Wreck Diving in Malta and Gozo: Every Major Wreck

Wreck diving in Malta is the reason the islands appear on European divers' lists at all, and it exists because of policy rather than luck. Malta has spent decades deliberately scuttling vessels as dive attractions, placing them at depths recreational divers can reach and often close enough to shore to walk in. The result is a density of accessible wrecks that nowhere else in Europe matches.

The Um El Faroud

The headline. A 110-metre Libyan oil tanker damaged by a gas explosion in Valletta's dry dock in 1995, scuttled off Wied iz-Zurrieq in 1998 as an artificial reef. She sits upright on sand at around 36 metres, with the superstructure rising to about 25.

Winter storms broke her into two sections some years ago, which added rather than subtracted: the break gives light into the hull and a clean swim-through along the length. The deck is dense with growth now, groupers hold the superstructure, and barracuda circle over the stern. She is regularly named the best wreck in the Mediterranean after the Zenobia, and the comparison is fair.

Depth makes her an Advanced dive, and the shore entry at Wied iz-Zurrieq is a long swim, so most centres run her as a boat dive.

Cirkewwa: the P29 and the Rozi

Malta's most-dived wrecks sit metres apart at the island's northwest tip, both entered from shore.

The P29 is a former patrol boat scuttled in 2007, sitting upright and intact at around 35 metres with her deck gun still in place and the bridge open to swim through. She photographs beautifully because she looks like a ship rather than a ruin.

The Rozi is a tugboat, scuttled in 1992, now at around 34 metres. Decades under water have covered her in growth and filled her with fish, and the shallower arch and reef around Cirkewwa make an easy second half to the dive.

Both are Advanced dives at depth, though the reef structure at Cirkewwa gives Open Water divers plenty to do at the same site.

The Gozo wrecks

Off Xatt l-Ahmar on Gozo's south coast, three vessels were scuttled between 2006 and 2009: the MV Karwela, the MV Cominoland and the MV Xlendi.

The Karwela is the one people come for. A former passenger ferry sitting upright at around 40 metres, her most photographed feature is an interior staircase that descends through the deck with light falling down it, which has become one of the defining images of Maltese diving. The Cominoland lies nearby at similar depth, and the Xlendi capsized during scuttling and rests inverted, which makes her the most technical of the three.

All are shore entries, which is remarkable for wrecks at this depth, and all three can be linked on the same site over a couple of dives.

Older and deeper

Malta also holds genuine wartime wrecks, most beyond recreational limits and in technical territory: the HMS Maori in Valletta, at a shallow and accessible 14 metres, is the exception worth naming, and Blenheim bombers and submarines lie deeper for those trained for them.

Planning wreck week

Most of the headline wrecks need Advanced Open Water, and several sit at or near 40 metres, which makes nitrox and conservative planning sensible rather than optional. The season runs May to November for comfort, with visibility strong year-round; the wider picture is in our Malta diving guide.

If wrecks are the reason you travel, the honest comparison is Egypt: the SS Thistlegorm is a better single wreck than anything in Maltese water, but Malta gives you a week of them without repeating a site or boarding a liveaboard.