Santa Marija Reef
A low rocky reef off Comino's northern tip, cut through with gullies, caverns and swim-throughs, with schools of bream and mullet grazing the algae. Modest on its own, excellent when combined with the caves next door.
ReefSea conditions
Stay dry right now
Sea is up (3.4 m NW) · Fresh WNW wind (36 km/h) · Gusts to 58 km/h
Done for today. Tomorrow: not looking good. Best it gets is 19 at 17:00: Sea is up (1.3 m NW)
Forecast for the site, updated 19:45 · Models disagree
Measured at Mġarr, Gozo (5.5 km away, 19:45): 31 km/h from WNW, gusts 37. The next hours lean on it.
- Waves
- 3.4 m
- from NW, biggest 4.8
- Wind
- 36 km/h
- WNW, gusts 58
- Swell
- 0.4 m
- 11 s period
- Sea temp
- 22 °C
- air 19 °C
Hour by hour
Next 7 days
0 3.4 m50 W
0 3.3 m48 WNW
36 0.9 m17 W
80 0.4 m15 ESE
66 0.5 m15 E
62 0.5 m22 NE
68 0.5 m21 SE
Sunrise 06:25, sunset 17:05
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: NW (315°), N (0°), NE (45°), E (90°). Off the exposed northern tip, so it feels the weather from most of the top half of the compass. Good in a southerly, poor in anything from the north. Visibility is generally very good, often 25 m plus, since there is no sediment source nearby. Current is normally light but picks up as it runs past the point. Best season: May to October, with the calmest surface conditions typically in June and September..
The dive
Nobody will tell you Santa Marija Reef changed their life, and that is fine. What it does offer is a generous, shallow, uncomplicated slab of rock full of channels to swim down and gaps to swim through, all of it lit from above and none of it deeper than about twenty-one metres. For an underwater photographer working wide angle, it is a gift: framing a diver in a gully with blue water behind is almost too easy here.
The rock is furred with algae, and that supports the shoals. Grey mullet, salema and various bream drift over the reef top in numbers, mouths working, and a grouper or two usually holds station in the shaded parts of the bigger gullies. It is grazing-ground diving rather than pelagic drama, so slow down and look into the cracks.
The practical catch is getting in. This is a boat dive in all but name, and the water off the northern tip is often choppier than it looks from the bay, which makes kitting up and entry more awkward than the dive itself deserves. Most operators simply fold it into a day with Santa Marija Caves, which is the right call.
- Gullies and swim-throughs made for wide-angle photography
- Big grazing schools of mullet, salema and bream over the reef top
- Shallow enough for a very long, relaxed dive
- Pairs naturally with Santa Marija Caves on the same boat trip
Typical plan
Enter off the boat, drop to the reef top at 8 to 10 m and work outwards through the gullies to the reef edge, bottoming out around 18 to 21 m on the sand. Turn along the base, take a look into the undercut caverns, then climb the reef again and spend the last third at 6 to 10 m over the algae fields where the schools sit. Fifty to sixty minutes on a 12 litre cylinder. Air is fine given the depths; a torch is worth carrying for the caverns, and an SMB is essential before you come up off the point.
What the bottom looks like
- 1Algae-covered reef top8 m deep · 30 m out · under the boat
- 2First main gully and swim-through12 m deep · 55 m out · 25 m from the boat
- 3Cavern undercut in the reef edge17 m deep · 95 m out · 65 m from the boat
- 4Sand at the base of the reef21 m deep · 125 m out · 95 m from the boat
- 5Boulder shoulder on the return leg13 m deep · 175 m out · 145 m from the boat
Low algae-covered limestone reef cut by gullies, with sand and rubble collecting at the base of the rock.
Who you might meet
Almost always
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
Realistically a boat dive, and dive boats out of Ċirkewwa, Mġarr and Buġibba treat it as a sister site to Santa Marija Caves. Shore access exists but is rated hard: it means a scramble over rock from the Santa Marija Bay side and a long surface swim out to the reef, which is not worth it with a full kit unless conditions are glassy. Nothing at the site itself; the little beach in Santa Marija Bay has seasonal kiosks and shade in summer.
- Surface chop and swell at the northern tip make boat entry and exit awkward
- Short overhead sections in the caverns and swim-throughs
- Boat and jet ski traffic in summer, deploy an SMB
- Surge through the narrow gullies with any northerly running
- Long, tiring surface swim if attempted from shore
- Discarded fishing line snagged on the reef top
Marine life to respect
Mediterranean moray · Morina Can hurt you
Bites hard if a hand goes into its hole. Keep hands out of cracks and never feed one.
Red scorpionfish · Ċippullazza Can hurt you
Venomous spines, and it sits still on the rock. Look before you kneel or hold on; hot water if stung.
A bit of history
Same geology as the caves around the corner: Coralline limestone fractured along joint lines, then hollowed and undercut by wave action into gullies and caverns. There is no wreck or documented incident associated with the reef itself.
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Further reading: Calypso Sub-Aqua Club: Santa Marija Reef · MaltaDives: Santa Marija Reef · MaltaDives: Santa Marija Caves (adjacent site)