Gozo Diving

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Malta and Gozo Facts

Area: 384 sq. km

Population: 410,567

Language: Maltese, English

Time: GMT +1 hour

Electricity: 230v, 50Hz, British style 3 pin plug

Short Break Available Here

Fancy a few days diving? We thought so! Find out more >

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There are around 50 dive sites accessible from the shore and boat, across Gozo and Comino. The water clarity and stable conditions make the island ideal for learners and inexperienced divers, whilst the arches, tunnels and caves will delight the most experienced diver looking for an alternative to coral reefs, on more challenging dives. Most of Gozo’s dive sites are between a 5 and 20 minutes drive or boat ride away. Boats are usually used to access the sites below cliff drop offs, the local wrecks, and sites on Comino.

Explore Gozo's top 12 diving sites

Explore Malta, Gozo and Comino's dive sites

The Blue Hole

A natural rock formation carved out over the centuries by wind and wave power. Offering a sheltered entry for a number of dives, this site includes a huge archway which starts at 8 metres and has a flat top, almost square in shape, and covered in golden cup coral. A large cave also worth exploring can be found at the bottom of the hole, where sea horses may sometimes be found.

Cathedral Cave

Best explored by boat, the shallows are home to damselfish and seahorses can occasionally be seen, well camouflaged among the spiky algae. The best part of this dive, however, is the cave itself. The entrance is only 5m below the surface and leads you through to a huge domed vault, where you can surface.

Zurziep Reef

This dive is best done in the afternoon by boat, with the light from the west. This area is rarely fished and shoals of bream are found here as well as large numbers of amberjacks, parrotfish, wrasse, damselfish and sand smelt. There are plenty of shallow caves which host cardinalfish and various species of anemone.

Xlendi Bay Tunnel

Located very close to St. Andrew’s Divers, the cave is popular at night as it is a nice easy dive in shallow water - it is also popular with less experienced divers, and is for many their first adventure in a cave. The cave walls are brilliantly coloured with golden zoanthids, red starfish and sponges, and green and purple algae, and plenty of bristle worms. Pink flabellina and Hervia are also common. During the winter months a small school of juvenile barracuda may seek shelter at the entrance of the cave.

Local regulations

Medical - Note that Maltese regulations require an up-to-date medical, should you mark any conditions on the dive medical self-assessment questionnaire.

Unguided dives - Those wishing to dive independently of a dive centre guide must be a minimum of PADI Advanced Open Water or CMAS 2* or equivalent. The dive centre’s discretion remains.

Visiting dive leaders / instructors - A local permit is no longer required to take your own divers or students, but the dive centre may be required to check your credentials and provide you with a recognised photo ID.

GOZO DIVE ST ANDREWS

Sitting adjacent to the sea front of the small fishing village of Xlendi, Gozo Dive St Andrews dive centre has been in operation since 1989 covering both recreational and technical diving. They offer a range of shore and boat dives, and have built a reputation as a friendly and professional team. The experienced team are an excellent choice for guiding your Gozo dive holiday.

Gozo Dive St Andrews own a purpose-built dive boat, taking up to 20 divers, and can be moored at Xlendi or Mgarr, which is used for single dives or full day trips. The wide dive platform and spine ladder have for easy entry and exit.

The dive centre has DIN fitting valves with adaptors are available if required, there's a comprehensive range of equipment available to rent. The centre offers a wide range of tank sizes from 5 to 15 litre steel tanks, as well as Sidemount and O²/DIL cylinders to accommodate all variety of configurations. Nitrox and Trimix are available at supplement cost.

Dive Pack Prices

Options available include 4 to 10+ dive packages with guide, plus an unguided option. Night and boat diving is available at supplement cost, subject to minimum numbers.

Please discuss your requirements with the Regaldive team, who will prepare a quotation suited to your needs.

Dive Courses

Gozo Dive St Andrews can facilitate a range of courses with different agencies including PADI, RAID, SSI and TDI for recreational and technical diving. Please enquire for details.

Getting Around

On arrival in Malta, you will be met and transferred to the port. The ferries to Gozo are regular, and the crossing from Cirkewwa to Gozo takes about 25 minutes.

Gozo is a very small island and easy to get around. There are several public transport options as well as taxis and Ubers. Alternatively, hire a small car locally to access other areas of the island easily. Contact us for more information on car hire.

