For Recreational and Technical Diving

Great mediterrean diving, a favourite dive destination for the British diver as the diving is as easy or as challenging as you want to make it. In the winter the diving is as good as the summer yet less crowded - sometimes there are winter storms that stop you diving. The summer is an excellent time to visit, and as most diving is from the shore its easy to pick and choose the sites that suit your level of experience.

Malta has sone great advantages and hear are just a few

1.   Fantastic technical wreck dives ranging from 30-100m+
2.   2 hours fly time from Europian Countries
3.   EU safety standards
4.   Superb weather conditions for most of the year
5.   Warm clear tideless waters
6.   Deep water close to shore (short boat rides or shore entry)
7.   Tremendous caverns and caves
8.   First class hyperbaric facilitieswithin 15minutes reach
9.   Did I mentin the unbelievable wreck sites?
10. great value accomodation
11. Good night life
12. Excellant restuarants
13. A magnificant history
14. Deep Blue and Tec Deep Blue Diving

Malta has everything you can ask for and more. I guess this is why so many divers return.

        
Malta, Gozo and Comino have many dive sites and all are visited including, MV Rozi 35m, St.Pauls Reef, Qawru Reef, a small blowhole creates a superb little grotto,
HMS Maori, The Polynesian (50m) and HMS Stubburn (57m) and many other wrecks.
The Famous The Blue Hole in Gozo. And Santa Maria Caves, Lantern point, Elephant Rock off Comino
  Marine life including Barracuda, Large Bream, Moray, Red Scorpionf ish and Grouper to name a few. The water temperature will be around 25C.

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HMS Manchester wreck report

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HMS Stubborn

HMS Stubborn

Malta

Santana Hotel 4*

         


All the 148 hotel standard rooms have: Balconies, Central Heating / Air-conditioning En suite bath and shower, Cable TV with pay TV options, Mini bar, Radio, Laundry facilities, Full size mirror, Hair dryer.
In our oppinion we do not find this a very good 4* hotel. Perhaps in the 70's when it was first built but not know.The rooms were very small and needed decorating. The picture above shows an upgraded room and is not a standard room.These pictures are quite deceiving. This area generally caters for the older travellor and many ex-British patriots. Not quite the get away we thought of unless you like your home comforts such as English football, Kareoki, Drag Queen. I am sure there are much better resorts on Malta than this. We also found it very hard to find a good restuarant to eat in. Either the service was taking too long or the food was not cooked well. We used Dive Deep Blue who are an English run Dive Centre and have started to cater for tech divers only in the last 1.5 years. We found this operation top class and could not fault their dive planning. The recreational and Technical school are completly separate from each other, but under one site. On the Technical side we managed many extended range dives such as The Rozie Wreck, HMS Stubburn (53m), The Polinesian (55m), and Imperial Eagle (40m). On the recreational dive package we did the famous Blue Hole, Um-Ul-Faroud at Blue Grotto, (nice cafe there), and many more caverns and sites.

If I was to choose between Gozo and Malta it would depend on the type of diving and holiday I wanted. If I wanted recreational dives I would stay on Gozo as the island is so peacefull and has vast amount of natural beauty. Plus the restuarants are all very good and cheaper than Malta. Gozo is fantastic for Caverns and wrecks, the reefs on all the three islands are not so interesting so try and stick to Caverns and Wrecks. If I wanted to have Technical Exteneded Range dives I would have to stay on Malta and definetly dive with Deep Blue as they appear to be the only Dive Centre working in a professional capacity. But stay in a better Hotel. It does not matter if you stay on Malta or Gozo as you will dive pretty much the same sites as distance is not usually an issue. Comino also offers some fantastic caves. The water temp in June was a chilly 20c down to 20m then reduced to 15c thereafter. Viz was 20m+

Restaurants & Bars

The Moire Restaurant. Elegant and yet informal, The Moire' is the main Hotel restaurant, with a seating capacity of approximately 300 persons. This restaurant was refurbished in January 2000.
Trattoria Calico. For those preferring a more personal style of service, the Trattoria Calico, which is open daily in the evening, is an alternative dining facility to all our hotel guests. Traditional Italian foods.
The Lacey's Pub. Certainly a drinking hole with a difference! The Lacey's Pub features a maritime theme, and an antique 13 metre long rowing boat adorns the ceiling.
Algadon 24 Hour Internet Cafeteria. This outlet is an informal yet smart and comfortable facility.

Indigo Wellness Club
 

This Egyptian theemed facility comprises a heated indoor pool, 2 whirlpools, fitness room, sauna, hydrotherapy bath, a massage room and a beauty treatment salon. These facilities are ideal especially for clients seeking those relaxing winter breaks, especially since the outlet is open for over fourteen hours.

The health and beauty salon is manned six days a week by fully qualified personnel who offer over 80 different services ranging from slimming treatments, algae baths, mud wraps, acupuncture, to simple make up. Massage facilities which are catered for in the outlets massage room, by no less then four different qualified masseuses, also offer this facility in the outdoor pool area during the peak summer season.