This was my third visit to the Island of Gozo and the countdown to D-DAY for me started at Day 58 🙂 – so it goes without saying I was looking forward to it!! When the afternoon for travel eventually arrived I was exhausted as there had been quite a lot of negotiating of packing the evening before to meet the 20kg limit requirement. Compromises were made leading to successfully negotiating with Liam to take a 3kg toiletry bag in his luggage 🙂
Bags in hand a motley crew of 12 met at the airport for the Saturday evening flight to Malta and the subsequent airport transfer and ferry trip to Gozo. The logistics and accommodation are organised by Liam each year and it has become quite an annual pilgrimage to Gozo which is understandable as this trip has so much to offer from great diving, food and sunshine.
Unfortunately our flight was delayed which meant that we missed the 1am ferry albeit Frankie’s best effort to make it – all you need to imagine is the car chase in The French Connection and you get the idea!. Hence a very sleep depraved group arrived at the apartment block at 4am which was to be our home for next 12 days. Arrangements were made to meet at Electra (for a change) at 11am next morning for brunch and from there to head to Atlantis to sort out dive gear for the 10 days of diving.
This all went to plan and in 3 hired jeeps we made our way to Ras-IL-Hobz (Middle Finger) for our first dive of the holiday. This dive became know as the fin issue dive with myself, Rosemary and Fintan experiencing fin issues. However with the first dive over we were quickly into the swing of it and the second dive was at Reqqa Point. This meant driving past Xwejni Bay which I’ve been told is the best place to spot bikini fish! 🙄
As the days rolled on they tended to follow an easy going routine of breakfast, stop off at fruit stall, pick up cylinders, dive site, dive centre, lunch at Electra for change, dive site, dive centre, rest for some \ afternoon swim for Declan & crew, dinner, sleep.Over the trip – Jonas and Evita had the challenging role of taking care of little Pavel. They performed this role very successfully although they may need a holiday to recover from the experience. Declan won the most caring buddy award as he always ensured that himself and Rosemary always had enough air for their dives!!Michael without a doubt has claim to the most enthusiastic diver award as he was at the dive centre every morning at 8.30am and he entertained us every evening with stories of his dives with the dive centre. We found out more about each other over the trip but as they say what happens on holidays stays on holidays and the secret ice cream eater who came out of the closet… well we know who you are!!
The majority of dive sites were ticked off during this trip covering all corners of the island. Having the extra few days meant the luxury of diving some sites two \ three times – those sites being the Karwella, Middle Finger, the Blue Hole and Double Arch. Some new sites were visited, namely The Whale Cave and Triple Arch. The Triple Arch was coup, following directions from Brien, our group of five snorkelled out from Xwejni Bay led by Tony or was it Declan 🙂 to a site that is quite mystical and has a Celtic feel to it. I’ve no doubt its made its way on to the pilgrimage list for 2016.
The night dive at Mgarr Ix-Xini came midway though the trip commencing with a competitive jeep chase enroute led by Fintan with Rosemary as his co-pilot. There was no beating them and they arrived well ahead of the Whelen jeep not withstanding Liam’s best attempts to take the lead. On this dive we were entertained by octopus, cuttle fish and moray eel and after the dive we retired to Victoria for the customary McDonalds.
Overall there were 162 dives carried out over the 10 days with depths and times recorded by
Liam with Tony providing quality assurance. Since coming back my overriding underwater memories from this trip are the scorpion fish on Middle Finger; bumping into Tony on the Karwela; following the octopus & cuttle fish on the night dive; Liam laughing on the Triple Arch; the roof of the Coral Cave and the shoals of barracuda on Double Arch.
I’ve heard from reliable sources that Liam has started preparations for the 2016 trip – only 332 Sleeps to go! 😎
Alice O’Sullivan.
