Surface photos: http://www.n2scuba.com/web_album/2008-malta/
Underwater photos: http://www.n2scuba.com/web_album/2008-malta2/

In early August this summer I was fortunate to join a group of divers on a trip to Malta, a small island nation in the Mediterranean situated 93km south of Sicily. Malta is compromised of seven islands with two of them being inhabited - Malta and Gozo. The two main cities are Valletta and Victoria. Due to its strategic proximity to Mediterranean shipping lanes, Malta has been claimed by a number of superpowers throughout history. The Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, French, and British Empires all left their distinct marks. Throughout the middle ages, Malta was the homeland of the Knights Hospitaller. Most recently prior to gaining independence, the islands were part of the British Empire and served as an important naval and air force base throughout the World Wars. The rich cultural heritage of the nation is evident in a number of castles, fortifications, cathedrals, citadels, catacombs, and roman aqueducts. The Maltese language, cuisine, and tradition is a mixture of Arabic, Italian, and English influences.

The Maltese islands are composed mostly of limestone. The shoreline is mostly high cliffs which plunge into the Mediterranean. The soft rocks have given way to the sea, forming an endless variety of intricate arches, caves, and blue holes. The stunning underwater scenery is complimented by a number of natural and artificial wrecks, making Malta a true divers' playground. A number of dive centres cater to all diver needs - from recreational to technical. Since most of the dives are done from shore, the more adventurous divers holding Advanced Open Water certification can opt for exploring the dives on their own without a local guide. Two local dive guide books provide plenty of information for getting around the dive sites with aerial photography and 3D underwater maps.

The typical Malta dive starts with a steep drop off to 20-35 meters and then levels off (at places around the north shore the drop-off can be much much deeper). The visibility was in the 20 meter range. The water temperature was 27 C at the surface and 21 C at depth. My favorite dives were MV Karwela/Cominoland, The Inland Sea, The Beaufort Fighter, and Billinghurst Cave.

Karwela and Cominoland are two large ferries put at rest at the south tip of Gozo. The ferries are safe to penetrate and enable one to experience the inside of the ferry decks like never before. We spent around 30 minutes exploring the two ships inside and out at an average depth of 35 m. The remaining 30 minutes of the dive were spent doing a leisurely conservative decompression while exploring the nooks and crannies of the near shore wall. Got to love these awesome 300bar (that's 4500 psi for you, non-metric folks) compact cylinders that we were armed with. Sadly, one cannot get these babies in the US due to conservative DOT regulations from the cold war which prohibit the transportation of compressed gas at more than 3500 psi on the public roads.

The Inland Sea is a salt water lake connected to the open sea through a 80 m long tunnel. We entered the Inland Sea and then swam to the outside. The tunnel opens up on the other end into an indigo blue abyss. The wall there is perfectly vertical to a depth of perhaps 60-70 meters. We swam along the wall for about 400 meters, then beneath the Azure Window (a giant arc protruding above the sea) and out from the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is a vertical cavern, which drops to a depth of 20 meters and connects to the open sea through a large hole.

The Beaufort Fighter and the Blenheim Bomber are two British airplanes which crashed into the sea during WW2 on approach to Malta's air base. Both of them rest peacefully at depth of 35 meters and are largely intact. The bent propellers and the broken tail pieces provide vivid clues of the enormous stress on the machines during the water impact.

The Billinghurst Cave is an large cavern on the north wall of Gozo. In order to dive the cave, one needs to giant stride from the cliff above from a couple meters height. The cavern entrance is a few meters below the surface. The cave itself is quite large, topping 10-15 meters in diameter in places. It starts shallow, then drops to 25-30 meters in the middle and then goes back up to sea level. The surprise there is that you surface not in the outside, but in a large underground air dome some 80 meters from the cavern exit. Since this pocket is sealed from the outside, one should not breath the stale air. However it does make for some funny conversations in-between taking a breath from the regulator. While in general it's hard to get lost in this enormous cavern, one still should exercise caution since exiting the dome requires diving back through the cavern tunnel to a depth of at least 20 meters - it's not a good time to realize that you suddenly have trouble equalizing your ears. ;)

- Nick

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Scallop dives
Sunday, 03 August 2008
Author: Peter Kerrebrock

Divers:

"I got scallops!  Damn, they were good!  Even though I've never been to
 the Haight and missed out on a new thumb tack on my chart, I'm glad we
 went to the pinnacle instead.  It was a nice dive in its own right, and
 it provided the tasty morsels."