Gozo Technical Diving

Gozo Technical Diving is a dive centre for people who want to go beyond ordinary recreational depths. It sits on Mgarr Road in Xewkija, behind the Mariblu Hotel, and is a DIR minded but open minded centre, meaning it favours the disciplined, standardised equipment and team habits that grew out of cave and wreck exploration while staying flexible about how each diver works. The aim is not simply to hand over certificates but to build knowledgeable, self reliant divers.

For a UK diver the centre is a one stop base: guided technical dives, courses at every level from sidemount to rebreather and trimix, a mixed gas filling station, rental kit and even a pickup truck for reaching rough shore sites. It is listed in our directory of dive centres in Malta, and our Gozo guide covers the island above the water.

Who they are and how they teach

The centre has taught for more than 38 years and is one of a handful of technical dive centres worldwide that make a living from teaching technical diving. Its instructor team includes three course directors, an instructor trainer and examiner, and a full cave instructor evaluator, so instructor development can take place in house from the first course to the final examination. More than 800 technical instructors have trained there.

Diving organisations are a strength. TDI, the largest technical certification agency in the world, is the main teaching partner, SSI Extended Range programmes cover trimix, rebreathers and cavern diving, and RAZOR sidemount training is also offered. An online e-learning and video platform helps divers prepare before they arrive, although it is optional.

Its best known name is Tom Steiner, who personally teaches diver and instructor courses and designs sidemount equipment, and Thomas Louvradoux leads on Triton rebreather training. Teaching works with several agencies, including TDI, SDI, RAID, SSI and PADI, and the centre is a RAZOR official training centre for sidemount. Certification is earned by showing the required skill and judgement, which is why certification fees are charged separately and a pass cannot be promised in advance.

Guided technical dives and what they cost

Guided dives are run in sidemount or twinset configurations. A single short dive costs €80, two short dives cost €135, and a long dive costs €90. A guided dive to 75 metres costs €90 with helium and stage cylinders extra, and deeper dives are priced on request depending on the gases. A guided rebreather dive costs €135 and the stage cylinder rental is €10 a day. Prices include sidemount or twinset cylinders filled with nitrox 28 or air, and VAT is included; nitrox 30 or 32 adds €10 per dive.

Boat dives around Gozo and Comino cost €32 per diver per dive with a minimum of five divers. If you want to dive Malta, a day supplement of €25 per person with a minimum of two divers covers the ferry ticket and transport. The meeting point is the dive centre at 09:00.

Technical courses and fees

Technical courses are charged per training day, with a minimum of one day. The standard fee is €220 a day, training with Tom Steiner is €300 a day, instructor courses with him are €400 a day, and fully private one to one training is €400 a day. The daily fee covers instruction, cylinders, decompression gases, weights, transport to dive sites, instructor gases, videos filmed on the course and 18% VAT. Helium is extra at €0.10 per litre, and agency materials are separate: TDI e-learning is €70 and the TDI certification fee is €60.

Courses are scheduled daily and weekly, not on fixed dates, and the actual length depends on how quickly you meet the standard. Extra training dives cost €220 or €300 each if needed. A 50% deposit confirms all bookings. It is non-refundable but remains as credit for up to two years. Card payments carry a 3% fee. The centre strongly recommends a diving medical and insurance that covers your depth; a medical can be arranged on Gozo at the hyperbaric medical centre.

Rebreather training

Closed circuit rebreather training covers the Triton, the JJ-CCR and the Divesoft Liberty sidemount unit. Courses run from MOD 1 to 30 metres, through MOD 2 to 60 metres, to MOD 3 to 100 metres, plus crossover courses of two to four days. Open water CCR training costs €295 per day and overhead environment training €350 per day, with soda lime and helium extra. A CCR try dive is €150 with everything included.

Units can be rented at €80 per day, or €400 for the length of a course, with €200 refunded if you buy a new unit afterwards. The centre also sells units and offers oxygen boosting to 200 bar and custom trimix blends.

DPV scooters and full face mask

Gozo has long stretches of coast that suit scooter diving, from the Inland Sea and Ras il-Ħobż to Reqqa Point, the Bottle Neck, Double Arch, Triple Arch and the crack. The centre uses TESEO scooters, and since 2023 it has been the exclusive dealer for them in Malta and Gozo. An SDI DPV course costs €330 for one day and two dives, a TDI DPV course is €425 over two days, and the DPV cave course is €565. Scooter rental is €50 for one day, falling to €45 and €40 for longer hire.

The full face mask course on a Scubapro FM II costs €395 for a day with two dives, mask included, and the mask can be rented for €45 a day. It is designed for experienced divers learning to handle gas management and emergency drills.

Unguided diving, gas and kit

Divers with at least Advanced Open Water or equivalent may dive unguided. The Director of Diving gives a morning briefing on sea and weather conditions and recommends which sites to visit or avoid. The filling station runs daily from 09:00 to 18:00 and supports recreational and technical gases. Facility use costs €10 per person per day, or €6 for groups of more than four, and covers water, storage, an oxygen kit and rinsing.

Twinset or sidemount rental starts at €28 a day with air, and fills start at €15. Because several top sites are reached by rough tracks, the centre recommends a pickup truck rather than a standard hire car, and the pickup rental can be booked through the centre.

Instructor courses, events and where to stay

The centre runs recreational and technical instructor development, from nitrox to full cave instructor, with in house TDI approval. It also organises events: a Trimix week on 4 to 10 September 2027, a Galapagos trip from 26 August to 5 September 2027, a Greenland polar expedition and a cave week in France in 2027, as well as an annual scooter week.

Gozo is one of the top destinations in the world for technical divers, with caverns, caves and long cracks, and Malta and Gozo have been called the underwater World War II museum of Europe because of the wrecks. If you plan non-diving days, our things to do in Malta page has ideas, and the Blue Lagoon on Comino is a short boat ride away from Gozo.

The centre can arrange an airport transfer on Gozo and rooms at the Mariblu B&B at the dive centre. Browse other options in our guide to hotels in Gozo, plan the trip with the Malta weather guide, and see flights to Malta from the UK. Nearby, you can compare Atlantis Gozo Diving Centre and Apnea Total freediving.

To get started, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page, tell us the course or dive you want and your dates, and we will pass your message to Gozo Technical Diving.