Malta 6th to 20th September 2003

I returned to Malta this year after the previous years UKRS trip, albeit this year was a family holiday where I had also planned to do some diving, as opposed to a diving holiday. I had planned to go to Subway Scuba , which we had used on the previous trip, however while out walking on the Sunday I found that they were closed and that I would not be able to book diving for the following day. Fortunately there was a booking agency in the town which took bookings for Strand Diving, so this meant that I could dive the next day.

I was picked up outside the hotel the next morning by Ed, one of the team at Strand. A good point to note here is that Strand collect you from your hotel, take you to the dive site, then return you to the hotel for no extra charge. This did not seem to apply to other dive centres. Another bonus is that Strand do both nitrox and trimix.

Having dived in Malta the previous year there were several sites that I wanted to return to, and with a few exception we did manage this.

In all I was able to do 14 dives in the 2 weeks that I was there, and I have given a brief account of the dives and the people that I met.

Dive 1 8th September, The Rozi Max Depth 34.8 metres, Run time 48 minutes

The Rozi is a 30 metre tugboat that once worked in Grand Harbour she was later sold and was scuttled in 1992 as an attraction for the tourist submarine that operated at that time. She sits on a sandy bottom at a depth of 35 metres.

My buddy for this dive was Petra Schonfald. We had Ed as our guide and we dropped into the hold then swam through coming up into the wheelhouse. Quite a sharp thermocline as we descended here. Although the Rozi is not a big wreck she nevertheless looks impressive when you swim over the bows and look back towards the wheelhouse.

Dive 2 8th September, Cirekawwa Reef, Max Depth16.8 metres, Run Time 65 minutes

Buddy was again Petra for this reef dive. We followed the reef around to the left and found one nice swim through on our way to the arch. As with most dive sites on Malta there seem to be lots of small fish but nothing sunstantial.

Dive 3 10th September, Inland Sea, Max Depth 29 metres, Run Time 40 minutes

We got the ferry at Cirekawwa for this trip to Gozo. I was buddied by Zoiq Riabova from Bellarus. You enter the inland sea then go into the tunnel which leads out into the open sea. Lots of nice rock formations, and marine life inside here. My buddy seemed to be having trouble with a fin and kept reaching back to tighten it, although it did not seem to be loose. Then she stopped swimming and again began fiddling with her fin. It was at this point that I realised that I was not close enough and she started dropping. We were at 18 metres and I managed to catch up with her at 29 metres and stop the decent. She decided at that point that she was not happy with here weight belt and tried to undo it. By now Ed had arrived and with him on one side and me on the other dumping her air we got her back to a shelf at 10 metres where we could attend to her belt. It was only after doing this that I noticed that she was down to 80 bar, and we were supposed to have turned on 100 bar. So we made the return as shallow as possible even though we had to descend to go into the tunnel to get back into the Inland Sea. At this point Zoiq was using Ed's air. But all ended well thankfully.

Dive 4 10th September, Inland Sea, Max Depth 23.2 metres, Run Time 44 minutes

We had planned to dive the Azure Window for our second dive, however the conditions were very rough and so we dived the Inland Sea again. We switched buddies this time and I was with Pete Joscelyne from Ireland, while Ed took Zoiq. The only difference this dive is that when into the open sea we turned right instead of left. On the return leg into the tunnel there was a lot of surge tossing us in all directions making the final stop quite difficult.

Dive 5 12th September, Um el Faroud, Max Depth 29.6 metres, Run Time 47 minutes

This oil tanker was scuttled on 2^nd September 1998, 3 years after an explosion in Valetta harbour in which 9 dockyard workers were killed. She now sits upright on the bed at 35 metres (25 metres to the deck) and is 110 metres long and 16 metres wide.

I dived with Simon and Helen Price from Hull on this dive. This is my favourite wreck on the island and is a "must do" for anyone who goes to Malta. The wreck is a reasonable distance off shore and is best done on a 15 litre cylinder, we also used 33% nitrox on this dive. You enter the water in the inlet which is buzzing with small boats carrying tourists, so care is needed. Then around the point, descend, take a compass bearing and off you go. It is very impressive to see this big ship as you approach, viz is generally good as you drop onto it. We dropped into the engine room, then led by Ed we went through various corridors, at one point there was an air lock where we could take out our regs. The air was fresh so I guess the air gets replenished somehow. While in the wheel house we looked out and saw a huge shoal of amberjacks. At the end of the dive we came up the stack and then a mid water swim at approx 14 metres back to the reef.

