It’s not very often that I arrange a holiday with little or no diving involved – especially when the chosen destination is somewhere that’s quite so ‘dive-centric’ as the islands of Malta & Gozo. But that, funnily enough, was the situation I found myself in having agreed to join my wife and two close friends on a week-long holiday on the beautiful island of Gozo. Bags packed, it was all I could do to stop myself from packing a set of regs, a backplate and wing ‘just in case’ but with a quick look at RyanAir’s generous luggage allowance, the decision was made for me – this was going to be a non-diving holiday.

Based in Fontana – a small suburb to the South West of Victoria – our first two days in Gozo were fairly run of the mill. Day one saw us taking a boat trip out to the island of Comino to spend a few hours around the blue lagoon. Weather wasn’t great in Gozo terms – overcast was the order of the day – but it was still warm enough to swim in the clear, azure waters. Day two saw us exploring nearby Victoria with time spent walking around the street markets and the ever-present Citadel with its imposing canons and cathedral.

Of course it didn’t take long for the diving bug to bite again and it happened on day 3 on a visit to the stunning coastline at Dwejra. Armed with my Nikon DSLR, I spent the first hour or so scuttling around the rocks taking stock photos of the blue hole and the azure window – possibly the signature view of Gozo. Wading through the water to get closer to the blue hole itself, divers were literally everywhere. They say the blue hole is one of the most popular dive sites in the Med and that certainly seemed true today!

Moving over to the far side of the blue hole with the azure window behind me, I crouched to frame a shot of divers on the surface of the crystal clear waters. Scanning the frame through the camera’s viewfinder, it didn’t take me long to spot the Halcyon logo on one particular diver’s mask strap. Now being a bit of a kit whore, this immediately drew my focus to the diver in question. Hang on a sec… is it? Surely not?! It bleedin’ is… it’s that tart Howard Payne! Yup – there’s no escaping YD, it seems…

Chatting to Howard really didn’t help my desperate attempts to stay dry throughout my stay in Gozo – especially when I bumped into him a second time later that day at the Inland Sea. Bugger it, thinks I – I’m gonna treat myself to just one dive and that dive has to be the blue hole. Strolling through Xlendi later that day, I popped into St Andrews Dive Centre and asked whether they had any trips going up to Dwejra over the next couple of days. “When do you want to dive it?” they ask. “Er… whenever” replies I. Now having grown used to UK and Egyptian dive boats only running trips when they have enough people to make the trip worthwhile, this really surprised me. Surely they wouldn’t take me up there on my own?! But sure enough, they did – how’s that for service?!

Next morning saw me standing outside St Andrews Dive Centre preparing for my trip up to Dwejra. Kit assembled from their excellent range of hire gear (they use Apeks regs so I was immediately happy!), I met my dive guide for my trip up to Dwejra – Rick. A former salesman in his late 40s from the US of A, Rick and his wife gave up the rat race to travel around the world working as dive instructors. Arriving in May of this year, Rick had already managed to rack up more dives than most people manage in a lifetime so I knew I’d be in good hands. Loading our kit into the back of Rick’s 4×4, we headed off from Xlendi towards Dwejra.

As we approach Dwejra, Rick makes the call on our chosen route. The plan is to take in the Blue hole, the Chimney and exit out at the Inland Sea but a lot would depend on the direction of the tide. As it was, our original dive plan was still intact so we kit up, drop the kit off near the Blue Hole and Rick then drops the 4×4 down at the waters edge by the Inland Sea.

Navigating the uneven rocks, we eventually reach our entry point – the top of the Blue Hole. Considering how busy the site had been only the day before, Dwejra is surprisingly quiet today with only myself and Rick anywhere near the Blue Hole. Hopping into the water to put on our fins, we signal to each other and start our descent down through the crystal clear waters. Now the Blue Hole isn’t quite the ‘hole’ that you might imagine as the thin vein of rock that separates it from the open sea is actually just the top of an arch that breaks the surface. Little more than 5 metres below the surface, the rock gives way to the roof of the archway providing access to the open sea.

