Malta has more divable wrecks in a small area than almost anywhere in Europe. Some were sunk in the war. Most were put there on purpose, cleaned and scuttled to make artificial reefs.
Nearly all of them are close to shore and several can be reached without a boat. The list below is every wreck a recreational diver can reach, with the deep technical sites left out.
The shallow ones
- HMS Maori, Valletta
- 8 to 14 metres. A Royal Navy destroyer bombed at her moorings in the Grand Harbour on 12 February 1942, raised, and scuttled off Fort St Elmo in 1945. Only the bow section is here. Shallow enough for a first wreck.
- The P29, Ċirkewwa
- 12 to 36 metres. A 52 metre East German minesweeper, built as the Boltenhagen and ending up on Maltese border patrol. Scuttled in 2007. The crow’s nest is at 12 metres, so you can see part of her on an ordinary dive.
The three most dived
- Um El Faroud, Wied iż-Żurrieq
- About 36 metres. A Libyan oil tanker built in 1969. She exploded during maintenance at the Malta Drydocks in 1995 and nine dockyard workers were killed. Scuttled in 1998. A winter storm later broke her in two, which opened her up.
- The Rozi, Ċirkewwa
- About 34 metres. A tug built in Bristol in 1958 as the Rossmore, working Maltese harbours from 1981. Scuttled in 1992 and now the oldest artificial reef here, so she carries the most growth.
- MV Karwela, Xatt l-Aħmar, Gozo
- 39 to 41 metres. A German-built passenger ferry that ran excursions around the islands. Scuttled in 2006. The staircase inside her, lit from above, is the most photographed thing underwater in Malta.
Shore dives need a guide who knows the entry point. Dive boats fill up early in summer.
Gozo and Comino
Three old ferries sit within swimming distance of each other at Xatt l-Aħmar on the south coast of Gozo, put there deliberately between 1999 and 2006.
- MV Xlendi
- About 44 metres. Eighty metres long and the biggest of the three. Scuttled in November 1999. She turned over as she went down and lies upside down, which makes her the hardest of the group.
- Cominoland
- About 40 metres. A 35 metre excursion boat that ran to Comino. Scuttled in August 2006, upright and open, and the easiest of the three to swim through.
- MT Hephaestus
- The newest of them. A bunkering tanker that ran aground off Qawra in February 2018, was refloated, and was scuttled here on 29 August 2022. Deep enough that most schools treat her as a technical dive.
The war wrecks
These went down in the Second World War rather than being placed. They are graves as well as dive sites, and several are protected.
- The Blenheim Bomber, Marsaxlokk
- About 42 metres. An RAF bomber ditched in December 1941 after being attacked returning from a raid. It sits upright on sand with both wings and one propeller still in place.
- Imperial Eagle and Christ of the Deep, Qawra
- About 42 metres. A former Gozo ferry scuttled in July 1999. A statue of Christ stands on the seabed about thirty metres off her bow, moved here from its first site in 2000.
What you need to dive them
Most of these sit below 30 metres, which puts them outside the 18 metre limit an Open Water certification allows. In practice you need Advanced Open Water for the majority and a deep or technical qualification for the Xlendi and the Hephaestus.
Every school here will ask for your certification card, a logbook and a signed medical declaration. Diving insurance is not required by law but no school will be sorry you have it.
The season runs from about May to November for warm water and settled seas, though people dive here all year. There is more on conditions and where to start on the diving and snorkelling page.