Climate & Water temperature

Malta and Gozo have a classic Mediterranean climate. The summers are hot and dry, providing excellent diving conditions as water reaches the mid 20s. Spring and autumn are more comfortable on land, which is also reflected in the cooler water tempters, high winds can disrupt visibility. During the winter, air temperatures will drop to the low teens, and diving conditions can be limited.

Water visibility:

Malta and Gozo are renowned for its clear underwater visibility. During late Spring, Summer and Autumn, visibility can easily reach 30+ metres.

Time

GMT +1 hour

Currency

€ - Euros. Banks are normally open until early afternoon from Monday to Friday, and until midday on Saturday. Summer and winter opening hours may differ. Credit cards widely accepted. ATM's are widely available.

Flight Information

Direct flights are available from multiple main and regional airports in the UK including London, Manchester, and Glasgow, operated by charter and scheduled airlines.

Flight duration: UK to Malta: 3 - 3½ hours

Departure tax: N/A

Passports & Visas

Passengers travelling to Malta should have minimum six months valid on their passport from the date of return to the UK. Visas are not required for UK citizens.

Vaccinations

There are no compulsory vaccinations for travel to Malta, but we recommend protection against typhoid, tetanus, hepatitis A and polio for anyone. Vaccination requirements are subject to change and should be confirmed before departure with your GP or local travel clinic.

Further information regarding vaccinations for travel can be found at www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk and from your local healthcare provider.

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Hotel San Andrea

Great help and info from Regaldive

"Hotel accommodation was very nice and St Andrews Cove dive centre very well kitted out with excellent guides and staff."

Barbara

No votes yet

Hotel San Andrea

Gozo Holiday

"Great hotel, ideally located for the dive school. Good support and instruction from the dive school, we always felt safe and well looked after. There was the opportunity to fit in more dives after completing our PADI open water certification."

Helen G

Guest rating: 8/10 (1 vote)

St. Patrick's Hotel

A Beautiful Place To Stay

"The holiday was fantastic, loved everything about it. Gozo is beautiful, a bit quieter than Malta which suited us.

Xlendi is a beautiful place to stay. It's reasonably quiet but with lots of restaurants, all with beautiful views. St Patrick's hotel is lovely. Getting around Gozo is not so easy, especially with the limited time available after diving - hiring a car would have been beneficial.

The dive centre was great, really well-organised and the kit seemed good quality. The staff were knowledgeable and friendly.

There were lots and lots of places to dive (and our dive guide has literally written the book on them, copies available at the dive centre!). Our favourite memory is probably diving at Djewra, through arches and underwater tunnels and down a chimney.

We were happy with the sights we saw, but obviously we have only dived in Malta and Gozo so have nothing else to compare it to. The water was beautifully clear.

We would definitely book with Regaldive again."

Lee and Kylie D - London

No votes yet

Hotel San Andrea

The Best Diving Holiday We Have Had in Years!!!

"Firstly, Thank you, Thank you for organising what was the best diving holiday we have had in years!!!. There was not one bit of it that we did not enjoy.

Joe and Diana at St Andrews Divers in Xlendi, Gozo were lovely. The diving, OMG, talk about pushing the comfort zone, I have not done enough of that sort of diving, 'Dramatic' is the word we used a lot to describe it. My other half Nick was in his element and is a Rescue Diver, I was initially quite apprehensive but our dive leader, Arianne, was fantastic.

We were just blown away by the dive sites, incredible, not a huge amount of life like Egypt, but the visability (25m+) and stunning underwater world, WOW. I am so chuffed with myself that I dived comfortably around 20-25m with a 90m drop underneath me and didn't panic, just absorbed what I was looking at. Joe and Diana both said there is no reason why I should not do my Advanced Open Water, and Arianne couldn't understand why I have left it so long. (Comfort zone thing again!!). One of the instructors said when we come back next year, if I haven't done it, he will make me do it!!

The taxi drivers are so friendly, they were prompt and very helpful, some of them were ex-divers and were pleased we had discovered Gozo.

The Hotel was fantastic, very friendly. We definitely had the best room in the Hotel (Rm 403, please can we have it next year, pleeease) I think the side rooms are better. The sea view, all very nice too, but the little promenade underneath can still be busy well into the early hours of the morning. The temp every day was late 30's some days reaching past 40 degrees. (Standing in full dive gear, I wear full length too, was interesting to say the least). I see on the TV today that the area is now enduring record breaking temperatures.

