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Xwejni Bay · Gozo

Calypso Cave

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.

Advanced🕳️ Cave🪸 Reef🧱 Wall30 to 40 mShore access: mediumPopularity: lowAlso called Calypso Tunnel, Triple Arch, Triple Arch Reef
Plan this dive

Sea conditions

100

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 01:33 AM

Waves
0.4 m
from ESE
Wind
7 km/h
SSW, gusts 14
Swell
0.3 m
5 s period
Sea temp
28 °C
air 27 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌦️100 0.6 m
13 SW
Sat☁️100 0.4 m
14 SSW
Sun🌦️92 0.3 m
8 ENE
Mon☁️100 0.2 m
14 WNW
Tue☁️56 0.5 m
24 NW
Wed🌦️16 0.8 m
35 E
Thu🌤️46 0.8 m
19 WNW

Sunrise 06:47, sunset 19:06

Exposed to wind and swell from: NW (315°), N (0°), NE (45°). Offshore on the north coast and unusable in a northerly. Current is often present along the wall. Save it for a settled forecast, particularly if you intend to swim it rather than take the boat. Best season: June to October, with the calmest and clearest conditions in September and October..

The dive

Calypso Cave, or Triple Arch if you ask a different centre, is the sort of site that makes you stop and work out what you are looking at. The wall here is split by narrow horizontal slots, one around 21 metres and another deeper at roughly 30 to 32 metres. Slide through either and the rock opens into a big chamber, well over 30 metres across, lit from above where the roof has fallen in.

Those collapses are the point. Two enormous holes in the ceiling are separated by a thin bridge of remaining rock, so what reads as a tunnel from one angle reads as a colossal archway from another. There is even a formation around 19 metres that local divers call the Face, with openings where eyes and a mouth should be.

It is a sporty dive: deep enough to matter, offshore, and a proper haul if you swim it from Xwejni rather than taking a boat. Most people pair it with Double Arch or continue west to Submarine Cave, about a quarter of an hour away along the same wall.

Marine life is the north coast cast in good form: grouper and scorpionfish on the ledges, moray in the cracks, octopus in the rubble, and amberjack or tuna passing out in the blue while you hang.

  • Collapsed cave roof leaving two skylights and a rock bridge
  • Two narrow entry cracks, one at 21 metres and one around 32
  • A chamber over 30 metres long lit from above
  • The Face formation at about 19 metres
  • Combines with Double Arch or Submarine Cave on a boat day

Typical plan

Boat drop is the sensible option. Descend the wall to about 21 metres, find the upper crack and ease in without touching the floor, then cross the chamber under the skylights and out. If you are trained and gassed for it, the lower entry at 32 metres makes a better line but eats your no-stop time. Work back up the wall to 18 metres for the return, keeping an eye on the blue for amberjack. Nitrox 28 to 30 helps; figure 30 to 40 minutes inside no-decompression limits, or plan staged deco. Two lights each, an SMB and a clear lost-buddy plan.

What the bottom looks like

0173345m🤿123456340 m from entry
  1. 1The Face, openings resembling eyes and a mouth19 m deep · 160 m out
  2. 2Upper horizontal crack into the chamber21 m deep · 190 m out
  3. 3Lower horizontal crack at around 32 metres31 m deep · 220 m out
  4. 4Main chamber, over 30 metres across28 m deep · 240 m out
  5. 5Rock bridge between the two collapsed skylights22 m deep · 245 m out
  6. 6Outer wall dropping past 40 metres40 m deep · 290 m out
Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Xwejni Bay slipway, then a long swim east along the wall. Depths are approximate.

Hard limestone wall and ledges with silt and rubble collecting on the chamber floor.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Shore access is rated medium mostly because of the distance: park at Xwejni, enter at the slipway and swim roughly east along the coast, which is a long transit and better on a scooter. Most divers take a boat, which drops you directly over the reef about 100 metres off the tower. Facilities are Xwejni kiosk in season and Marsalforn a short drive away.

  • Overhead environment reached through narrow cracks; training and a torch are not optional
  • Depth of 30 to 40 metres with narcosis and short no-stop times
  • Long swim from shore and a tired return
  • Silt inside the chamber that clouds fast
  • Current along the offshore wall
  • Boat traffic overhead; carry an SMB
  • Disorientation in the chamber if you lose the exit

A bit of history

The structure is a sea cave in the Upper Coralline limestone whose roof has partly collapsed, leaving the two skylights and the surviving rock bridge between them. The nickname borrows from Calypso's Cave above Ramla Bay on the same coast, the grotto local tradition links to the nymph who kept Odysseus on Ogygia in the Odyssey, although the dive site and the land cave are entirely separate places.

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Further reading: Atlantis Gozo, Calypso Tunnel and Cave · Malta Dives, Calypso Cave · Blue Waters Dive Cove, Calypso Cave / Triple Arch · Dive Systems Malta, Double Arch and Triple Arch