The Mediterranean Wreck diving Mecca

January 18, 2020
Posted by Ash Roberts

So youve learnt to dive and have visited Capernwray a few more times, youre starting to get the hang of all the equipment, the buoyancy and the dive site. Now is your chance to take your diving somewhere new and exciting. Every diver from the first day sat reading their open water notes to the final dive of their open water course dreams about their first wreck dive.

I have been lucky enough to of completed over 300 dives in Malta during my dive career spanning 14 years and taking this into account here is my Top 5 wreck dives of Malta for all experience levels. Some dives you can access straight away as a RAID Open Water 20 diver, others you can add to your Diving Bucket List (Trust me, you start a list small and it grows and grows!) If there is a dive you particularly like the sound of drop me a message and ill tell you the route you need to take to get there!

Top 5 Malta wrecks

Rozi - 20-34m

Situated in the divers are of Cirkewwa next to the gozo ferry lie the wrecks of the P29 and the Rozi. The Rozi been my favourite of the two, often surrounded my small schools of fish and situated next to the reef this is one of the most atmospherically pleasing wrecks in Malta and due to the depth quite often one of the first wrecks you will dive there.

MV Karwela - 28-45m

Located at the 3 wrecks area in Gozo, this wreck is the middle of the 3. Still located at a depth that gives you adequate time to navigate the whole wreck. The journey out to the wreck is one of the highlights of the dive, with divers often swimming midwater at 10-15m until the wreck comes visible beneath and then descending down to it. The Wreck itself is quite recent been scuttled in 2006 to form an artificial reef. The most visited part of this wreck has to be the ornate staircase featured in most photos of this wreck. To access this part of the wreck you would need to be RAID Deco 40 or RAID Advanced Wreck and RAID Deep 40 qualified due to the depth and complexity of the dive. Personally my favourite dive to do at the 3 wrecks site entails circumnavigating all 3 wrecks in one dive. Enterring the water and heading towards the Xlendi Wreck first taking in the large upturned hull and props. Navigating across to the MV Karwela maintaining a constant depth and entering the wreck on the lower deck, ascending the staircase and exiting on the upper deck before navigating across to the Cominoland where you can easily access the reef to decompress. Total dive time approx 2 hours with 30-45mins decompression this dive is suitable for RAID CCR divers or RAID Deco 50 Divers.

HMS Stubborn - 48-57m

HMS Stubborn is the iconic Technical diving wreck associated with diving in Malta and the first wreck where you know youve reached technical limits. Situated on the seabed at 57m with a diveable depth of 50m at the depth of the conning tower. The Stubborn lists to its Port side and for a RAID Deco 60 diver a bottom time of 30 mins gives adequate time to truly explore this wreck. The torpedo tubes are large and clearly visible on the bow of the wreck and are the highlight, with excellent images taken from around 5-10m away really showing the location of the wreck. The location of the wreck to the shore allows easy access by RIB making is often a very accessible technical wreck dive.

Bristol Beaufighter

- 42m

I dont know what it is but aeroplane wrecks have always been some of my favourite to dive, maybe its the fact you can take in the full size and scale of the wreck and spend time focussing on the details. Laying at 42m the Bristol Beaufighter is situated on a sandy bottom and this allows it to jump out from the landscape. If you searched amongst the wreckage you will find many small Moray eels and other critters which I always love to search for. The plane went down on the 17th March 1943 will both crew members surviving following mechanical issues. This wreck is accessed by boat and can often be done as 1 of 2 dives due to the depth and location to the shore.

HMS Southwold - 65-78m

Now we have reached the end of the list and my favourite wreck (or wrecks!) The HMS Southwold is split in two the bow and the stern are seperated by approx 200m of sand. My favourite of the two halves is the deeper and upright Stern section. On the stern you have the name plaque which an excellent photo opportunity. Then above you have the rear gun, this large coral encrusted gun shows the scale of the wreck. Inside the wreck there are many treasures still to be found, with a little apothecary and toilet still visible. Ordnance can be found across the deck. Due to the depth this wreck is only suitable for CCR or full trimix divers and is usually a favourite amongst technical divers.