Exiles is the busiest stretch of the Sliema rock, and unlike most of the front it looks at open water rather than into a harbour. That is why swimmers, divers and the local clubs all use it, and why it is packed from June onwards.
There is a bar on the shore and a dive operation beside it. A tug was sunk offshore in 2013 to make an artificial reef, and it is now one of the easier wreck dives in Malta. The rock is flat with ladders, and toilets and sunbeds are behind. The shore faces north-east, so a wind from that quarter puts a swell right along it.
This is a dive site as well as a swimDive centres run guided shore dives here for qualified divers and beginners alike.
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Which winds this bay can take
It is sheltered from the south-east round to the south-south-west, the west-south-west and the west-north-west. There is no open water on those bearings for a wind to build a swell across. It is open to the north round to the east-south-east, where the sea runs for kilometres before it reaches this shore. A wind out of the south-west, the west and the north-west to the north-north-west has some water to work with but not the full run.
- NOpen sea
- NNEOpen sea
- NEOpen sea
- ENEOpen sea
- EOpen sea
- ESEOpen sea
- SESheltered
- SSESheltered
- SSheltered
- SSWSheltered
- SWPart open
- WSWSheltered
- WPart open
- WNWSheltered
- NWPart open
- NNWPart open
Measured as metres of open water on each bearing out from the shore. This is the bay’s own geography and it does not change; whether it is swimmable this afternoon is the reading at the top of the page, which also weighs how hard the wind is actually blowing.
What is there
- Sunbeds available
- Food
- Drinks
- Umbrella
- Dives Nearby
- Parking
- Accessibility
- Toilets
- BBQ's allowed
- Wifi
- Camping
- Water Sports
- Dog Friendly
- Boat Friendly
Struck through means it is not there. Facilities at a Maltese bay are seasonal more often than not, so treat summer as the best case.
