A sheltered rocky pool and six metre plateau where half of Malta has learned to dive, with a reef wall dropping to 30 m and a Madonna statue tucked in a cave at 18 m.
ReefSea conditions
Stay dry right now
Sea is up (3.6 m WNW) · Fresh WNW wind (35 km/h) · Gusts to 59 km/h
Done for today. Tomorrow: not looking good. Best it gets is 21 at 16:00: Sea is up (1.4 m WNW)
Forecast for the site, updated 19:45 · Models disagree
Measured at Mġarr, Gozo (2.7 km away, 19:45): 31 km/h from WNW, gusts 37. The next hours lean on it.
- Waves
- 3.6 m
- from WNW, biggest 5.5
- Wind
- 35 km/h
- WNW, gusts 59
- Swell
- 0.4 m
- 7 s period
- Sea temp
- 22 °C
- air 19 °C
Hour by hour
Next 7 days
0 3.6 m45 W
0 3.5 m43 WNW
39 0.9 m14 W
95 0.3 m13 ESE
100 0.3 m12 E
84 0.3 m18 NNW
88 0.3 m16 SSW
Sunrise 06:26, sunset 17:06
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°), W (270°), N (0°). The alcove gives real shelter and this is usually the last part of Ċirkewwa to become undiveable, but once a northwesterly or westerly builds, the steps wash and the shallow plateau goes cloudy. In northerly through southeasterly winds it is flat and clear. Check the marine park webcam before driving north. Best season: All year when the northwest quarter is quiet, best from May to October. Go early for clear shallows and visit around Christmas if you want to see the crib beside the Madonna..
The dive
Susie's Pool is the front door to Ċirkewwa. The stairs drop you into a natural alcove where the water is waist deep and calm even when there is a bit of movement outside, which makes it the least stressful place imaginable to sort out a mask, fit a camera or run a student through their first skills. Beyond the alcove a rocky plateau sits at around six metres and stretches out far enough to do a whole dive on if that is what the day calls for.
Past the plateau the reef turns into a proper wall and drops away towards 30 m. Partway along it, at 18 m, a small cave holds a statue of Our Lady. She has been there since November 1987, placed by the Amphibians Diving Club, and the club has been quietly adding to the shrine ever since: a commemorative plaque for the twentieth anniversary in 2007, and a small nativity crib alongside her at Christmas 2017. Whatever you believe, finding a face looking back at you out of a dark slot in the rock at 18 m is a moment.
It is also the launch point for everything else. The route to the P29 starts here, past the memorial stone and the old anchor on the seagrass. Because of that the shallows can get busy and hazy by mid morning, so if you want the plateau and the Madonna to yourself, be in the water early. Late afternoon works too, once the training groups have packed up.
- Waist deep entry where you can stand up and sort your kit
- Six metre plateau made for skills, cameras and first dives
- Madonna statue in her cave at 18 m, shrined since 1987
- Reef wall dropping to 30 m for those who want a bit more
- The starting point for the P29 and the rest of Ċirkewwa
Typical plan
Walk down the stairs, sort yourself out standing in the alcove, then cross the six metre plateau to the edge of the wall. Follow it along at 12 to 18 m until the small cave with the Madonna appears, take a look one at a time, then continue along the wall as deep as 24 to 30 m if you want it before turning shallow. Come back over the plateau and use it as a long safety stop before the steps. An hour on a single set is comfortable, and there is no need for nitrox unless you are pushing the wall.
What the bottom looks like
- 1Natural alcove and stairs, waist deep entry1 m deep · 5 m out
- 2Rocky training plateau at six metres6 m deep · 30 m out
- 3Reef wall begins its drop10 m deep · 70 m out
- 4Madonna statue, plaque and crib in a small cave18 m deep · 95 m out
- 5Cavern and ledge line along the wall20 m deep · 110 m out
- 6Sand at the foot of the wall30 m deep · 140 m out
Flat Coralline limestone plateau close in, then a reef wall of ledges and small caverns dropping onto sand and seagrass.
Who you might meet
Almost always
Often
Sometimes
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
The easiest entry in Ċirkewwa. Park in the diver car park with your certification card on the dashboard, walk a couple of minutes on level ground, and take the stairs with handrails down into the alcove. You can stand up in the water while you finish kitting. The same stairs serve as the exit, which is a blessing after a long dive. Toilets, kiosks, cafes and shade are close by at the ferry terminal.
- Extremely busy with training groups, especially on summer mornings
- Silt and fin wash reduce visibility in the shallows as the day goes on
- Slippery steps and rock at the entry
- The wall drops to 30 m and the sand beyond goes deeper, so students can get away from an instructor quickly
- Small cave at the Madonna is a genuine overhead, so keep one diver at a time and a torch handy
- Surge in the alcove and on the steps in northwesterly swell
- Boat and ferry traffic offshore
- Jellyfish in late summer
Marine life to respect
Bearded fireworm · Busuf Can hurt you
Bristles snap off in the skin and burn for hours. Never touch; lift them out with tape, then hot water.
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
The Madonna statue was placed in her cavern at 18 m by the Amphibians Diving Club in November 1987, and the club marked the twentieth anniversary in 2007 by fixing a commemorative plaque inside the cave, adding a small crib beside her at Christmas 2017. She is one of a small family of Maltese underwater shrines that includes the Christ statue off Qawra Point, the nativity scene at Għar Lapsi and the diving helmet at Wied iż-Żurrieq. Out on the sand towards the P29 there is also a memorial stone to the British diver Frank Pembridge, which doubles as a navigation landmark. The whole area is now managed as the Ċirkewwa Marine Park.
Divers say
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Further reading: Ċirkewwa Marine Park: Susie's Pool · Malta Dive Sites: Susie's Pool · Calypso Sub Aqua Club: Marfa Point, the Madonna · Malta Independent: 20th anniversary of the Cirkewwa statue · PADI dive site: Cirkewwa Susie's Pool