Diving Gozo and Comino

Description

Go beyond the guidebook with Diving Gozo & Comino, your ultimate companion to exploring this part of Malta’s stunning underwater world. Local expert Richard Salter shares his in-depth knowledge with detailed maps, photos and dive site descriptions for a whopping 72 locations.

Dive into Adventure:

Choose your perfect dive with easy, advanced, and technical difficulty ratings, depths, durations, and stunning underwater and above-water photos.

Unforgettable Sites: Explore a kaleidoscope of underwater wonders, from breath-taking caves and vibrant reefs to shipwrecks and secluded bays.

Gozo’s Hidden Gems: Discover rarely explored dive sites alongside iconic favourites like the Blue Hole, Inland Sea & Tunnel, Santa Maria Caves, and multiple wrecks.

More Than Just Dives:

Benefit from Richard Salter’s vast experience as a resident instructor. He provides advice to help you to conduct safe and fun dives for all diver skill levels. There is also information on Gozo’s rich history, charming villages, vibrant festivals and mouth-watering cuisine, so you can make the most out of your time on this charming island.

Adapting to Change:

This expanded second edition includes the new wreck site, MV Hephaestus, changes to existing dive sites, updates to dive centres/independent operators, new photographs and more. The navigation and look of the book have been improved and refreshed, making it easier to find dives in each of the five areas. The guide acknowledges the collapse of the Azure Window, and the transformation of that underwater area into a unique seascape with new swim-throughs and shallower sections accessible to more divers. The adjacent Blue Hole remains unaffected.

Diving Gozo & Comino is your essential guide for:

• Independent divers planning their own adventure;
• Divers exploring Gozo with one of its many professional dive centres;
• Anyone seeking the ultimate underwater experience in Malta.

Plan your dream dive holiday and discover the magic of Gozo & Comino today!

Reviews of Diving Gozo & Comino

‘The first guidebook to ignore Malta itself and concentrate on the two northern islands. This makes sense because many diving visitors choose to base themselves on Gozo, and there is plenty to keep them occupied there.’– Divernet (see also 1st edition review below)

‘A compact format which will endear it to the travelling diver… you will not be disappointed… I’d commend this guide to any dive traveller focussing purely on Gozo and Comino. It’ll serve you well, both with dive planning and making the most of your time above water.’—SCUBA magazine

Reviews of the First Edition:

‘This is a very good guide… One of the joys of diving in Gozo, and which justifies the use of the term “underwater playground” in the title, is that it is one of those rare places where divers can pack a 4×4 or van with kit, tanks and friends and take off for whichever sites take their fancy. They also need a reliable guide-book – this new one deserves its place in the glovebox’– Divernet.com

‘A well put together and good-looking guidebook that will be a useful tool for anyone planning on diving Gozo and Comino. It is the sort of book that first-timers, as well as those experienced in diving here, will want to have on their shelves’– Scubaverse.com

‘Richard crams his book with everything you need… an impressively well thought-out guide to visiting these islands. The question is not why should you buy this guide, but why wouldn’t you?’– BritishDiver.co.uk

Table of Contents

Map of dive sites.

INTRODUCTION: The Beautiful Island of Gozo; Acknowledgements; Using this Book;

DIVING INFORMATION: Glossary; Dive Conduct; Dive Operators; First Aird / Emergencies; Maltese Diving Regulations; Wind & Temperature.

TOURIST INFORMATION: Commonly Used Words and Phrases; Timeline; Tourist Sites; Village Festas; Gozitan Food and Drink to Try.

DIVE SITES:

NORTH: Area map. 1.Punta Ta’ Kap Camma, San Dimitri; 2.Moffit’s Cave (Ta-Mahsel); 3.Wied ir-Raheb; 4.Gudja Cave (Ta Camma caves); 5.Hekka Cave (near Hekka Point); 6.Wied il-Meilah; 7.Pinu Point (Ghar Tal-Margun); 8.Forna Point; 9.Wied-il-Ghasri to Cave Of Wind/Cathedral Cave (Ghar il-Rih); 10.Cave of Wheat (Ghar il-Qamh); 11.Billingshurst Cave (Ghar ix-Xih); 12.Shrimp Cave; 13.Reqqa Point; 14.Reqqa Point: The Bottle; 15.Anchor Reef or Landslide Reef; 16.The Washing Machine (Ta Bughas); 17.Double Arch; 18.Xwejni Bay; 19.Triple Arch/Calypso Cave; 20.Qbajjar Bay; 21.Santa Marija Breakwater; 22.Ghar Qawqla; Marsalforn Bay.

SOUTH-EAST: Area map. 23.Dalhet Qorrot; 24.Qala Anchors/The Old Quarry; 25.Qala Point; 26.The Oath Isle (il-Gebla tal-Halfa); 27.Hondoq Bay; 28.Tac-Cawla Rocks (il-Gebla tac-Cawla); 29.By the Harbour Reef; 30.Red Bay (ix-Xatt l-Ahmar); 30a MV Hephaestus; 31.Xatt l-Ahmar Reef; 32.MV Cominoland; 33.MV Karwela; 34.Xlendi Ferry; 35.Middle Finger (Ras il-Hobz); 36.Fessej/Black Rock (Skoll tal-Fessej); 37.Mgarr ix-Xini; 38.Ta’ Cenc; 39.Ras in-Newwiela.

SOUTH-WEST: Area map. 40.Ta’ Cenc Reef; 41.Sannat Cliffs; 42.Bajjada Point; 43.Dawra Tas-Sanap; Xlendi Bay; 44.Xlendi Bay, Reef & Tunnel; 45.Xlendi Tunnel & Reef; Luzzu; 46.Ulysses Cave; Zurzieb Cave & Reef;

WEST: Area map. 47.Wardija Point (Il-Ponta tal-Wardija); 48.Punic Temple (Ras il-Wardija); 49.Fungus Rock (Il-Gebla tal-General); 50.Crocodile Rock; 51.Rogers Cave & Crocodile Rock; 52.Coral Garden & Coral Cave; 53.The Blue Hole; 54.Inland Sea to the Blue Hole; 55.Inland Sea to Whale Cave; 56.The Beard (Tal-Barba); 57.Ta’ Tejtu.

COMINO ISLAND: Area map. A Short History; Getting There. 58.The Canyon, San Niklaw Bay; 59.Santa Marija Reef; 60.Santa Marija/Comino Caves; 61.Elephant Rock/The Molar (Id-Darsa); 62.Sultan Rock; 63.Popi FV/Ostmark/Balje; 64.Lantern Point (Ras L-Irqieqa); 65.Inner Lantern Point; 66.Crystal Lagoon; 67.P31, Kondor Class Minesweeper; 68.Alex’s Cave; 69.Inner Cominotto Reef; 70.Anchor Reef, Cominotto; 71.Outer Cominotto Reef.

NATURE OF GOZO: Diver Guidance for Seahorse Safety; Jellyfish and Alien Fish Species; Posidonia Oceanica; Geology of the Maltese Islands.

INDEX and Marine Species Guide.

Author of Diving Gozo & Comino

Richard Salter is an instructor and dive guide who started diving the Maltese islands in 2004 since when he has amassed over 5000 dives, mostly on Gozo and Comino. After finding accurate information hard to come by and existing publications lacking, he started to draw his own dive sitemaps, so that he could show divers the best places to go, depending on the kind of diving they wished to pursue. He also learned some local history. Now he shares his knowledge so that others can safely enjoy all that Gozo and Comino offer.

Additional information