'm definitely going to be heading back to Malta at some point, theres so much there to hold interest as my diving progresses, opportunity for cave and wreck diving etc.
Apart from the diving, the cities of Victoria, Valletta and Mdina were all lovely places to wander round in the evenings and eat in outdoor cafes, also recommend checking out Marsalokk (sp?) and eating some fresh fish in the harbour. We also visited some of the prehistoric temples - the world's oldest freestanding structures (>5000 years old). Pretty spectacular.
