Wied iż-Żurrieq · Malta

West Reef & Caves

The right-hand reef out of Wied iż-Żurrieq, all drop-offs, ledges and boulder gullies, with two caves and a brass diving helmet sitting on the sand at 28 metres.

Advanced🕳️ Cave🪸 Reef🧱 Wall5 to 25 mShore access: easyPopularity: highAlso called Bell Cave, Bell Tower Cave, Mouse Hole Cave, Right Wall, West Reef

Plan this dive

Sea conditions

Good right now

Some chop (0.5 m ESE)

Forecast for the site, updated 01:45 AM

Waves: 0.5 m; from ESE
Wind: n/a
Swell: 0.5 m; 5 s period
Sea temp: 29 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌤️68 0.5 m
0 N

Sat🌤️79 0.4 m
0 N

Sun🌤️81 0.4 m
0 N

Mon🌤️94 0.2 m
0 N

Tue🌤️81 0.4 m
0 N

Wed🌤️100 0.8 m
0 N

Thu🌤️85 0.8 m
0 N

Exposed to wind and swell from: SW (225°), S (180°), SE (135°), W (270°), NW (315°). The reef itself is out in the open and takes swell from the southern half of the compass, and a strong northwesterly wraps round the island and reaches it too. The inlet stays workable longer than the reef does, so on marginal days you can still dive the valley even when West Reef is a washing machine. Best season: April to November. Water around 15 to 16 C at the winter low and up to 26 C in late summer, with visibility often at its clearest in autumn..

The dive

Turn right out of the valley and the reef immediately starts offering you things to look at. West Reef is the more architectural of the two Żurrieq reefs: ledges stacked over one another, gullies that funnel you between boulders, and a drop-off that keeps the profile interesting instead of just deep.

The two caves are the reason it has a name. Bell Tower Cave has three entrances stacked one above the other like windows in a campanile, the lowest at about 27 metres, and inside there is room for two or three divers and an absurd number of cardinalfish, which part around your torch beam and close again behind you. Mouse Hole sits at around 25 metres and is named for its entrance, which is exactly as generous as the name suggests. Between and around them the reef is drilled with smaller caverns, holes and undercuts that reward a slow pass with a torch.

Where the rock runs out, seagrass and sand take over, and out on that sand at about 28 metres sits the diving helmet: a full-size mock-up of an old brass hard hat bolted to a concrete block. It is a fine photograph and a useful navigational fix, since it sits on the line between here and the Um El Faroud.

All of which means West Reef works as a dive in its own right, as a warm-up before the wreck, or as the shallow half of a two-tank day.

Bell Tower Cave with three entrances stacked on top of each other
Mouse Hole, a squeeze of an entrance into a bigger room
Clouds of cardinalfish inside both caves
Brass diving helmet statue on the sand at 28 metres
Drop-offs, gullies and ledges that keep the profile varied

Typical plan

In from the quay, out of the valley and turn right along the reef, dropping gradually to the lip of the main drop-off at around 18 metres. Over the edge, visit Mouse Hole at 25 and Bell Tower at 27, keeping cave time short and your torch on. Cross to the helmet statue on the sand at 28 if gas allows, then turn and work back up the reef, spending the last third of the dive in the gullies at 10 to 15 metres. Finish on the 9 metre shelf for a safety stop. Around 45 minutes on a single 12 litre, more with nitrox 32, which suits this profile very well.

What the bottom looks like

1Shallow ledges just out of the valley7 m deep · 60 m out
2Boulder gullies and undercuts12 m deep · 120 m out
3Main drop-off18 m deep · 180 m out
4Mouse Hole Cave, narrow entrance25 m deep · 215 m out
5Bell Tower Cave, three stacked entrances27 m deep · 250 m out
6Seagrass fields at the reef edge28 m deep · 295 m out
7Brass diving helmet statue on sand28 m deep · 340 m out

Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from Wied iż-Żurrieq quay: ladders and slipway. Depths are approximate.

Fissured limestone reef with boulders and ledges, giving way to seagrass beds and open sand at around 28 metres.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Shore dive from the Wied iż-Żurrieq quay. Park at the bottom of the hill near the steps or at the top of the ramp, with two official car parks 150 to 200 metres further back. Four ladders along the quay plus a slipway, and a giant stride works from almost anywhere along the concrete. Check ladders are in place before kitting up, particularly in winter. The slipway is the sheltered exit and the one to head for if the sea gets up. Concrete and slipway both go slippery with algae, so take your time. Restaurants, cafes and public toilets on the quay, shorter hours out of season.

Caves are an overhead environment: torch each, and training and a line for anything beyond daylight
Bell Tower Cave entrances at 25 to 27 m, deep enough to shorten no-stop time sharply
Surge inside the cave entrances when swell is running
Tourist boat traffic between the quay and the Blue Grotto
Currents can run even when the surface looks flat
Slippery concrete quay and slipway
Lost fishing line on the reef, anglers on the quay
Mauve stinger jellyfish in spring and autumn

A bit of history

The diving helmet statue was placed on 3 July 2005 by ATLAM Sub Aqua Club, a Maltese diving club, to mark its fiftieth anniversary. It joined a small family of underwater statues around the islands: the Madonna at Ċirkewwa, the Christ figure known as Kristu tal-Baħħara off Qawra Point, and a nativity crib at Għar Lapsi. The reef and its caves are Upper Coralline limestone, hollowed out along its joints and bedding planes over a very long time, the same process that carved the Blue Grotto a kilometre to the east.