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Qawra Point · Malta

Fra Ben Cave

A short, shallow cavern with an open ceiling on the north side of Qawra Point, complete with a rock in the middle to swim around and a blowhole to surface in. Perfect on a sunny day and genuinely beginner friendly.

Open Water🕳️ Cave🪸 Reef3 to 9 mShore access: mediumPopularity: highAlso called Fra Ben Cavern, Ta' Fra Ben Cave
Plan this dive

Sea conditions

98

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 01:45 AM

Waves
0.4 m
from ESE
Wind
n/a
Swell
0.4 m
5 s period
Sea temp
29 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌤️100 0.4 m
0 N
Sat🌤️100 0.3 m
0 N
Sun🌤️100 0.2 m
0 N
Mon🌤️100 0.1 m
0 N
Tue🌤️83 0.4 m
0 N
Wed🌤️37 0.9 m
0 N
Thu🌤️40 0.9 m
0 N

Exposed to wind and swell from: NW (315°), N (0°), NE (45°). This is the north side, so a northwesterly or northerly puts swell straight into the cave and makes it a no. In a southerly or southwesterly it is flat and lovely. Best light is mid morning to early afternoon with the sun high enough to pour through the open ceiling. Visibility inshore is usually 12 to 20 metres. Best season: May to October for water temperature and light, with calm summer mornings giving the best beams through the skylight..

The dive

This is one of those dives that costs almost nothing and gives back a lot. From the north side entry you swim along the shoreline, round a corner into a small bay, keeping the reef on your right, and after about a hundred metres the cave mouth opens at six metres. It is easy to miss if the sun is behind the cliff and the entrance is in shadow, so a torch and a bit of patience help.

Inside, the cave runs back around fifteen metres and the ceiling has collapsed at some point to leave an opening to the sky. The result is a miniature inland sea with a big rock standing in the middle of it. You can circle the rock, pop your head up in the blowhole, look at the sky through a hole in the rock, and drop back down again. Maximum depth inside is only about five metres, with nine at the outside.

On a bright morning the light comes down through the open ceiling in solid shafts and reflects off the pale sand and rock, and the whole chamber glows. It is a photographer's site and a first-cave site rolled into one, with no real overhead commitment because daylight is visible throughout.

Most people combine it with North Reef and the little arch just outside. Do the reef first while you have gas, then finish in the cave shallow, or reverse it if the light is better early.

  • Open ceiling that drops shafts of light into the chamber
  • A central rock you can circle without ever losing sight of daylight
  • Surfacing inside a blowhole, which never stops being fun
  • A first taste of overhead diving with almost no commitment
  • Pairs naturally with North Reef and the little arch outside

Typical plan

In at the north side pool, shallow swim along the reef on your right for about 100 metres, drop to the entrance at 6 metres and go in. Circle the central rock, surface in the blowhole for the view, then back out and either finish shallow along the shore or continue out to North Reef and the arch. Forty to fifty minutes on air with a maximum depth under 10 metres if you stay in the cave, more like 18 if you add the reef. Torch worth carrying even though it is a cavern rather than a cave.

What the bottom looks like

0379m🤿123456175 m from entry
  1. 1Shoreline reef kept on the right hand side4 m deep · 40 m out
  2. 2Fra Ben Cave entrance at 6 metres6 m deep · 103 m out
  3. 3Central rock inside the chamber3 m deep · 120 m out
  4. 4Open ceiling and blowhole to surface in1 m deep · 124 m out
  5. 5Cave mouth on the way back out6 m deep · 145 m out
  6. 6Sand and rock outside the cave towards the reef9 m deep · 175 m out
Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Rock-cut pool and shelf on the north side of Qawra Point, below the old tower. Depths are approximate.

Sand and rubble inside the chamber, rocky shelf with weed and small boulders outside.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Park on the Qawra Point promenade or in the lots near the aquarium, then a walk of roughly 150 metres to the north side entry. The usual way in is the rock-cut pool and shelf below the tower. In any swell, the step from the sheltered basin out into open sea is the awkward part, so look before you commit. Once in, it is an easy surface or shallow swim of about 100 metres along the shore. Cafes, restaurants and public toilets are a two minute walk away. Exit back through the same pool, and take your time on the rocks because they are slippery.

  • Swell and surge through the cave mouth and blowhole on anything but a calm day
  • Entrance easy to miss when it is in shadow
  • Shallow overhead with a rock ceiling, watch your buoyancy and your fins
  • Silt and fine sand inside, easy to lose visibility for the group behind you
  • Slippery entry and exit rocks
  • Snorkellers and swimmers in the same shallow water in summer
  • Fishing line snagged near the cave mouth

A bit of history

The cave takes its name from the headland above it and from Qawra Tower, known locally as Torri ta' Fra Ben, completed in 1638 as one of the Lascaris watchtowers built by the Order of Saint John. The cavern itself is ordinary Maltese coastal geology: wave action hollows out a chamber in the limestone, the roof thins, and eventually part of it falls in and leaves the open skylight and the central block that divers now swim around.

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Further reading: Malta Dive Sites: Fra Ben Cave · New Dimension Scuba: Qawra Point and Fra Ben Cave · Divers Guide: Qawra Point North · Wikipedia: Qawra Tower, also called Torri ta' Fra Ben