Hondoq · Gozo
Ħondoq Bay
Gozo's training bay and probably the most forgiving patch of water on the island: sheltered, shallow, sandy, and close enough to the car park that you can walk to it fully kitted without swearing. Also, unexpectedly, a good rummage.
Sea conditions
Excellent right now
Flat, sheltered and calm
Diveable for the rest of the day.
Forecast for the site, updated 12:44 PM · Models differ a little
Measured at Mġarr, Gozo (4.7 km away, 01:50 PM): 4 km/h from SSE, gusts 5. The next hours lean on it.
- Waves
- 0.2 m
- from SSW, biggest 0.2
- Wind
- 7 km/h
- N, gusts 13
- Swell
- 0.2 m
- 4 s period
- Sea temp
- 28 °C
- air 25 °C
Hour by hour
Next 7 days
Sunrise 06:47, sunset 19:04
Waves: Copernicus Med-Waves 4 km + MFWAM 8 km + EWAM 5 km + ECMWF WAM 9 km. Wind: ICON-2I 2 km + ECMWF IFS 9 km + ICON-EU 7 km + UKMO 10 km + ARPEGE 11 km. Read a few km out on the side the site is open to, then blended.
Exposed to wind and swell from: E (90°), SE (135°), NE (45°). Sheltered from the prevailing northwesterly and workable in most weather, which is exactly why every dive centre in Gozo has it as its bad weather fallback. Easterly wind puts chop into the bay and clouds the shallows. Best season: All year. Best from May to November, with the warmest water and the best visibility usually in September and October..
Dives at Ħondoq Bay
The dive
Ħondoq is where a great many people in Gozo take their first breath underwater, and it earns that job honestly. The beach shelves gently, the bottom is sand and Posidonia rather than anything you can hurt yourself on, and the whole bay sits in the lee of the prevailing wind so it stays calm when Dwejra and the north coast are unworkable. Depth tops out around twelve metres. You can run every skill in the Open Water syllabus here without a single stressful moment.
That description undersells it, though. Out in the middle of the bay, sitting on the sand at the deepest point, there are large iron cart wheels, left over from the days when quarried block came down to the water here and went out on barges. A water pipeline strikes off across the bottom toward Comino and gathers life the way any long straight object does. To the west there is a hidden inlet with a small cave in it, and to the east the ground rises into the reef with its arches and swim-throughs. Not bad for a place nobody thinks of as a dive site.
The marine life is small and plentiful rather than large and rare: bream, wrasse, damselfish, octopus in the cracks, moray under the ledges, cuttlefish in spring, and young of almost everything using the seagrass as a nursery. It is a photographer's bay and a superb night dive. Just remember to look up before you surface, because in summer the water above you is full of boats, swimmers and people on inflatable flamingos.
- The calmest, most forgiving water on Gozo, sheltered when everywhere else is blown out
- Quarry cart wheels on the sand at the deepest point of the bay
- Pipeline to Comino acting as an accidental artificial reef
- Arches on the east, hidden inlet and small cave on the west
- Car park, toilets, kiosk and restaurant within a minute of the entry
Typical plan
Wade in off the beach or step off the slipway, drop in three metres and follow the sand and seagrass out into the middle of the bay to the pipeline and the cart wheels at around 12 metres. Loop east along the reef for the arches, or west to the inlet if you would rather have the cave, and come home shallow over the meadow. Sixty to seventy-five minutes on a single twelve; air is more than enough and this is a fine site to practise anything you are rusty at.
What the bottom looks like
- 1Sand shelf off the beach3 m deep · 40 m out
- 2Posidonia meadow across the middle of the bay7 m deep · 120 m out
- 3Water pipeline heading for Comino10 m deep · 200 m out
- 4Iron quarry cart wheels on the sand12 m deep · 260 m out
- 5Small cave in the hidden inlet on the western side8 m deep · 320 m out
- 6Arches on the eastern reef8 m deep · 380 m out
Sand and shingle near the beach giving way to broad Posidonia meadow with clean sandy clearings and low rock at the sides.
Who you might meet
Almost always
Sometimes
Marked ones can hurt you. What they do and what to do about it is under Getting in and staying safe.
Getting in and staying safe
The easiest access on Gozo. A signed road drops from Qala village to a large free car park a short walk from the water; it fills early in July and August, so come before nine or accept the walk. Entry is either a wade off the sand and shingle beach or a giant stride from the concrete slipway, and both work for exit. Toilets, a seasonal kiosk and a restaurant are on the bay, and there is a dive centre on the shore. Shade is limited, so do not leave cylinders baking in the sun.
- Heavy boat traffic, particularly outside the bay and on the Comino run
- Swimmers, snorkellers and inflatables overhead all summer
- Slippery algae on the slipway and the wet concrete
- Fishing line snagged on the rocks at the sides of the bay
- Mauve stinger jellyfish blooms in spring and early summer
- Silt over the seagrass if several groups have already passed
- Shallow depths tempt very long dives, so watch the cold and the gas
Marine life to respect
Common stingray · Boll Can hurt you
Whips a barbed tail if stepped on or cornered. Stay off the sand and give it room.
Mediterranean moray · Morina Can hurt you
Bites hard if a hand goes into its hole. Keep hands out of cracks and never feed one.
A bit of history
Ħondoq ir-Rummien means something like the pomegranate hollow. The bay was working industrial water for a long time: hardstone from the quarry above was brought down and loaded onto barges bound for Malta and beyond, supplying block for the Mġarr breakwater and the Grand Harbour breakwater in Valletta among others. The iron cart wheels on the seabed are the leftovers of that trade. Up on Ras il-Qala nearby there is a well preserved stretch of prehistoric cart ruts, those grooved tracks cut into the limestone whose purpose is still argued about. In modern times the bay is best known as the site of a long and bitter planning dispute over a proposed marina and hotel complex.
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Further reading: Divers Guide: Hondoq Bay · Blue Waters Dive Cove: the dive site on our doorstep · Visit Gozo: Ħondoq Bay · Atlantis Gozo: Ħondoq Bay