Diving in Marsalforn
14 dive sites around Marsalforn: 8 caves, 8 reefs and 8 walls. The stretch takes in Żebbuġ, Xwejni Bay, Qbajjar and Reqqa Point.
Depths run from 3 to 70 m. 4 suit Open Water divers and 1 is a technical dive. 13 are shore dives and 1 needs a boat. Reqqa Point and Xwejni Bay are localities with several dives each.
Most of these sites close when the wind or swell comes from the N, NE and NW, and almost all are sheltered in a wind from the SE, S and SW.
The most dived: Billinghurst Cave, Double Arch, Reef (Xwejni Bay) and Shrimp's Cave. Every site below has live sea conditions, a seabed sketch and the marine life to look for.
Best right now
- Cathedral Cave5Stay dry
- Double ArchXwejni Bay4Stay dry
- ReefXwejni Bay4Stay dry
Scores blend the wave, swell and wind forecasts for each site against the directions it is open to. Check the site page before you go.
Localities
Dive sites around Marsalforn
Digital Render
Billinghurst Cave
Reqqa Point, Gozo
A vast dark tunnel bored into Gozo's north cliffs, entered at around 28 metres and running roughly 100 metres into the rock before opening into a domed chamber with a gas pocket at the top.
Digital Render
Double Arch
Xwejni Bay, Gozo
Two enormous natural arches stacked one above the other on an offshore reef north of Xwejni, with barracuda hanging over the top and the ground falling away to 45 metres and beyond. The best-looking deep reef dive on Gozo's north coast.
Digital RenderReef
Xwejni Bay, Gozo
The shallow rock shelf just outside Xwejni Bay, 5 to 15 metres of ledges, grass and small canyons. Nobody travels to Gozo for it, but it is a lovely second dive, a reliable night dive and a forgiving classroom.
Digital RenderShrimp's Cave
Reqqa Point, Gozo
A small chamber tucked into the wall west of Reqqa Point whose ceiling glitters with thousands of shrimp. Turn the torch off for a second and you can hear them.
Digital RenderSubmarine Cave
Xwejni Bay, Gozo
A long, winding cave on the offshore wall between Xwejni and Qbajjar. The mouth yawns at about 21 metres and the floor runs back and down into silt at 34 metres, which makes it a serious dive dressed up as a reef swim.
Digital RenderThe Point
Reqqa Point, Gozo
The tip of the Reqqa headland itself: a sheer limestone face where the reef ends and the deep water begins, with the biggest fish on this coast patrolling the corner.
Digital Render
Washing Machine
Xwejni Bay, Gozo
A small U-shaped notch in the salt pan shelf west of Xwejni that gives straight onto a rocky plateau at 8 metres. The name is a warning as much as a joke: in winter the sea churns in the notch exactly like a drum on spin cycle.
Digital RenderCathedral Cave
Marsalforn, Gozo
Swim into a five-metre entrance on Gozo's north coast, follow the passage up, and surface inside an enormous domed chamber with fifteen metres of air above your head. Take the regulator out and listen to everyone else laughing.
Digital RenderRas il-Kanun
Marsalforn, Gozo
A headland on Gozo's north coast where the rock breaks open into a big cave, with boulders, swim-throughs and a wall running out into deeper water. Usually dived together with the Cathedral Cave next door.
Digital RenderAnchor Reef
Reqqa Point, Gozo
A long submerged ledge running east from Reqqa Point towards Double Arch: an easy plateau on top, a serious drop-off on the outside, and a namesake anchor that has gone missing.
Digital RenderBottleneck Cave
Reqqa Point, Gozo
A natural rock shaft that takes you in at 37 m and lets you out at the foot of the cliff near 58 m. It is a geology dive first and a fish dive a very distant second, and it belongs to trimix divers only.
Digital RenderCalypso Cave
Xwejni Bay, Gozo
A collapsed cave roof on the offshore wall north of Marsalforn Tower, leaving two great holes bridged by a span of rock. You get in through narrow horizontal cracks at 21 and 32 metres and come out into a chamber more than 30 metres long.
Digital RenderForna Point
Marsalforn, Gozo
The first headland east of Wied il-Għasri, and one of the least visited walls on Gozo's north coast. Vertical drops on both flanks, a seabed paved with car-sized boulders, and the pleasant suspicion that nothing down there has seen a diver this month.
Digital RenderMarsalforn Bay
Marsalforn, Gozo
A big, friendly, shallow bay on Gozo's north coast where most of the island's dive schools cut their teeth. Boulders, sand and seagrass in ten metres or less, and an octopus behind half of them.