Sliema · Malta
Coral Gardens
Sliema's canyon reef: narrow rock valleys, odd formations and short swimthroughs in 15 metres or less, right next door to Fortizza Reef.
Sea conditions
Excellent right now
Flat, sheltered and calm
Forecast for the site, updated 02:18 AM
- Waves
- n/a
- Wind
- 3 km/h
- SSW, gusts 6
- Swell
- n/a
- Sea temp
- n/a
- air 25 °C
Next 7 days
Sunrise 06:46, sunset 19:04
Exposed to wind and swell from: N (0°), NE (45°), E (90°). Diveable in most conditions with any west in the wind. Anything from northeast round to east puts swell straight onto the entry and stirs the canyons up. Best season: Year round, best for clarity and warmth between June and November..
The dive
The name promises tropical coral and delivers something better suited to Malta: a shallow limestone reef sliced into canyons and valleys, with tunnels cutting through the ridges and rock shapes that look designed by a committee. Together with the neighbouring Fortizza Reef it forms what the Sliema dive centres call their house reef, and you can easily link the two on one dive.
Everything sits inside 15 metres, so this is a dive you swim rather than compute. Follow a canyon out, pop through a swimthrough into the next valley, follow that one back in, repeat. Navigation almost takes care of itself because the ridges run consistently, and the shoreline is always the shallow direction.
The pull here is the small stuff and the light. Sun angled down into a narrow canyon on a summer afternoon is worth the parking fight on its own, and the ledges hold octopus, wrasse, bream, scorpionfish sitting still enough to be mistaken for gravel, and enough nudibranchs and fireworms to keep a macro lens busy for a whole tank.
Treat the boats seriously. Craft run along this coast constantly and some pass right over the reef, so stay shallow and close to the rock or fly a DSMB the whole way. That aside, it is about as relaxed as Maltese diving gets.
- Narrow canyons and swimthroughs that make a shallow dive feel adventurous
- Links easily with Fortizza Reef for a longer route
- Beautiful light shafts in the valleys on sunny afternoons
- Easy, reliable navigation for building confidence
- Macro heaven for anyone with a torch and patience
Typical plan
Enter off the rocks, follow the first canyon seaward to around 13 to 15 metres, then work back and forth between ridges using the swimthroughs, keeping the deepest section early. Return inshore along a parallel valley and finish the last fifteen minutes at 4 to 6 metres among the overhangs. An hour on a single 12 litre is standard; air, no stops, torch recommended.
What the bottom looks like
- 1First canyon, shallow end5 m deep · 25 m out
- 2Swimthrough between ridges8 m deep · 55 m out
- 3Rock formations and fallen blocks11 m deep · 85 m out
- 4Overhangs at the canyon walls13 m deep · 120 m out
- 5Sand channel at the outer reef15 m deep · 165 m out
Ridged limestone with sand floors in the canyons, opening onto sand and weed around 15 metres.
Who you might meet
Mediterranean damselfish
Almost always · Ċawl
Two-banded seabream
Almost always · Sargu
Ornate wrasse
Almost always · Tirda tal-passa
Hermit crabs and shrimps
Almost always · Gamblu
Common octopus
Often · Qarnit
Scorpionfish
Often · Cippullazza
Cardinalfish under the overhangs
Often · Sultan iċ-ċawl
Fireworms
Often · Busuf
Moray eel
Sometimes · Morina
Nudibranchs
Sometimes · spring
Getting in and staying safe
Shore dive off the Sliema promenade, a short walk from the Fortizza entries. Access is over cut rock and steps, easy in calm water and unpleasant in any swell. Parking on and around Tower Road is the limiting factor in summer; most divers either come early or use a dive centre based on the front. Cafes, toilets, restaurants and shops are all within a minute or two.
- Boat traffic crossing directly over the reef; DSMB essential away from the rocks
- Surge funnelling through the canyons in a northeast swell
- Slippery entry rocks and sea urchins
- Summer crowds of swimmers and snorkellers overhead
- Snagged fishing line along the reef edge
- Jellyfish in late summer
A bit of history
The reef is part of the same Globigerina limestone shoreline as Il-Fortizza next door, shaped by wave action into the valleys and tunnels that give it its character rather than by anything human. The Sliema seafront it sits under was developed from the 19th century onwards as the island's main bathing and promenading coast, and the cut steps and pools along the shore date from that era.
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Further reading: Dive Systems Malta: Fortizza and the Sliema house reef · Malta Dive Sites: Coral Gardens, Sliema · Wikipedia: Sliema seafront and coastline