As you descend the Blue Hole, always turn around and look straight up as it’s one of the most spectacular and beautiful sights you’ll see in the Med as the rays of sun light break through the water to form a stunning pool of light above you. As we reached the base of the Blue Hole at a depth of about 14m, it’s worth exploring the cavern at the back of the hole before you head out into the open sea. There’s not much to see back there but take a torch and have a poke around in the darkness just for the hell of it – you won’t regret it. Turning around to exit the cavern, the view of the bottom of the Blue Hole and the exit out into the open sea is simply beautiful. The rocks themselves are fairly barren and there’s very little life but it’s the way that the sunlight dances across the rocks that makes this place quite magical. Next time I dive this site, it’ll definitely be with a camera…

Exiting out into the open sea, Rick directs me across massive boulders the size of trucks as we head towards the Azure Window. As we approach, you can clearly see the archway 25m above the surface through the crystal clear waters and it’s quite an impressive site, to say the least. As we fin beneath the arch, I can’t help but notice the number of seemingly fresh (and very large) shards of creamy-white rock around us. There’s only one place those rocks could have come from and it does concern me slightly. From the surface, you can clearly see a very, very deep crack on the inside of the outer archway and it’s this crack that will almost certainly lead to the eventual demise of Gozo’s signature natural attraction. How long does it have before it all comes crashing into the sea? 10 years? 20 years? Who knows – but certainly in our lifetime, is my guess.

As we swim beneath the arch, both Rick and myself invert so we can take in the full wonder of the view above us. Staying like this for a good 30m or so, it’s hard to draw your view away from such an impressive sight but eventually we leave the arch behind us and continue on along the wall towards the inland sea. The topography here does change a little as the wall becomes more of a drop off, with a small ledge at about 25m or so that we follow keeping the wall on our right shoulder. Apart from the schools of small fish that dart around us like a swarm of irate (but strangely lazy) bees, there’s not much in the way of life to see here. Looking down into the depths, I do spot a small number of larger fish including a couple of medium-sized groupers that seem content to stay out of our way.

Eventually we reach the opening to a large cave which, I’ll admit, I initially assumed was the entrance to the Inland Sea although it does seem to have crept up on us far quicker than I’d expected. Sure enough, it’s not the inland sea at all but a cave that Rick takes me into for a better view. He spots a smaller cave off to the left that we enter and, although it doesn’t go back that far, it does provide a fun little swimthru. Stopping to explore the back of the cave, Rick points out a few interesting critters that have made this little cave their home. After blinding them with our torches, we head back out into the open sea.

The next 15 minutes or so of the dive are fairly uneventful. In fact, I’d probably say that they were dull but hey – any dive is better than no dive so I chill out and just enjoy floating effortlessly through the (relatively) warm, clear waters around me.

Eventually Rick and I turn a corner and there it is – the entrance to the inland sea. By now we’ve got company as three other divers appear from the opposite direction and head into the cave near us. Looking up, all I see is darkness but the path before us is surprisingly well lit with a high level of ambient light to illuminate the entrance to the cave. As we make our way through the tunnel, light levels drop dramatically so we switch to our torches to light our way. In the distance I can see the faint glow of the exit out into the inland sea as the tourist boats pass above us but there’s only one view worth taking in at this point in the dive – what’s behind us. Turning around to fin backwards through the tunnel, I take in the magnificent view of the open ocean in the distance and the silhouettes a group of divers hanging lazily in the V-shaped blueness. It’s one of those views that you just can’t take your eyes off and I spend a good few minutes taking in the view.

With the open ocean just a feint glow in the distance, we eventually reach a shallow shelf where Rick and I spend the next 5 minutes gassing off before our exit. All too soon it’s over and we cross one last truck-sized boulder out into the blinding light of the Inland Sea. Suddenly surrounded by swimmers and snorkelers, we quickly move into the shallows and break the surface. 70mins in and only just starting to feel the cold, my one and only dive in Gozo has been a good one.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at St Andrews Dive Centre in Xlendi – they’re one of those rare dive centres that still offers that personal touch and nothing is ever too much trouble it seems! If you’re heading to Gozo, definitely check them out – I can’t recommend them highly enough. Thanks guys.

(Re-posted with kind permission from Yorkshire-Divers.com)