Malta 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 >

Overview
Dive Centre
Resort Info
Travel Info
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Malta’s calm warm seas make for excellent visibility and superb conditions for tackling everything from diving courses to underwater photography to wreck and deep diving.

Explore Malta, Gozo and Comino's dive sites

Shore diving is possible at many areas around the coast. At Marfa Point in the North West of the island, it is possible to reach 30 metres in a shore dive, taking in a detour to see a statue of the Madonna placed in a cave by fishermen. Cirkewwa Reef, one of the Marine Protected Areas, provides a great dive site for all levels of divers. An impressive drop off allows depths from 5m to 35m and there are plentiful overhangs, swim throughs and an arch to explore. This area is also home to two wrecks – the Rozi and the P29 – which rest around 30-40m and offer much to entertain the more experienced diver or those undertaking additional training.

On the Southern coast, divers will enjoy the easy access to Ghar Lapsi, a shallow system of underwater caves well-lit by sunlight and with numerous entry and exit points to explore. Just a little further along the coast at Wied Iz-Zurrieq, the well-known wreck of the Libyan freighter the Um El Faroud lies on a sandy bottom with its funnel at 17m.

Over on the North East side of Malta, there are plenty more wreck diving opportunities. HMS Maori, sunk in 1942 is a Tribal Class British Destroyer and with its forward section lying between 11-15m, there is plenty of room for less experienced divers to discover a piece of history. Another historical wreck is the Bristol Blenheim Bomber, located a short boat ride off Zonqor Point. Only one of five known wrecks of its kind, the engine and wings are intact at 42m and make an unusual and memorable dive for experienced and technical divers.

Local regulations

Medical - Please 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 BSAC Sports Diver or equivalent. The dive centre’s discretion remains.

Maltaqua

Maltaqua is a PADI Dive Centre and a BSAC School of Excellence with over 40 years’ experience on the islands of Malta. A well respected family run business, you can be assured of the warmest of welcomes here, backed up by skilled and committed Instructors and Dive Guides.

Maltaqua offers a complete range of introductory dives, PADI and BSAC courses, and daily diving excursions around the three islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino. All excursions and courses are led by fully qualified Instructors and Maltaqua pride themselves on their ability to match Instructor to Student in terms of language, age and outlook as closely as possible. Maltaqua’s sister company, International Diver College, is a PADI 5 Star Career Development Centre.

Diving is shore based and offered daily from Monday to Saturday. No diving is offered on Sunday. Dives may be guided or non-guided (subject to diver ability and experience). Divers will need to provide a fit to dive medical certificate signed by a Doctor should they indicate any contraindications on the dive medical self-assessment questionnaire prior to diving.

There is a large, well-stocked shop at their dive centre in St Paul’s Bay and they are also able to assist with car hire and excursions for non-diving partners.

Divers staying at the Doubletree by Hilton Malta will be diving with Maltaqua Dive Centre, who offer a courtesy transfer to their Dive Centre in St. Paul's Bay, just a few minutes’ drive away.

Just a few steps from the dive centre are the Sands Apartments which are managed by Maltaqua. These air conditioned, studio apartments are purpose-built for divers, and have an area set aside to wash and hang your gear.

Just three minutes’ from Qawra point dive site, Villa Michael is also managed by Maltaqua. This lovely, newly refurbished Villa offers comfortable accommodation in the prime sought after seafront location of Qawra.

DIVE packs

Options available include 6, 8, 10 and 12 shore dive packages with guide, plus an unguided 7 days unlimited shore diving options. and 10 dive packages, plus an unlimited diving option. Please discuss your requirements with the Regaldive team, who will prepare a quotation suited to your needs.

Dive Courses

A range of diving courses is available for those looking to learn to dive. Please enquire for details.

Getting Around

An easy island to access on foot, by taxi or rent a car locally. The airport is a 30 minute transfer from St. Paul's Bay.

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

Flights are generally with Air Malta but Regaldive can also offer Easyjet, BA or charter flights.

Flight schedules - Air Malta offer London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester departures.

Flight duration: UK to Malta International Airport (Luga), 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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Sands Apartments

The Maltaqua team were excellent. Very knowledgeable & friendly

"The team at Maltaqua were excellent. Very knowledgeable, very friendly.
The Sands Apartment worked very well for us given its location right next to the dive shop and 5 minutes to the Bay Area."

