Our instructors Darren Gibbs and Maria Steer arranged a diving holiday to Malta in February 2020, and asked if myself and my partner Kim wanted to go along. We both jumped at the chance being newly qualified Ocean Divers and now progressing onto our Sports Diver qualification it was a no brainer.
Veteran diver Mick Murphy was also going on the trip so we both knew we would learn a lot; experience you can’t buy and they had that in bundles.
We arrived in Malta on Thursday 13th, the hotel was called Seabank and on first impressions it was lovely. The best bit of all is that we were all inclusive!! All our cylinders/weight belts we hired from the Seashell dive centre which was just across the road from the hotel.
Saturday 15th This was going to be our first ever sea dive and to say I was excited was an understatement. Marfa Point (The Madonna) a wall dive down to 18m with an average depth of 12m We completed 2 dives at the site.
Sunday 16th Darren took us to a lovely place called the Inland Sea at Dweja Point over on the Southwest side of Gozo Island, with depths down to 60m and an average depth of 18m. The place was amazing with beautiful clear blue sea and visibility as far as your eyes could carry you. The sea life was amazing and we completed 2 dives at the site.
Monday 17th Darren had planned for us to go out on the Rib which again was supplied by Seashell dive centre, the Manager Chris was our skipper, and a very qualified diver and all-round nice bloke. He took us to Camino Island the Santa Marija Cave which is situated on the North West with a maximum depth of 10m and an average depth of just 7m. What I came to realise is, that the shallower you dive the more your air will last you, and with fantastic visibility, there really is no need to go down to depths of 20 metres plus, when you can have just a nice a dive at half that depth plus a longer dive at that. After our surface interval skipper Chris took us to the site of the P31 wreck, which is an old East German patrol boat, this was going to be mine and Kim’s first wreck dive, which was not far from where we were anchored. Again, the dive was mind blowing with so much sea life, I wish I could of stayed down there for hours!!
Tuesday 18th We had decided that we were going to have a day off from diving and take the kids to Popeye Village, the film set where the actual film was made. It was a great day and what a lovely quaint place with caverns galore with toys and sound effects to match. They put shows on for the kids which everyone enjoyed; there was so much for the kids to do.
Wednesday 19th This was going to be our last 2 dives of the holiday, Mick, Darren, Maria had chosen the Capital of Malta Valletta where we would be diving HMS Maori a wreck about 120 metres from the shore, the dive site is situated on the North Western side of the island and the wreck is at 18m with an average depth of 13m. This was my second wreck dive and again it didn’t disappoint. For our second dive, Darren made me Dive Manager and it would be myself and Maria on the dive while Mick and Darren had a break. I gave Maria a safety briefing, and after completing our buddy checks we entered the water. I used my compass and made our way along the wall dropping down the shelves as we went. The sea life was amazing one thing I wasn’t to keen on was the amount of jelly fish there was hundreds of them. I had my go pro and shot some great footage, the fish were so colourful and the reef was so alive. After reaching the half way point (Rule of thirds) we turned around and made our way back, again I used my compass to navigate us back and after our 3-minute safety stop we slowly made our way to the surface where Darren and Mick were cheering. Again, it was an amazing dive and my last of the holiday.
Over the week we were there I completed the following dives:
Shore Dive, Reef dive, Wall Dive, Wreck dive, Cave dive, Rib dive.
And not forgetting being Dive Manager.
I will be eternally grateful to Mick, Darren and Maria for all their hard work, belief and the time they have given up to make sure we not only pass our Sports Diver qualification but get as many different dives in as possible, always making sure we learn along the way and ensuring that we always dive safely.
If you’re thinking about taking up scuba then take it from me and try it, there’s a completely different world down below the surface, with stunning sights you can only imagine dreaming of. If you’re really lucky you can join Thurrock Aqualung Club 608 and learn from the best the choice is yours. I would thoroughly recommend you do if you want the best training by the best trainers.
Scott Grant