Blue Waters Dive Cove

Blue Waters Dive Cove is a PADI dive centre in the village of Qala on Gozo, Malta's quieter sister island. It has been teaching and guiding since 2003, and its programme runs from a three-hour try dive for complete beginners to technical decompression courses and the professional Divemaster programme. For UK visitors, Gozo is an easy add-on to a Malta holiday: the ferry crossing is short and the dive sites are close to the centre.

On VisitMalta.co.uk the centre appears in our directory of dive centres in Malta. The sections below explain who you will dive with, which courses are available, how guided dives work and how to reach Qala.

A family-run dive centre with 20 years in Gozo

The centre has been at the forefront of Gozo diving for more than two decades. It is led by its founder and director of diving, Franco Bugeja, who comes from a Gozitan family and is known for helping guests with bookings in advance and with transport. The instructors come from around the world and share a love of diving, and the team currently includes Jim Lycett, Adrien Maillet, David Horn, Dominika Szabó, Andrés De Pataky and Dimitri Plisson.

The atmosphere is friendly and professional, and the team is used to welcoming families as well as experienced divers. The style is welcoming and personal. Guests often return year after year, and the team designs trips around your experience and interests rather than a fixed programme. Safety is treated as the first priority, and the instructors aim to make every dive enjoyable as well as well run. If you want a package built around your dates, experience and budget, you can ask the team for a personalised quote before you travel.

Learning to dive: try dives and core courses

If you have never dived, the PADI Discover Scuba Diving course is the simplest start. It lasts about three hours and needs no previous qualification. You complete basic paperwork including a short medical questionnaire, spend a short time in the classroom, learn basic skills in shallow water from a sheltered bay and then dive to a maximum of 12 metres. For younger children there is the PADI Bubblemaker experience, a supervised dive in a pool or a shallow protected bay to a maximum of two metres.

The PADI Open Water Diver course is the most popular way to qualify, taking you to 18 metres. It combines theory, confined water skills and open water dives, and the theory is studied digitally at your own speed before you arrive. Anyone who has already completed the classroom and pool sections at home can finish with the Open Water referral, four open water dives over two days, priced at €240 with equipment and transport included. A PADI Scuba Diver certificate can be upgraded to full Open Water for €275, including tuition, equipment and certification.

The Advanced Open Water course has five dives including a deep dive to 30 metres and a navigation dive, with three more of your choice. The Rescue Diver course covers self rescue, recognising problems in other divers and two final simulated scenarios. The PADI ReActivate refresher costs €120 and suits divers who have been away from the water for a while. A hands-on emergency first response course, covering CPR and first aid, is also available.

Speciality, technical and professional courses

The speciality list is long. The Enriched Air (Nitrox) course is the most popular, teaching you to manage oxygen exposure and use a dive computer with Nitrox. Others include Deep Diver to 40 metres, Peak Performance Buoyancy at €190, Digital Underwater Photography at €190, Boat Diver at €230, Wreck Diver at €270, Search and Recovery, Dry Suit, Sidemount Rec Diver at €360 and Night Diver at €250. Boat diving opens up sites such as the P31 wreck and the Comino caves, which can only be reached by boat. Our Blue Lagoon guide explains the island above the water.

Several courses make use of Gozo's caves and night-time conditions. The Cavern Diver speciality teaches you to explore the spacious, shadowy chambers around the island while staying within the light zone, so a return to open water is always straightforward. The Night Diver course shows you how the same sites change after dark, when nocturnal creatures emerge, and teaches torch signals and basic navigation. Sidemount training offers a comfortable, streamlined way to carry cylinders and manage gas on longer dives or in tight spaces.

Gozo is well known for technical diving, with deep dives reachable from both shore and boat. The PADI Tec programme starts with a Discover Tec taster, then Tec 40, Tec 45 at €350, and Tec 50 at €400. The Tec 40 and 45 combination is €650 over six days and the full Tec 40, 45 and 50 combination is €990 over 12 days. Entry requirements are strict, including minimum logged dives, rescue certification and a medical statement signed by a physician within 12 months.

Nitrox is worth a closer look if you plan several dives a day. Because the gas mix contains more oxygen than normal air, it can extend the time you are allowed underwater and shorten the surface interval between dives. The course price covers the theory-only option, which combines online study with time alongside an instructor, and Nitrox dives themselves are optional and charged separately. The Wreck Diver course includes four dives and covers wreck navigation, surveying and mapping, penetration lines and finning techniques, while Search and Recovery uses four dives over two days to practise search patterns, compass navigation and lifting bags.

For those who want to work in diving, the PADI Divemaster course costs €700 for tuition, tanks and weights, and requires a qualified rescue diver with at least 40 logged dives and current first aid training. Full equipment is available on many courses from €20 per day.

Guided diving and dive sites

Divers who already hold a certificate can join accompanied dive packages or dive unaccompanied from shore. A series of 10 dives with an experienced instructor works out at €26 a dive, which makes Gozo one of the more affordable places to dive in Europe. The island is a favourite for beginners and advanced divers alike, with caves, caverns, tunnels, reefs and wrecks, and its steep coast also suits freedivers. For a freediving-focused operator, see Apnea Total Malta.

Named sites include the Blue Hole at Dwejra, voted the best dive in the Mediterranean on several occasions, and the nearby Inland Sea. Cathedral Cave and Billinghurst Cave on the north coast, and the many wrecks on the south coast, also feature in guests' favourites. Maximum depths depend on your certificate: 12 metres for a try dive, 18 metres for Open Water, 30 metres for Advanced and the 40 metre recreational limit with a Deep Diver speciality. Our Gozo guide and things to do in Malta pages cover what to see between dives.

Where to find the centre and where to stay

The centre is at Triq Il-kuncizzjoni in Qala, five to ten minutes by car from Mġarr Harbour and about ten minutes from the capital, Victoria. No dive site is more than 20 minutes away. From mainland Malta, take the Gozo Channel ferry or the Gozo High Speed ferry, and the team will help with transport if you ask. Cruise-ship passengers have also arranged last-minute dives with a pick-up.

The centre offers modern, comfortable accommodation for guests who want to stay close to the dive base. Our flights to Malta guide covers the journey from the UK, and our where to stay in Malta page compares the areas. If you prefer a hotel, see our listings of hotels in Gozo, and our Malta weather guide will help you choose a month for diving. The centre is open every day from 8am to 5pm, with longer summer hours.

For questions about courses, packages, medical requirements or accommodation, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to Blue Waters Dive Cove.