Gozo

Newwiela Point

The southernmost tip of Gozo, dived from a boat under towering cliffs. A shallow plateau for the shallow part of the dive, then a wall and boulder field that keeps falling past sixty metres.

Advanced🧱 Wall25 to 60 mBoat divePopularity: lowAlso called Ras In-Newwiela, Ras in-Newwiela

Plan this dive

Sea conditions

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: 0.2 m; 5 s period
Sea temp: 28 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌤️75 0.6 m
0 N

Sat🌤️86 0.4 m
0 N

Sun🌤️89 0.4 m
0 N

Mon🌤️98 0.2 m
0 N

Tue🌤️83 0.4 m
0 N

Wed🌤️69 0.7 m
0 N

Thu🌤️72 0.6 m
0 N

Exposed to wind and swell from: S (180°), SE (135°), SW (225°), W (270°), E (90°). An exposed cape sticking into open sea, so it takes weather from almost every direction except the north, where the island itself protects it. Boats only run it on settled days, and a building southerly is the usual reason a trip gets cancelled. Watch for current around the tip even when the surface looks calm. Best season: May to October. Late summer and early autumn give the warmest water, the clearest visibility and the most reliable run of calm days..

The dive

Newwiela Point is where Gozo runs out of island. The cliffs above are high and empty, the boat ride there feels like an expedition, and under the surface the site is built like a stage set: a six metre plateau on top, a steep drop-off around its edge, and a wall dressed in enormous fallen boulders running down past sixty metres into sandy slopes that go deeper still.

The usual plan uses that architecture. Divers drop onto the plateau, follow it to the edge, then run the wall down to whatever their training and gas allow, watching the rock change character as the light drops. Small caverns and archways sit near the top, close enough to the plateau to be part of a normal recreational dive. Lower down, the boulders are pockmarked with holes and every third one seems to have something living in it: morays, lobsters, octopus, the occasional grouper that has learned nobody comes down here often.

Being on the point, the site also gets the blue water traffic. Amberjack patrol the edge of the drop-off and barracuda hang in the current line. Visibility is usually generous because there is nothing shallow nearby to stir up.

The plateau earns its keep at the end. Six metres of sunlit rock is a very pleasant place to burn off nitrogen, and after a deep wall run you will be glad it is there.

Wall and boulder field dropping past sixty metres
Six metre plateau that makes a luxurious stop or deco platform
Archways and small caverns right where the shallow dive happens
Amberjack and barracuda off the point
Gozo's southernmost cape, big cliffs and a proper sense of remoteness

Typical plan

Drop onto the plateau, swim to the edge and go over the lip with the wall on your shoulder. Work down to a planned maximum, thirty to forty metres for an advanced recreational dive, deeper only with technical training and staged gas. Turn on a third of your supply or when no-stop time runs short, then climb the wall slowly, pick up the archway and caverns on the way up, and spend the last fifteen minutes on the plateau at six metres. Nitrox 28 to 32 suits the recreational version well; deploy a delayed SMB before you leave the wall so the boat can track you.

What the bottom looks like

1Shallow plateau, deco and safety stop ground6 m deep · 30 m out
2Small caverns near the plateau edge9 m deep · 60 m out
3Archway close to the drop-off lip12 m deep · 75 m out
4Lip of the main drop-off22 m deep · 95 m out
5Wall with holes and crevices40 m deep · 140 m out
6Huge boulders sheltering moray, lobster and octopus55 m deep · 180 m out
7Sandy slope running deeper64 m deep · 220 m out

Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from the boat drop. Depths are approximate.

Flat coralline limestone on the plateau, then vertical and stepped wall with colossal fallen boulders, giving way to sand slopes below sixty metres.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Boat only. Trips run from Mgarr harbour or from Xlendi depending on the operator, and the site is normally combined with other south coast dives on the same outing. There is no shore access of any kind: the cliffs above are sheer and there is no path down. Bring everything you need on the boat, including spare gas and a delayed SMB, because there is nowhere to go if something is missing.

Depth: the wall runs past 60 m and it is easy to keep going
Narcosis and rapid gas use on the deeper sections
Current, sometimes strong, where it wraps around the point
No shore exit anywhere: you must return to the boat
Surge on the plateau in any swell
Small caverns and archways are an overhead, however brief
Remote location, long ride back to help

A bit of history

Newwiela Point is the southernmost cape of Gozo and, like the rest of the island's south coast, it is a face of Upper Coralline Limestone sitting on softer clays. The wall divers swim is the same rock as the cliffs overhead, and the boulder fields at its foot are the debris of collapses over geological time. No wrecks or recorded losses are associated with the point itself.

Divers say

No reviews yet. First one gets bragging rights.

Further reading: Wikipedia, Newwiela Point · Atlantis Gozo dive site page · MaltaDives site page · Divers Guide site information · Calypso Sub-Aqua Club site notes