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Inland Sea Gozo
By Alan Edwards on 1 July 2005
The Inland Sea is a beautiful dive, and sits on my personal list of top dives in the world. I rate it far beyond the other dives in Gozo and it’s the top of my list to dive when I go there. It sit’s within a complex of other well known Gozo dives, the Blue Hole (Azure Window).
There are many things that go against this being a wonderful dive, there is littlemarine life (which can be explained by the large number of fishing boats in the harbour)and boats frequently pass overhead during the high season.
What is has in abundance is the wonderful Blue and amazing topography. It inspires a feeling which I don’t often get on a dive, of seeing something magical that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
The beauty of the dive is in its simplicity, and I often wonder why people are so attached to the Blue Hole when you have this gem of a dive.
Access
As with most of the diving in Gozo, this is a shore based dive, as the name suggests it is accessed from a small inlet of sea in the Dweira region of Gozo(located on the west of the Island).
Due to the small size of the Island, it can be easily found, but the Island requires a serious overhaul of its road system, which can provide the driver with some interesting challenges.
Most dive operations on the island will organise transport to the site as part of their service to you on each dive. Depending on the driver and the suspension system this can be quite a hair raising event.
Diving the Inland Sea
Its not really the Inland Sea which you dive but a tunnel which links the Inland Sea with the sea outside, beyond the cliff.
Kitting up basically happens at the waters edge, make sure to try and use the tree (in the car park) for shade since it does get very hot in the summer months. Even in the height of summer the site does not get that busy so don’t be expecting scenarios like the UK were you have to kit up a mile from the dive site.
The most dangerous part of the dive is the walk in (seriousily). There seems to be some mutant super slippy algae growing in the Inland Sea.
I strongly suggest putting on fins on when lying on your back on the water.
The divers are asked to congregate at the buoy at the left handside of the tunnel entrance before submerging, this is important due to the tunnel being frequented by boats (who show little regard for the diver). You have to drop down before entering the tunnel, and keep to the left until a safe depth has been reached.
As you enter the Tunnel (initially staying to the side), it does seem very dark, but your night vision soon kicks in. After navigating over some featureless boulders bereft of life, you then get to see down this beautiful tunnel to the Blue at the end ( everything starts to get this wonderful hint of Blue). Its the contrast between the light of the outside sea water at the end of the tunnel and the absence of light in the Tunnel, which creates the stunning affect.
Just staring at the Blue is mesmerizing. As you progress along the 80 metre tunnel the floor start to deepen reaching a depth of about 30 metres before the exit. At this point of the dive the drop off is 50 metres and you can usually see to the bottom when the viz is good.
Site Facilities
There are no dive centres based at the sites in Gozo, so all equipment must be brought for each dive. This makes diving quite tiring on its main draw back.
After the dive you can site and enjoy an ice cream from the little shop just of the car park. Fantastic way to end the dive.
Contact
Author: Alan Edwards
Email: info@travel-dive.com
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