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Xwejni Bay · Gozo

Submarine Cave

A long, winding cave on the offshore wall between Xwejni and Qbajjar. The mouth yawns at about 21 metres and the floor runs back and down into silt at 34 metres, which makes it a serious dive dressed up as a reef swim.

Deep / Experienced🕳️ Cave🪸 Reef🧱 Wall30 to 45 mShore access: mediumPopularity: highAlso called Qbajjar Submarine Cave
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°). Offshore on the north coast, so a northerly rules it out. Current is frequently noted along this wall, and divers report the swim getting long when it runs. Flat southerly days are the ones to take. Best season: June to October, best in September and October..

The dive

Submarine Cave sits on the same north coast wall as Double Arch and Calypso Cave, tucked west of the latter and about a quarter of an hour of finning away. The entrance opens around 21 metres, wide enough to be inviting, and the passage then works its way back into the rock, twisting as it goes and sloping down to a silty floor at roughly 34 metres.

That silt is the defining feature. It lies thick and undisturbed, and a single careless fin kick turns a large, comfortable cave into a brown-out with no visual reference. Good trim, frog kicks and a line if you intend to go past daylight are the difference between a memorable dive and a very bad one.

Outside, the wall is properly good. Ledges and cracks hold grouper, moray and scorpionfish, and the drop continues past 40 metres for anyone with the gas plan for it. Most crews dive the cave first while fresh, then come back along the wall shallow.

This is an experienced diver's site and is usually done from a boat or as one leg of a longer north coast trip. Pair it with Calypso Cave if the sea is flat and you have the gas, but do not underestimate the swim.

  • Long winding cave running deep into the north coast wall
  • Big entrance at 21 metres leading to a 34 metre silty chamber
  • Wall outside holds grouper, moray and scorpionfish
  • Combines with Calypso Cave about fifteen minutes east
  • Genuinely quiet compared with Double Arch

Typical plan

Boat drop, or a long swim if you insist. Descend the wall to the cave mouth at 21 metres and enter with a torch and a clear turn plan, moving in frog kick well off the floor. Go only as far as your training, light and gas allow, then come out the way you went in and work back along the wall at 15 to 20 metres to offgas. Nitrox 30 suits the profile; keep it inside no-stop limits at roughly 30 to 35 minutes unless you are diving a proper staged plan. Two lights, an SMB and a buddy who also kicks properly.

What the bottom looks like

0173345m🤿12345360 m from entry
  1. 1Ledges and cracks on the outer wall20 m deep · 180 m out
  2. 2Cave mouth at around 21 metres21 m deep · 200 m out
  3. 3Winding passage sloping back into the rock29 m deep · 235 m out
  4. 4Silty floor at the back of the cave34 m deep · 265 m out
  5. 5Wall continuing past 40 metres40 m deep · 340 m out
Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Xwejni Bay slipway, then a swim out to the offshore wall. Depths are approximate.

Limestone wall and cave walls with a deep, fine silt bed covering the back of the passage.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Usually a boat dive, and considerably easier that way. Shore divers park on the Xwejni coast road, enter at the slipway and face a long transit out and along the wall, often quoted as the reason people bring scooters to this coast. Nearest facilities are the Xwejni kiosk in season and Marsalforn a few minutes away.

  • True overhead environment with a deep, silty floor
  • Silt-out risk from poor trim or fin technique
  • Depth of 21 to 34 metres inside the cave, deeper on the wall outside
  • Long swim from shore and fatigue on return
  • Current along the offshore wall
  • Boat traffic above; carry an SMB
  • Loss of natural light reference well inside the passage

A bit of history

The cave is a sea-cut passage in the Upper Coralline limestone of Gozo's north coast, formed along joints and bedding planes when sea level was lower and since drowned. It shares its wall with the Qbajjar arches and the Calypso collapse, all products of the same erosion of a hard rock cap.

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Further reading: Atlantis Gozo, Calypso Tunnel with Submarine Cave notes · Malta Dives, Submarine Cave · Atlantis Gozo dive site guide · Malta Dives, Xwejni Bay