Club holiday 2006 to Malta

10th to 17th October 2006

Report by Alex Liddon 

The Characters

The Divers	Did some diving	Non Divers
Gary Knights	Paul Carrier	George Shepard
Alex Liddon	Kyle Littlejohn	Karina Whitlam
Mark Owers
Robert Pitman
Andy Leggett
Simon Boor
Jane Gosling
Sid Leaper
David Whitlam

It’s been two years in the making but finally its D (departure) day and once again Lowestoft Sub Aqua Club are back on the road heading to Malta.

Well to be more accurate on the road to the Gatwick where we will get on a plane, which will take us to another airport and a taxi to get to our accommodation, but you get the idea.

Day 1. Monday 9th/ Tuesday 10th October

The mini bus had five-pick ups to make over Lowestoft to get us all together and for those of us waiting at Gary’s I think the first “are we there yet?” was said after minutes of waiting. We arrived at Gatwick at 2:30am ready for our 4 am check and up to 30 “are we there yets”.

Finally we cleared check in- most of us over the permitted baggage allowance but no one were charged for excess baggage. I think they are still recovering from the tongue-lashing Di gave them last November when we went to the Red Sea.

After an uneventful flight we arrived at Malta and luckily so did our bags. Gary and Andy then picked up the minibus GB Airways had arranged for our transport whilst on the island. The rest of us took another bus to Sands Apartments in St Pauls. We then unpacked and headed around the corner to Maltaqua, to collect cylinders and weights ready for diving tomorrow. We also met Dave, Karina & Kyle who are on the island for a month and would also be diving with us.

As we had arrived early it was decided to head to Qwara to go snorkelling. So we pilled into the minibus or the newly arrived Marutu jeep.

After a cooling swim we returned to Sands for a clean up and then ventured into St Pauls for a meal.

Day 2. Wednesday 11th October

After making use of the breakfast items kindly left in our room we headed to Maltaqua to collect cylinders and weights and then in a convoy left for our first dive at Cirkewwa Point.

Dive 1.  Suzie’s Pool. To see the Madonna (No not the singer or the fallen one with…)

As usual when we arrived Adrian, a Maltese underwater photographer, met us to enquire if we would like our photos taken. Most of us took up the offer of a buddy shot and an individual shot which would be edited to include a shark.

The first dive briefing caused the first laugh of the day as Dave with his DO’s hat on said that although we would be diving in buddy pairs it would be a good idea to show the group how your kit works in case of problems. So nine of us happily demonstrated our kit and then it was Dave’s turn and he then admitted he did not have an octopus, so you could take his reg but he would need it back.

After the dive a brief return to St Pauls for lunch and fresh cylinders. 

Dive 2. Anchor Bay/ Popeye Village.

A dive to a cave, near the film set turned tourist attraction.

More fills then:

Dive 3. A night dive at Suzie’s Pool.

The evening meal was at Pizza Hut. To our surprise their small pizza is the same size as the UK medium and so on. Needless to say we took away almost a whole pizza in leftovers.

Day 3. Thursday 12th October

Today it was back to Cirkewwa for our first deep dive of the week.

Dive 4. Tugboat Rozi.

The Rozi was an old 40m-long tug, scuttled near Marfa Point in 1991 as an attraction for scuba divers: the environment surrounding the wreck is rich and colourful, and the visit to the old tug spectacular.

The Rozi is intact and in very good conditions (just the propeller and the rudder have been removed before the sinking). 
The hull lies in perfect navigation trim on a sandy bottom, at a depth of -36m, while the wheelhouse is at about -30m

On arrival we discovered Dave had left his wing behind, so whilst the rest of us kitted up he went off to collect it. Eventually the dive was done and after Dave had promised to buy the first round nothing else was said about it.

Afterwards it was once again back to Maltaqua for cylinder fills (more later) and lunch.

