The Maltese Islands are one of the top diving destinations

The Maltese Islands are one of the top diving destinations in the Mediterranean , equally popular with German , Italian, Dutch and English divers. The annual number of visiting divers currently amounts to over 55,000, most of whom undertake

nine or ten dives each, giving a staggering total of around 500,000 dives around the islands. Each year. The offer of unlimited diving, clear deep water and an unrivalled abundance of marine life keeps divers coming back year after year.

Malta was the top overseas destination for British divers before the Red Sea opened to mass tourism and more recently the islands have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

Malta Gozo and Comino once formed an ancient land link with the island of Sicily some 93Km to the north . All three islands are rich in diving opportunities. Much of the best diving is done on Gozo with day trip cars and dive centre vehicles making the ferry crossing from Malta several times daily.

Comino also has some interesting dive sites. A surprise for many visitors is the exceptionally scenic quality of the diving around the archipelago. In addition to reef structures offshore , there is exiting and challenging cave diving in spectacular caverns, chimneys and gullies for which these islands are famous for.

Much of the diving can be done from the shore and , once you have found your way around it is possible to make any number of unescorted dives virtually anywhere.

If you are diving with one of the local dive shops , dive masters will plan your dive and dive time.

Unless you are part of a class learning to dive , a typical days diving consists of a morning deep dive to approximately 39metres about 120 feet. The second dive of the day will usually be in the afternoon and may be another deep dive somewhere else around the coastline. Night diving is a further possibility and there are a number of suitable shore diving locations fairly close to the hotel centres or village farmhouses situated close to the shoreline such as Dwejra Blue Hole , Marfa Point and Mgarr Ix-Xini.

There are literally hundreds of recorded dive sites around the the Maltese Islands coastline as well as many offshore reefs and shoals. Sites may be known iether by local Maltese names or names given by the dive centres who favor them.