Gozo

Wied il-Mielah

A limestone window arching out of the cliffs on Gozo's far north-west corner, with two caves, a swim-through and a barracuda-haunted blue just beyond. Boats only, and worth the ride.

Open Water🕳️ Cave20 to 50 mBoat divePopularity: lowAlso called It-Tieqa ta' Wied il-Mielah, Salt Valley Window, Wied il-Mielah Window, Wied il-Mielaħ

Plan this dive

Sea conditions

Excellent right now

Flat, sheltered and calm

Forecast for the site, updated 01:47 AM

Waves: 0.4 m; from ESE
Wind: n/a
Swell: 0.3 m; 5 s period
Sea temp: 28 °C

Next 7 days

Today🌤️75 0.6 m
0 N

Sat🌤️85 0.4 m
0 N

Sun🌤️91 0.3 m
0 N

Mon🌤️98 0.2 m
0 N

Tue🌤️82 0.5 m
0 N

Wed🌤️60 0.8 m
0 N

Thu🌤️62 0.8 m
0 N

Exposed to wind and swell from: W (270°), NW (315°), N (0°), NE (45°). Faces the open sea on the north-west corner of Gozo, so it needs the majjistral to be asleep. Anything from west through north makes the arch unworkable and often cancels the boat before it leaves. Best in light easterly or dead calm, when visibility here is often the best on the island. Best season: Late May to October, with September and early October usually giving the warmest water and the calmest north-west.

The dive

Everyone who mourned the Azure Window should be told about this place. Wied il-Mielah is the valley that runs out to Gozo's north-western cliffs, and where it meets the sea the rock has been chewed into a broad arch. Above water it is a walk and a photograph. Below water it is one of the prettiest little cave circuits on the island, and because there is no way in from the rocks it stays quiet even in August.

The standard loop starts under the arch itself. Drop down the seaward foot, turn in towards the valley and you slip into a roomy cavern with its entrance at about sixteen metres and a pocket of trapped air up at the back. Come out and head west and the ground rises again into a reef ridge that runs perhaps thirty metres, topping out near twelve. In the gutter between the ridge and the cliff wall the sand sits closer to eighteen, and there is a low swim-through under the rock that is much easier than it looks.

Carry on west and you reach the crack. It is a cave that never closed over, so daylight pours down the whole length of it and the walls glow. Photographers tend to lose their gas plan here. Past it the wall settles at eighteen to twenty and the bottom tilts away into scattered, sponge-crusted boulders.

If you want the big fish, face the open sea and swim straight out from the arch until the bottom stops meaning anything. Somewhere around thirty to thirty-five metres a column of barracuda often hangs in the current, and amberjack come through on the same line. Eastwards the wall simply keeps going past fifty, which is a different dive and a different plan.

Diving under a natural sea arch that survived the fate of the Azure Window
A big cavern with a genuine air pocket at sixteen metres
The open crack cave, lit from above and shamelessly photogenic
Barracuda column hanging in the blue straight out from the arch
Quiet by default, because nobody can walk in

Typical plan

Boat drop at the arch, straight down the seaward foot to about sixteen and into the cavern, then out and west along the reef ridge at twelve, through the swim-through at eighteen, and on to the crack cave at twenty. If gas and the group allow, push out into the blue to thirty or thirty-five for the barracuda, then turn and work the boulders back up to the reef top for the last ten minutes. Forty-five to fifty minutes on a single twelve on air is comfortable; nitrox 32 is nicer if you plan the blue excursion. Keep the deep leg early and finish shallow under the arch.

What the bottom looks like

1Seaward foot of the Wied il-Mielah arch8 m deep · 15 m out
2Large cavern with air pocket under the window16 m deep · 30 m out
3Thirty-metre reef ridge west of the arch12 m deep · 55 m out
4Low swim-through between ridge and wall18 m deep · 85 m out
5Open crack cave lit from the surface20 m deep · 110 m out
6Sponge-covered boulder slope22 m deep · 150 m out
7Edge into the blue where barracuda shoal35 m deep · 250 m out

Cartoon cross-section along the usual route from the boat drop. Depths are approximate.

Broken coralline limestone and boulder fields close in, giving way to pale sand and rubble as the slope runs out into the blue.

Who you might meet

Getting in and staying safe

Boat only for diving. Most operators run out from Marsalforn or Xlendi and the ride is long enough to be part of the day, so bring something warm for the trip back. There is no shore exit anywhere along this stretch of cliff, so the boat is your only ladder and the skipper stays on station. Land visitors can drive to the end of the Gharb road at Wied il-Mielah and walk down the concrete path to the viewing area above the arch, but that is sightseeing, not a dive entry: there is no safe way to get kitted divers into the water there.

No shore exit anywhere along this coast, so a lost boat means a long problem
Surge pushes through the arch and the caves when there is any northerly swell running
Air pocket at the back of the cavern is tempting and the air in it is not fresh
Silt and fine sediment inside the cavern if a group stirs it up
The wall east of the arch drops well past fifty, so depth creep is real
Small boat traffic and tourist RIBs in summer
Exposed cliff site with no shelter and no facilities

A bit of history

The window is the same Upper Coralline limestone story that produced Dwejra's Azure Window: sea drills a cave into the cliff, the roof thins, the back of it opens out and for a few thousand years you get an arch. The Azure Window lost that bet in a storm in March 2017, which is exactly why Wied il-Mielah has become the island's poster arch. The valley name translates roughly as the salty valley, and its Roman-era water channel and the footbridge over the gorge are part of the walk in.

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Further reading: Malta Dives: Wied il-Mielah · Atlantis Gozo: Wied il-Mielah · Visit Gozo: Wied il-Mielah diving · DiveBoat.mt: Wied il-Mielah