Sign in
All sites

Gozo

Ġebel tal-Ħalfa

A small limestone islet just off the Qala coast that almost nobody dives. It is far better known to snorkellers and boat trippers than to anyone in a drysuit, and there is no published dive profile for it at all.

Open Water🌊 OtherDepth n/aShore access: hardPopularity: not divedAlso called Gebla tal-Halfa, Halfa Rock, Il-Gebla tal-Halfa, Il-Ġebla tal-Ħalfa, Oath Isle, Ħalfa Rock
Plan this dive

Sea conditions

86

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 01:45 AM

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

Next 7 days

Today🌤️74 0.5 m
0 N
Sat🌤️90 0.4 m
0 N
Sun🌤️88 0.3 m
0 N
Mon🌤️100 0.2 m
0 N
Tue🌤️100 0.4 m
0 N
Wed🌤️85 0.7 m
0 N
Thu🌤️58 0.7 m
0 N

Exposed to wind and swell from: S (180°), SE (135°), E (90°). Sheltered from the prevailing northwesterly, which is what makes this corner of Gozo swimmable most of the summer. A southerly or southeasterly puts swell straight onto it. Best season: June to October, when the channel is calm and the boats are running..

The dive

Be honest about this one: Ħalfa Rock is not an established dive site. It appears in the site indexes with no depths, no rating and a blunt note that it has not been dived, and searching the dive-centre listings turns up nothing beyond the fact that it exists. What it does have is a busy second life as a snorkelling and boat-trip stop, with charter skippers anchoring off it for an hour so people can swim around the base.

The water here is shallow and clear, in the strait between Gozo and Comino, and the reefs between the islet and Ħondoq ir-Rummien are reckoned by local freedivers to be some of the better shallow ground on the island. Expect the usual cast for that sort of terrain: bream, wrasse, damselfish over the rock, octopus and small moray in the cracks at the base, and seagrass patches on the sand between the islet and the shore.

If you want to dive it, treat it as an exploration rather than a site. Go by boat, keep the profile shallow, and accept that everything in the numbers below is inference from the setting rather than anything anyone has written down. The islet itself is a protected nature reserve with endemic plants, lizards and snails on top, so landing on it is not the plan.

  • A landmark islet that is snorkelled constantly and dived almost never
  • Clear, shallow water in the Gozo to Comino channel
  • Protected reserve with endemic plants and lizards on top
  • The Dragut oath story behind the name
  • Genuine exploration rather than a guidebook dive

Typical plan

There is no standard plan here, which is rather the point. If you go, take a boat, keep it shallow at 12 to 18 metres, circle the base of the islet and work the reef back toward Ħondoq, and treat the whole thing as a look-and-see on a single tank with a generous reserve. Snorkelling or freediving the same ground is arguably the better use of a calm afternoon.

What the bottom looks like

071318m🤿1234290 m from entry
  1. 1Fallen rock around the base of the islet5 m deep · 25 m out
  2. 2Rocky reef running toward Ħondoq12 m deep · 90 m out
  3. 3Sand and gravel in the channel16 m deep · 150 m out
  4. 4Posidonia patches between islet and shore15 m deep · 210 m out
Cartoon cross-section along the usual route. Depths are approximate.

Broken limestone and boulder around the islet, grading into sand with Posidonia patches in the channel.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Boat is the sensible approach, and plenty of charters out of Mġarr and Ħondoq already stop here for swimmers. There is a rough coastal path down from Qala towards the Żrieżaq side, but it is a scramble, not a dive access, and carrying kit down it would be an exercise in regret. No ladders, no facilities, no shelter. Ħondoq ir-Rummien, ten minutes away by boat, has the car park, kiosk and toilets.

  • Essentially unsurveyed for diving, so plan it as an exploratory dive
  • Heavy small-boat and jet-ski traffic in summer, this is a popular swim stop
  • The Gozo to Comino channel funnels current through the strait
  • Shallow rock and surge close to the islet
  • Protected nature reserve, so no landing and no collecting
  • No shore exit that does not involve a scramble

A bit of history

The name carries one of Gozo's better grudges. Ħalfa means an oath or a vow in Maltese, and the story attached to the rock says the Ottoman corsair admiral Dragut swore vengeance here after his brother was killed during a raid on Gozo in 1544. Seven years later he came back and took most of the island's population into slavery in the raid of 1551. Whether the oath was actually sworn on this rock is anyone's guess, but the name has stuck for centuries. Geologically the islet belongs to the same formation as Comino and the high ground of Qala. It is protected under Maltese law as a Level 1 Site of Scientific Importance and a special area of conservation, with endemic wall lizards, a distinct form of door snail, the Maltese pyramidal orchid and Maltese sea lavender on its crown.

Divers say

Sign in to rate this site and leave a note for the next diver.

  • No reviews yet. First one gets bragging rights.

Further reading: Wikipedia: Ħalfa Rock · Malta Dives: Gebel tal-Halfa · Outdoor Explorers Malta: Ħalfa Rock and Żrieżaq Bay