European Divers Meeting - meeting of divers from Europe in Malta

On 05 – 09 June 2017, the European Divers Meeting took place. Among the participants there was no shortage of Divers24 team. Monday was the day of arrivals and accommodation. We were assigned to the Atlantis Dive Centre on Gozo. Upon arrival, we were pleasantly greeted by the owners of this large and professional centre, Stephania and Brian Azzopardi. We left our equipment at the base, picked out the missing one and, with the keys to our rooms, followed Stephania to get accommodated in the Atlantis owned block of flats (rooms). Clean, with air conditioning and balcony, recently completed.

We returned after 20 minutes. The last divers were leaving the centre and the staff were finishing tidying up and arranging everything so that we could leave efficiently the next day and dive at new sites. It was after 5pm when, after assertive requests that we still wanted to dive today, we were given a car and packed up we drove to our ‘dive’. We chose a close destination. Marcin complained terribly that he had to dive on a single cylinder, but the Czechs took all the free twins. Such life…

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The dive in Xwejni Bay was shallow, long and full of interesting experiences of the terrain, which is indeed interesting here. There was a lack of animals, those slightly larger than 5cm fish.

The next day we were able to choose our dive sites. The first one was the famous Azzure Window, which is without Azzure Window. This made us all the more eager to dive there. The impression upon arriving at the site (for those who saw the Nature’s wonder collapsed during the storm in March) is: “terribly bald”. Behind the well, where the immersion begins, there is only the sea …

When we got under the water it turned out that the visibility oscillated at the level of 20 m. The water is pleasantly warm, as it has already warmed up to 20-22 C. Brian led calmly. We swam over the debris left by the fallen pieces of rock. They are still white, but they are already beginning to overgrow with creatures. In my opinion, diving here is much more interesting than before. Now there are many more nooks, caves, tunnels. There are fish swimming everywhere. I counted about 10 small groupers, which is rare in Malta.

For the second site we chose the “Cathedral”. Very interesting dive. Getting to the dive site on the rocks. Then jumping into the water from the slope or descending the ladder. Brian led us into deep water, at over 40m, where we saw several pieces of large dentex (dentex dentex) and at the limit of visibility a large grouper, about a metre long. There were moray eels, conger, crabs and many smaller fish typical of the Mediterranean. We reached the “cathedral” and, after waiting safely at the safety stop, swam out into the cave. It took us so long to rest and admire that the computers counted us another dive.

After returning and getting ready, we drove in the provided car, gathering other participants of this European meeting, to the port in order to take the ferry to the island of Malta and reach the meeting place “Popeye Village”. Here there was a common meeting of all the guests. There were lectures, talks and a BBQ sponsored by the MTA. Details on websites.

The next day was a feast for divers. Early in the morning, Armin (Taucher.net), Peter and others hung flags of European countries on the Karweli wreck. After eight o’clock the participants were descending. DAN had set up their tents and were conducting otolaryngological examinations and right after the dive for gas bubbles, based on readings from the equipment (examination of the heart, among other things) and the dive profile downloaded from the computer. They were very well prepared as they probably had all the cables for each brand of computer with them.

From the morning until 3pm you could dive, explore, sunbathe, talk and eat the prepared sandwiches and water. Together with Marcin and Denis – the guide from Atlantis, we did two dives. The first, of course, on MV Karwela to see how the flag of Poland looked. After the surface break, we went down to the wreck of MV Cominoland, which is located on the left side of Karwela.

We spent the late afternoon and evening in Malta visiting the Polish CN Dive on Malta located in Bugibba and having dinner with Isia and Rysiek in the town centre. A visit to the centre building made a very positive impression on us. Clean, tidy, cosy, modern. We will visit CN Dive on Malta later this year and then write a report on how it is to dive with them.

The next day was a guided group tour of the island of Gozo, which among other things has to offer one of the oldest man-made structures in the world (3600 B.C.) called Ġgantija. At 6pm we had a press meeting at Ta’Rikardu restaurant in Victoria. The platter, famous here on Gozo, was served – a plate full of cheese, tomatoes, onions, capers and olives. To go with the wine, of course. We had the use of an entire two-storey building with access to the roof, from where we had an amazing view, and in the evening we could watch the sunset. During the meeting, a film was shown about the problem of litter in the water, in the oceans and seas, where thousands of animals die every day because of it (by us humans).

We consider the meeting very successful. Malta seems to be a great place to dive and talk about diving in Europe and the world. We were able to exchange views and experiences both with divers and with the largest diving media on our continent. We send greetings to our old and new friends.

The meeting was organised by MTA Malta&Gozo&Comino and Taucher.net

MV Karwela – passenger ship built in West Germany in 1957 by Jos. L. Meyer of Pepenburg. Displacement 497 tons, length 48 m, width 8 m. She arrived in Malta in 1986, purchased and registered in 1992 by Capitan Morgan Cruises. Sunk as an attraction for divers on 12 August 2006.

Photo: Wojciech Zgoła, Marcin Pawełczyk