Our second dive was to be Manoel Island, however the security guard wanted us to buy a permit so we decided to try the two tugs which we couldn’t dive last time. When we arrived the conditions ment that once again we would not be diving here. Third option was the Maori, but it was rough as well so we decided to go home and try diving later.

Dive 5. Night dive Cirkewwa.

The plan was to find an arch that we had never been to before, but when we set up our equipment Mark and myself found our cylinders had not been filled and we had what we surfaced with after the Rozi. So the others visited the arch and we repeated last night’s dive.

The least said about the evening meal the better. No fresh veg or potatoes and carrots in garlic.

Day 4. Friday 13th October

Today we loaded up the transport with extra cylinders as we were off to Gozo on the dive boat Chiko. Our intention was to dive the two decommissioned passenger ferries that were sunk as artificial reefs for divers off the Maltese Island of Gozo in August as part of a European Union funded project to boost tourism in the area. The two vessels, MV Karwela and the MV Comino Land, sank upright within 50m of each other at a depth of 36m.

See a photo gallery of the sinking of the two wrecks

After setting up our kit we departed and quickly arrived at the dive site.

Dive 6. MV Karwela

The Karwela is 56m-long and has a VW Beetle on the stern.

After the dive we headed to the nearby island of Comino for lunch where most of us decided get back in the water to cool off.

Then we headed back to Gozo to dive the M.V Comino Land, however as the Chiko did not have a GPS the skipper was relying on a depth sounder to locate the wrecks and surprise surprise:

Dive 7. M.V. Karwela.

Yes that’s right we ended back on the Karwela. Not that we minded as it gave us another chance to explore more of the wreck.

In the evening we headed to a Chinese restaurant in St Julians for an all you can eat buffet.

Day 5. Saturday 14th October

Today we woke up to find that it was raining and all our kit, which had been left on the roof, was soaked. After a leisurely breakfast we decided to head to the south side of the island to the Blue Grotto.

Dive 8. Um El Faroud

The surface swim out to the site still has not got any easier, but at least I made it on my own this time. 

The El Faroud was a 100m long tanker that was seriously damaged by an explosion in Malta dry docks, when she was under repairs. Nine men died in the explosion.

In September 1998 the tanker was arranged for safe scuba diving (all the doors have been removed) and scuttled in front of Blue Groto creek (Weid-Iz-Zurreiq). 
Unfortunately, the ship drifted some 200m far from the coast. The wreck now lies on a white sand bottom at a depth of -37m. 

Once again Maltaqua had provided us with extra cylinders so there was no need to return to St Pauls.

Dive 9. Wied Iz Zurrieq – West.

A dive to a small cave.

That evening the group spilt up and we all ate in different restaurants in the town.

Day 6. Sunday 15th October

Another day in Gozo, only this time we took the ferry.

Dive 10. Inland Sea

We entered in the Inland Sea and passed the Azure Window and exited at the Blue Hole.

Even though they have put in more steps and smoothed over some of the rocks it is still hard work getting to and from the car park.

Dive 11. Blue Hole.

Dive through the Blue hole to a small cave. The visibility on the first 3-4 meters was very much like Gildenburgh, but once we got below this depth it improved.

Once again the evening was spent in St Pauls.

Day 7. Monday 16th October

Today we headed to Cirkewwa for our last dive.

Dive 12. Rozi.

When we returned to Sands it was a case of hang all our kit up to dry and return the cylinders and weights. We then headed off to Valletta for a bit of sight seeing.

That evening we had another meal in St Pauls then Dave suggested we go to the bar next to his apartment, as there was a Freddy Mercury impersonator there every night.

Click here to see the video

It was certainly an experience I will never forget, no matter how much I want too nor will I listen to Queen the same way again. If you’re ever in St Pauls see for yourself.

Day 8. Tuesday 17th October

Nothing much to say apart from we went home.

I would like to thank Gary for organising a fantastic holiday and look forward to the return adventure in 2 years time.

It's very tiring organising a diving holiday

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