Diving in Malta

Malta has become one of the most popular diving destinations in Europe for reasons that are mostly practical: the water is clear, warm from late spring into autumn, has almost no tide, and a great many of the best sites can be entered by walking in off the rocks rather than chartering a boat. There is not much coral, this being the Mediterranean, so the diving is about structure. A series of naval and merchant vessels have been deliberately sunk as artificial reefs, among them the tanker Um El Faroud and the patrol boat P29, sitting upright in recreational depths, alongside genuine wartime wrecks lying deeper for technical divers. Elsewhere the limestone gives caves, chimneys, arches and drop-offs, most famously the Blue Hole at Dwejra on Gozo, which drops through a rock arch into open water.

What you actually see

• The scuttled wrecks - Um El Faroud, P29 and others sunk as artificial reefs.
• The Blue Hole at Dwejra - the rock pool dropping through an arch into open sea.
• Caves and chimneys - the limestone structures around Gozo and Comino.
• Shore diving - the many sites entered by walking in off the rocks.

When to go

May to November has the warmest water, with visibility often best in autumn; winter diving continues with a thicker suit and fewer people but rougher seas. Wind determines which side of the islands is diveable on any given day, and centres move accordingly.

Honest expectations

Wind, not season, dictates the diving, and plans change daily. Several of the best sites are deep and suit experienced or technical divers rather than beginners. Shore entries mean carrying kit over rocks, which is harder than it sounds. The Azure Window at Dwejra, which many older guides feature, collapsed into the sea in 2017, though the site below it still dives well.

Nearby

Gozo and Comino hold many of the best sites; Sliema and St Julian's have the main dive centres.