Xwejni Bay · Gozo

Reef

The shallow rock shelf just outside Xwejni Bay, 5 to 15 metres of ledges, grass and small canyons. Nobody travels to Gozo for it, but it is a lovely second dive, a reliable night dive and a forgiving classroom.

Open Water🪸 Reef5 to 15 mShore access: easyPopularity: highAlso called Xwejni Bay Reef, Xwejni Reef

Plan this dive

Sea conditions

100

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 01:33 AM

Waves: 0.4 m; from ESE
Wind: 7 km/h; SSW, gusts 14
Swell: 0.3 m; 5 s period
Sea temp: 28 °C; air 27 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌦️100 0.6 m
13 SW

Sat☁️100 0.4 m
14 SSW

Sun🌦️92 0.3 m
8 ENE

Mon☁️100 0.2 m
14 WNW

Tue☁️56 0.5 m
24 NW

Wed🌦️16 0.8 m
35 E

Thu🌤️46 0.8 m
19 WNW

Sunrise 06:47, sunset 19:06

Exposed to wind and swell from: NW (315°), N (0°), NE (45°). Very shallow, so it feels swell before the deeper sites do. Flat and clear in a southerly, washy and stirred up in anything from the north. Current is rarely an issue this close in. Best season: May to November, and excellent on any calm winter day with a southerly..

The dive

Swim out of Xwejni past the slipway and the sandy patches give way to a low reef running along the shoreline. It is all shallow, mostly between 5 and 15 metres, and built of stepped limestone ledges with Posidonia growing in the gaps and narrow canyons cutting through the rock.

The pleasure here is entirely in the small stuff. Poke a torch under the overhangs and you will find moray, octopus tucked into cracks, scorpionfish doing their best impression of a stone, and shoals of juvenile bream flickering over the grass. Young barracuda often stack up over the shallow reef in late summer. Nudibranchs are worth the hunt in spring.

Because it is shallow and sheltered from anything southerly, it swallows time. Sixty to seventy minutes on a single cylinder is normal, and it is one of the easiest night dives on Gozo given you can park beside the water.

Detailed published descriptions of this specific stretch are thin, which is fair: it is the unglamorous shelf between the bay and the famous offshore sites. Go in with low expectations and a macro lens and you will come out pleased.

Shallow and endlessly long dive time on one cylinder
Park at the water, walk in at the slipway
One of the easier night dives on Gozo
Good macro ground: nudibranchs, worms, sponges
Sheltered classroom for courses and refreshers

Typical plan

Walk in at the slipway, swim out on the surface for a minute, then drop and follow the reef edge with the rock on one shoulder at 8 to 12 metres. Turn at half gas, come back shallower over the ledges and finish among the grass in 5 metres. Air is fine; expect 60 minutes plus and a maximum of about 15 metres. Torch recommended even in daylight for the overhangs.

What the bottom looks like

1Neptune grass patches off the slipway4 m deep · 30 m out
2First stepped ledges of the reef7 m deep · 90 m out
3Boulder and rubble section9 m deep · 150 m out
4Narrow canyons cutting the shelf12 m deep · 220 m out
5Outer edge of the shallow reef15 m deep · 300 m out

Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Slipway on the west side of Xwejni Bay. Depths are approximate.

Stepped limestone ledges and rubble with Posidonia and sand filling the gaps.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Park on the coast road at Xwejni, right beside the water. Kit up on the flat rock and walk in at the slipway, then swim out of the bay and turn along the shore to pick up the reef. No ladder needed and no real walk with kit, which is why it sees so much use. Kiosk in season; toilets and cafes in Marsalforn a few minutes away.

Boats using the slipway and the bay mouth
Slippery algae on the slipway and rock shelf
Surge over the shallow reef in any northerly sea
Discarded fishing line among the ledges
Jellyfish in late summer
Sea urchins on the shallow rock

A bit of history

The shelf is cut into the same soft Globigerina limestone that the Xwejni salt pans are carved from, capped further offshore by harder Coralline rock. The salt pans behind the bay have been worked by Marsalforn families for generations.