Worth mentioning to your customers that some of the shore dives involve a walk to the entrance point, often over Mountain Goat territory, no problem for us, but in full kit in 40 degrees might be a problem for some. We relished it and it meant we could overload on the fantastic pasta dishes in the restaurants at night!!.

Yes we will definitely be diving with you again next year, in fact we have a few other places we would like to go too. We have rediscovered the Med, have not been for 15 years.

Thanks again for getting us doing some real diving, looking forward to speaking to you soon."

Helen Gilchrest - UK

Guest rating: 10/10 (1 vote)

St. Patrick's Hotel

Great Trip & Dive Centre Instructors Were Superb

"A great trip, thank you. It was pretty perfect! Transfers were easy, although I didn't realise I was supposed to pick up the ferry ticket from the dive centre, so just paid when we got there. The hotel view was spectacular and lovely staff, food etc. Whilst I was away, I needed to see a doctor, the hotel were brilliant and organised taxis for me.

The dive centre was really well organised and right round the corner. We booked in times for the dives and had a really small group with two instructors. Our Dive Centre instructors were superb, we felt really safe and confident with them. A favourite memory from the holiday was the last dive and watching my kids swim ahead of me clearly loving it. We went through a short cave and saw the blue water as we emerged... just beautiful!
"

Vicky Thorn - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Hotel San Andrea

Excellent Food, Service and Dive Guide!

"We were pleasantly surprised with Gozo – excellent food, service etc. and dive guides, including an Egyptian guide Musti Mohamed. I re-familiarised myself with swim-throughs and caves and had one or two ‘interesting’ exits up the ladders set into the cliffs."

Jenny Wood - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Hotel San Andrea

Outstanding holiday in Gozo

"We had a great experience in Gozo. The transfer, the hotel and the dive team were outstanding.

Once we landed, the people met us on time and were friendly and helpful. The hotel was also very friendly and perfectly situated. The dive shop being over the road was perfect, and they were also very organised and accommodating; we could choose the dive guide and the dive sites to suit our requirements.

You also gave us a perfect week of weather - ha ha! We are now thinking of returning at the end of the season for another break. Thanks for all your help in making this trip a success."

Wendy W - UK

Guest rating: 10/10 (1 vote)

St. Patrick's Hotel

Gozo holiday

"I have been extolling your virtues to the various people we have met on holiday and friends since.

Thank you for arranging the holiday. The flight details etc were all as you had set out, the taxi arrangements were spot on time, comfortable, and the drivers polite and informative. The St. Patrick's Hotel was good, comfortable, clean and the food was very good. St Andrews Diving was friendly, very capable and very helpful. The three dive sites were very interesting, albeit sites were restricted to the south due to the weather, a northerly causing swell to north, west and east coasts. St Andrews also took Jill out to the dive sites, there being space to do so, which worked very well as she was a non diver. All in all, excellent! Thank you for arranging it for us."

Geoff D - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Self-Catering Apartments

Gozo - would definitely recommend!

"We had a fantastic time in Gozo.

Self catering apartment was great, amazing location just above the dive school complete with a terrace and sea view! Transfers were very smooth, with everything running like clockwork. The staff at St Andrew's were excellent, very friendly and down to earth.

I was quite nervous about diving for the first time but our instructor, Danjel was calm, patient and a lot of fun and so we had a great 4 days completing our PADI Open Water course. Xlendi has some great diving for beginners with plenty of marine life and nice reefs to explore. Local swimming is also a must, along with a visit to many of the local restaurants.

We would definitely recommend a trip to Gozo and we would love to go back again."

Kate Guest - Edinburgh

Guest rating: 10/10 (1 vote)

Self-Catering Apartments

Gozo - Worth Visiting - TWICE!!

"The transfers both to and from the airport went smoothly; the apartment was clean and part-stocked with coffee!

The Dive-Centre was very friendly and informal and proved flexible in allowing a degree of choice in what dives you could choose to go on :-)

The waters were clearer and with more life than southern Crete or the waters off San Diego or Cabo San Luca in the Sea of Cortez;

All in all a destination worth visiting - TWICE!!"

alan stevenson - southend-on-sea, UK