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Ċirkewwa · Malta

Reef Beyond Rozi

The Cirkewwa wall keeps running north long after everyone else has turned around at the Arch. Out there it steepens into a proper deep face with overhangs, snagged netting and more than 40 metres of water under your fins.

Technical🪸 Reef🧱 Wall20 to 45 mShore access: mediumPopularity: lowAlso called Cirkewwa North Reef, North Reef, Right Reef
Plan this dive

Sea conditions

100

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 02:29 AM

Waves
n/a
Wind
4 km/h
S, gusts 8
Swell
n/a
Sea temp
n/a
air 25 °C

Next 7 days

Today☁️100 ? m
14 SW
Sat☁️100 ? m
13 SSW
Sun🌦️92 ? m
5 ENE
Mon☁️100 ? m
13 WNW
Tue☁️95 ? m
20 NW
Wed🌤️97 ? m
22 E
Thu🌤️100 ? m
10 NNE

Sunrise 06:47, sunset 19:05

Exposed to wind and swell from: NW (315°), N (0°), W (270°). Ċirkewwa loses its sheltered reputation as soon as you get past the Arch. Northwesterly swell wraps around the point and the current along the deep face can turn a comfortable outbound leg into a grind on the way home. Flat calm and slack water only. Best season: Late May to October, when the sea is settled and long surface intervals on the rocks are pleasant. September and October usually give the clearest water..

The dive

Most divers at Cirkewwa follow the same loop: Rozi, the Arch, back up the reef, done. Keep swimming north instead and the ground changes character. The shallow shoulder holds around 15 to 20 metres for a good while, then the sand beneath you starts running away and the face beside you tips toward vertical.

Roughly ten minutes past the Arch the reef forks. One arm stays shallow and curls off to the east, which is the sensible way home. The other carries on north and loses height fast, topping out near 30 metres and landing on sand somewhere past 40. That deeper face is the reason people come: cut-back overhangs, a few dark recesses, and old netting hanging in sheets where it snagged years ago and nobody has been able to retrieve it.

This is not a bonus loop tacked onto an Advanced Open Water dive. It is a planned technical dive with a decompression obligation and a long horizontal swim back at the end of it. Gas, a reel, a big surface marker and a hard turn pressure all belong on the kit list, and so does the discipline to use them.

  • A deep undercut wall that almost nobody at Cirkewwa ever sees
  • Overhangs and dark recesses at 35 to 40 metres
  • Pelagic traffic hanging off the edge in the blue
  • A serious technical objective reached from a car park

Typical plan

A standard run is 45 to 55 minutes on trimix or a rich nitrox mix depending on target depth. Drop in at the main entry, follow the reef north past the Arch on a bearing, then descend the deep face to a maximum around 45 metres for 12 to 15 minutes of bottom time. Turn on gas pressure, not on curiosity, and shoot a bag before leaving the wall. Decompress drifting off the reef at 20, 9 and 6 metres with the shallow shoulder underneath for reference, then swim home along the 6 metre contour. Doubles or sidemount plus a deco cylinder, reel, backup light and a spare mask are all normal kit here.

What the bottom looks like

0183548m🤿12345630 m from entry
  1. 1Cirkewwa Arch, where most divers turn back19 m deep · 150 m out
  2. 2The fork, shallow spur east and deep wall north24 m deep · 380 m out
  3. 3Steep northern wall face33 m deep · 470 m out
  4. 4Overhangs and small recesses hung with old netting37 m deep · 525 m out
  5. 5Sand at the foot of the wall45 m deep · 575 m out
Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Cirkewwa main entry point, the stride entry used for the Rozi. Depths are approximate.

Fractured coralline limestone stepping down in ledges and undercuts to a floor of coarse pale sand beyond 40 metres.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Everything starts at the Ċirkewwa diver car park by the ferry terminal, where the usual dive permit rules apply: leave your certification card face up on the dashboard. From the car it is a short walk on concrete to the main stride entry, the same one used for the Rozi. Ladders and railings make the exit civilised, although the final climb with doubles and stages is honest work. Cafes and toilets sit by the ferry terminal a couple of minutes away. Plenty of teams arrange a boat pick-up rather than swimming the whole way back on the surface.

  • Decompression obligation, this is not a recreational profile
  • Strong currents that often run along the deep face
  • Gozo ferries and Comino boats pass directly overhead, so a direct ascent is not an option
  • Snagged nets and monofilament on the deeper overhangs, carry a cutter
  • Long swim back to the ladders, gas planning matters more than usual
  • Narcosis, gas density and cold below 35 metres

A bit of history

Nothing sank here and nothing was scuttled. The interest is geology. The same coralline limestone shelf that gives Cirkewwa its arch, tunnels and swim-throughs carries on northwards as a fractured wall, undercut over a very long time by wave action back when sea level sat far lower than it does today. The only human trace is the fishing gear draped across the deeper overhangs, lost by boats working the Comino channel.

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Further reading: Malta Dive Sites, Reef Beyond Rozi · Malta Dive Sites, Cirkewwa overview · Divewise Malta, the Cirkewwa reef dive · PADI dive site, Cirkewwa Arch