Nick C

No votes yet

Sands Apartments

Dive Course was Excellent and Dive Sites Lovely

"I had a great time in Malta and really appreciate your work and expertise in organising this holiday. The trip was all I expected and much more. I hadn't realised how wonderful it would feel diving in beautiful clear water with wonderful fish all around.

The only difficulty I had was due to my arthritis. After two very busy days in the classroom and diving, I was too tired to dive on the third day. Getting easily fatigued is a symptom of my arthritis so I wasn't surprised when this happened. The staff at the dive centre were excellent in adjusting my schedule so I could get the rest I needed and then pick up the course the next day. This meant that my fellow student continued with the instructor and I got my own individual instructor for the rest of the course. She was very understanding and made the adjustments I needed due to my physical limitations.

Transfers and ground arrangements were excellent and everything went very smoothly.

Accommodation was OK, but my room had no external windows, just looked across to other rooms a couple of metres away. A bit weird!

Dive course was excellent and dive sites lovely. Only issue was no access to a pool so we did the confined water dives in the sea, and then moved slightly further out to do the open water dives. This was pretty tough on the first two days when I was struggling to get the hang of the equipment, my buoyancy, clearing my mask of salt water, equalising pressure while coping with the waves, the rocky bottom and lots of swimmers. However, by the third day, when I had mastered the basics, doing the confined water dives in the sea was fine.

The staff were brilliant, very experienced and excellent instructors.

Most memorable moment was on the final day when I had enough diving skill to be able to relax and enjoy the beautiful underwater environment with lots of fish swimming around me.

I am delighted with your service and would book through you again."

Karen Wesson - UK

No votes yet

Sands Apartments

The diving experience in Malta was just fantastic

"Both Tom and I had a great time in Malta and would certainly return to explore it further in the future.

The accommodation was very good, the apartment was clean had everything we needed for our stay. There was a complimentary welcome pack of the essentials when we arrived which was a nice touch (especially if you are arriving later during the day) and a fully equipped drying room downstairs for our diving gear.

The Maltaqua staff were very friendly, professional and helpful. I had the feeling of being with long term friends and family. After our first day of guided diving our guide suggested we incorporate our remaining dives with taking our PADI Advanced Open Water qualifications which we did for a reasonable extra charge.

Dive sites? We were spoiled for choice! Malta has a wide choice of wrecks, reefs and caves to explore in almost perfect visibility and most are accessible from the shore, so no long swims or boat rides are needed, although we did take a dive boat to dive Gozo and Comino.

The diving experience in Malta was just fantastic. I was really impressed with Maltaqua and would definitely use them again on any diving holiday to Malta and highly recommend them.

My favourite memory from the holiday was diving the wreck of P31 in the morning followed by Alex’s Cave in the afternoon: brilliant!

The area has a wide range of restaurants, cafes, shops, bars, etc to suit all tastes and budgets.

All the arrangements were as stated and everything went like clockwork during the holiday, I would certainly use Regaldive again. "

Andrew and Tom Oliver - North Lincolnshire

No votes yet

Sands Apartments

Well Organised with Sufficiently Challenging and Enjoyable Dives

"I’ve dived all over the world but keep going back to Malta and have always used Maltaqua, one of the main reasons being, as a single traveller, the staff seem to do that little bit extra to help you fit in. They take your experience and knowledge into account to enable you to get sufficiently challenging and enjoyable dives, and just as importantly listen if you have a problem of any sort.

The accommodation was clean, easily accessible, close to dive centre with sufficient facilities. The Dive Centre Staff and Crew were very efficient, friendly and helpful, from the shop and diving staff, to Monica the Cleaner.

The trips to the dive sites were, as expected, well organised and led, with as much variety as could effectively be expected.

I was happy with the service received from both Maltaqua and Regaldive and will use both again."

Richard Paddock - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Doubletree by Hilton Malta

Best Holiday I've Had in Years - I Had a Fantastic Time!

"NB - This guest stayed at Hotel Santa Malta and completed a PADI OWD course.

I had a fantastic time. Thank you so much - it was the best holiday I've had in years.

This trip was everything that I expected and more. The hotel was perfect and the staff were amazing. The dive center again exceeded my expectations and the staff and instructors were highly professional and were such good fun.

The Open Water Diver course was brilliant: I passed and am looking forward to furthering my qualifications now. The dive sites were amazing and the Dive Centre Staff were fantastic.. I had great teachers and very professional and they made it a lot of fun.

