Diving in Valletta
7 dive sites around Valletta: 5 wrecks and 3 reefs. The stretch takes in Il-Belt, Grand Harbour, Fort St Elmo and Ricasoli.
Depths run from 6 to 35 m. 2 suit Open Water divers. 5 are shore dives and 2 need a boat. Valletta is a locality with several dives of its own.
Most of these sites close when the wind or swell comes from the N, NE and E, and almost all are sheltered in a wind from the SE, S, SW, W and NW.
The most dived: HMS Maori. Every site below has live sea conditions, a seabed sketch and the marine life to look for.
Best right now
- SS Margit59Marginal
- HMS MaoriValletta3Stay dry
- Fort St. ElmoValletta3Stay 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 Valletta
Digital Render
HMS Maori
Valletta, Malta
The forepart of a Tribal-class destroyer lying half buried in sand at sixteen metres in St Elmo Bay, reachable from a ladder and shallow enough for a newly qualified diver. Malta's most accessible piece of the war.
Digital RenderFort St. Elmo
Valletta, Malta
A boulder-and-gully reef tucked under the seaward ramparts of Valletta's oldest fort, quietly ignored by everyone queueing for the Maori. Go early, before the walls throw the whole reef into shadow.
Digital RenderSS Margit
Valletta, Malta
A hundred metres of broken 1912 steamer lying on the silt in Kalkara Creek, sunk by German bombers in 1941. A shore-entry wreck inside the Grand Harbour, with murk, history and very big grouper.
Digital RenderHMS Andromeda
Valletta, Malta
A little steam tug turned minesweeper, bombed while leaving Grand Harbour in April 1942 and still lying in the harbour mouth at 20 m. Shallow, intact enough to be interesting, and almost never dived because of where she is.
Digital RenderHMS Jersey
Valletta, Malta
What is left of a J class destroyer that hit a mine at the Grand Harbour entrance in May 1941 and blocked the port for days. Decades of demolition and salvage mean there is scattered wreckage at 19 m rather than a ship.
Digital RenderRicasoli Cannons
Valletta, Malta
Three enormous Victorian muzzle-loading guns lying in a collapsed sea cavern under Fort Ricasoli, in two or three metres of water lit by a hole in the roof. Odd, shallow and unforgettable.
Digital RenderSubmarine Pen
Valletta, Malta
A forty metre natural tunnel through the rock below the Valletta bastions, open at both ends with an air space inside, surrounded by boulders and a scatter of wartime junk. Sheltered enough to dive when everywhere else is blown out.