Dive 6 12th September, Wied iz Zurrieq Reef, Max Depth 28.4 metres, Run Time 53 minutes

Diving with Simon and Helen again we dropped into the inlet and then turned left. Again not a lot of fish to see but nice reef formations with lots of marine life attached.

Dive 7 14th September, Um el Faroud, Max Depth 29 metres, Run Time 61 minutes

With Simon and Helen again we more or less repeated the previous dive on the wreck, but this time we travelled the full length of the wreck and out over the bows, very impressive!! On the return leg we spend some time on the reef where there were lots of scorpion fish.

Dive 8 14th September, Wied iz Zurrieq Reef, Max Depth 22 metres, Run Time 65 minutes

Just the 3 of us diving this time as Ed did not want to go in. A nice relaxing dive with lots of holes to poke in. Lots of scorpion fish but even looking out into the blue there was noting of any size to see.

That evening we had a huge storm with thunder and lightening which lasted virtually all night. The next morning there was lots of damage with walls collapsed and many roads impassible. This was to be a poor week for the weather and apparently they had 150mm of rain in 3 days.

Dive 9 16th September, The Rozi, Max Depth 32.6 metres, Run Time 53 minutes

Similar dive to the first one on the Rozi, with a couple of penetrations. I was again diving with Simon and Helen, and also Kurt Stroobandt from Belgium. Kurt spotted a conger in one of the vent tubes on the wreck.

Dive 10 16th September, Cirrekawwa Reef, Max Depth 26.5 metres, Run Time 69 minutes

Diving with Simon and Helen we went down past the statue of the Madonna and over to the girders, where there were a couple of short swim throughs. Then back along the reef to our exit point.

Dive 11 17th September, Comino, Max Depth 30.5 metres, Run Time 58 minutes

This day was to be our only boat dives, off the island of Comino. I was diving with Donald Flanagan from Ireland. We followed Ed along the reef and then dropped into a "chimney" which took us down from 6 metres to 30 metres. Plenty to look at on the reef with a couple of Morays in the holes.

Dive 12 17th September, Comino, Max Depth 16.5 metres, Run Time 61 minutes.

Diving with Donald again, on this reef dive which was slightly further around than the first. We went into a cavern then out the other side for a leisurely swim around. Nothing of particular note until Kurt spotted an octopus inside the cavern on the return.

Our problems started when we were returning to Cirekawwa, another storm had arrived and it was so bad that neither we, or the Gozo ferry could get into our berths, and had to ride out the storm in the open. When we did finally get in our road journey took a lot longer than anticipated due to fallen trees and flooded roads.

Dive 13 19th September, Um el Faroud, Max Depth 30.8 metres, Run Time 48 minutes

I was diving with Kurt for the 3rd visit to this wreck on this holiday. The weather was quite bad and the water in the inlet was not inviting. We were unable to any sort of surface swim as before because of the sea conditions. However once on the wreck there was no problem. We did the usual penetration route and then just as we were ascending the stack we saw lots of Barracuda, the first time we had seen any this holiday. When we got back to the inlet the exit was particularly difficult and it was some time before we could all get out safely. needless to say we decided on a seconf site for our second dive of the day.

Dive 14 19th September, HMS Maori, Max Depth 14.6 metres, Run Time 51 minutes

The Maori was a 1,870 tonnes Tribal Class Destroyer. She was 115 metres long and 11 metres wide. She was sunk by enemy fire on 12^th February 1942, without loss of life. This happened in the Grand Harbour at Valetta. At first she was a shipping hazard, however through various salvage operations she is now very broken with only the fore part of the wreck at this location, the rest was sunk in deeper water.

I was diving with Kurt again and following Ed we did some penetrations, and found a gun mount, plus a couple of shlees embedded in the sand. The vis disappeared quite quickly as there were lots of other divers on the wreck so after a look around we came back onto the reef where we saw a Moray and lots of Cow Bream.