Gozo and Malta

Gozo is a small island of soft Globigerina limestone and hard Upper Coralline limestone sitting in clear, nutrient-poor Mediterranean water. The combination gives it the two things it is known for: almost no fish and extraordinary rock. Arches, chimneys, tunnels, caves, and walls that drop straight off the shoreline into 50 m of 30-metre visibility.

Nearly everything is a shore dive, reached by driving to the end of a lane and walking down a concrete ramp with your kit.

The centre of it is Dwejra on the west coast, which packs three of the island's set pieces into one bay: the Inland Sea, a lagoon joined to the open Mediterranean by an 80 m tunnel through the cliff; the Blue Hole, a limestone shaft dropping through the shore platform and out onto the wall at about 26 m; and Crocodile Rock on the seaward side. Above the Blue Hole stood the Azure Window, a 28 m limestone arch. On 8 March 2017, in a storm, the pillar failed and the whole arch went into the sea. Nothing of it shows above water now.

The north coast has the wall sites: Reqqa Point, the deepest shore wall on the island, and Double Arch off Xwejni, two stacked natural arches in the reef. The west has San Dimitri Point, the island's westernmost tip, with caves cut into the cliff. On the south coast Ras il-Ħobż has the Middle Finger, a pinnacle rising from over 40 m to within 10 m of the surface, and Xatt l-Aħmar is where Gozo's scuttled wrecks lie, including the MV Xlendi.