Diving in Xlendi
8 dive sites around Xlendi: 2 wrecks, 4 caves, 3 reefs and 3 walls. The stretch takes in Munxar, Sanap Cliffs and Kerċem.
Depths run from 6 to 110 m. 4 suit Open Water divers and 2 are technical dives. 2 are shore dives and 6 need a boat. Xlendi Bay is a locality with several dives of its own.
Most of these sites close when the wind or swell comes from the SE, S, SW and W, and almost all are sheltered in a wind from the N, NE and E.
Best right now
- Sanap Cliffs2Stay dry
- Xlendi ReefXlendi Bay0Stay dry
- Xlendi TunnelXlendi Bay0Stay 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 Xlendi
Digital Render
Xlendi Reef
Xlendi Bay, Gozo
A two-storey reef running off the headland in the middle of Xlendi Bay: an easy inner shelf at 12 metres for courses, and an outer spur with a pinnacle that almost breaks the surface before the ground falls away past 60 metres.
Digital Render
Xlendi Tunnel
Xlendi Bay, Gozo
A 70 metre natural passage bored clean through the north headland of Xlendi Bay, shallow enough that you can pop your head up inside it and bright enough to photograph without a torch. For a lot of divers it is the first time they swim into rock and come out somewhere else entirely.
Digital Render
Dawra tas-Sanap
Xlendi, Gozo
A boat dive tucked under the Sanap cliffs southwest of Gozo, where a big weathered archway, a roomy cavern and a near vertical wall break up into house sized boulders.
Digital RenderSanap Cliffs
Xlendi, Gozo
A hundred and twenty metres of golden cliff above you and a vertical wall below, with a cavern to poke your torch into and two small reefs flanking the drop. Colour, not fish, is the draw.
Digital RenderUlysses Cave
Xlendi, Gozo
A big cavern in the cliff north west of Xlendi, a boulder slope beneath it, and a small cave with a freshwater spring that turns the water to shimmering haze as you swim through it.
Digital RenderZurziep Reef
Xlendi, Gozo
A small, colourful reef under the cliffs a short boat ride west of Xlendi, rising to a 5 metre platform and then sliding away past 60 metres. Gullies, overhangs and cavelets make it a photographer's site rather than a depth chase.
Digital Render
Phoenician Shipwreck
Xlendi, Gozo
A Phoenician trading ship that went down off Xlendi in the late 7th century BC and has lain at 110 metres ever since, cargo still stacked. Archaeologically extraordinary, and closed to recreational diving.
Digital RenderXlendi Underwater Archaeological Park
Xlendi Bay, Gozo
Gozo's deep-water museum floor: a 67,000 square metre protected zone off Xlendi where a Phoenician trading ship went down around the seventh century BC, its amphorae and grinding stones still lying where they scattered at roughly 105 metres. Closed-circuit territory, visited only through licensed operators.