Both the accommodation and food were excellent. My transfers and ground arrangements all went to plan and again the people were so helpful and friendly.

My favourite memory from the holiday was the final dive - this was amazing. I have to say this has encouraged me to do more training and really take up diving properly. It definitely made up my mind. It's such a beautiful place to dive and once I get my deep sea diving done, I'll be going back to Malta to dive the wrecks.

I am looking to book again for New Years in Lanzarote to complete my advanced diving and will be booking with yourselves. "

Marion Cullen - UK

No votes yet

Doubletree by Hilton Malta

The Resort was Fantastic

"Everything was as I expected, and even better. The resort was fantastic. Some someone who takes their own tent for Summer holidays and who would usually pick bunkhouse over luxury... it was quite special. And I enjoyed every minute of it. The diving itself was like opening up a whole new territory...within myself. I love diving!

The transfers and ground arrangements were very good. The accommodation was perfect. We had a massive room with a king (emperor) size double bed and two single beds. Room size was like a small village hall. Huge. Nice. Sea view...perfect.

Food in the hotel was lovely. Great choice. Free wine for dinner (who would complain about that?). And to top this, we were given a free meal voucher because we missed dinner on the first day, which was very thoughtful.

The dive course was great. I would have preferred to extend the course with an extra day of diving to just enjoy aquatic life. Without any exercises, just for pure joy. The dive site was lovely. Easy access to the sea, lunch available for a few Euro's. Due to the weather, our first wet session was in a pool. A bit disappointing because we were expecting, and looking forward to, doing it all in the sea. But the pool session was fun anyway.

My favourite memory was the moment when we were diving at around 6 meters and swimming over an edge and then there was a big drop and I was just floating in mid water. The water was so blue...and there were fish...and me just floating. I will never forget this sensation.

I definitely have plans to go diving again. I am also considering joining a local dive club...yes, I have the bug!"

Inge Hijink - UK

Guest rating: 8/10 (1 vote)

Sands Apartments

Fabulous Holiday at Sands Apartments!

"We had a fabulous holiday at Sands Apartments, St. Paul’s Bay thanks. Everything went smoothly with the arrangements. Maltaqua Dive Centre were excellent, helpful and well organised. Sands apartments were perfect for the trip and I’d certainly stay there again.

We enjoyed all the dives; I know Karen loved the P29 and I really enjoyed the arch at Cirkewwa. Again we found the Maltese people to be friendly and helpful. Cheers!"

Richard Adair - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Sands Apartments

Comfortable Apartments and Great Dive Club

"Very clean comfortable apartments with a lift (from 1st floor) and an extremely useful wash room. The air-conditioning was great and it didn't take long to cool the room down. The balcony came in useful early in the morning and late evenings when the sun wasn't at its hottest, but also for drying towels, etc. Only a stone's throw from the dive club, excellent service and cleaning, with thoughtful touches including a welcome pack.

As for the dive club, Maltaqua, I can't praise them enough. As an information point, you would not get better from a tourist information centre. As a friendly experienced dive club, you just won't want to leave! They're a great bunch of people who take into consideration what you like, where you want to go and your experience."

Nirusha Vigi - UK

Guest rating: 10/10 (1 vote)

Sands Apartments

Fantastic service & amazing dives

"Everything was perfect on our dive break to Malta. From picking us up at the airport, to the accommodation and fantastic service from Maltaqua (great dive shop, friendly staff) as well as some amazing dives. Will definitely use Regaldive and return to Malta again."

David J - UK

Guest rating: 9/10 (1 vote)

Sands Apartments

Learning to Dive in Malta

"Just a brief note to say many thanks for organising our recent diving holiday. My 15 year old daughter and I have just returned from a week in Malta where we did the PADI Open Water course. We both had a great time. Everything ran like clockwork.

We stayed in the penthouse at Sands apartments which was lovely. The dive school, Maltaqua were very pleasant and helpful and organised everything including the airport transfers and we just couldn't fault them. The instructor, Anders was excellent. We dived at some lovely sights including the wreck of a WWII destroyer. I'm pleased to say that by the end of the week we both qualified.

Once again, many thanks to you and Regal Dive for organising a most wonderful holiday. We will certainly be back when it's time to organise our next trip. "

Nigel Brooks - UK