Malta for CCR diving ???

bazSXD

bazSXD

Member
Planning a trip to Malta from Oz in May. I have two places in mind to use for diving:

DiveSystems :: Home :: Established in 1978, Dive Systems is one one of the leading dive centres on the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino offering the very best accompanied diving, courses, technical diving and liveaboard diving in the Mediterranean. and

Tec Deep Blue specialists in technical and wreck diving in Malta Rebreather and Trimix

Having never dived there and considering I am thinking about 8 to 10 experienced CCR Divers what are the pros and cons of each outfit.

We are only interested in wreck diving and depth isn't an issue for the group.

I am after a total package thing, no last minute surprises etc.

regards Baz

PS good place to stay ??
 
Baz,

I can't comment on the two outfits you mentioned, but just got back from some CCR in Malta diving with Techwise/Divewise.

techwise.com.mt


Great location, all the goodies you need (tmx, cylinds, logistical support) and heaps of great accomodation very close by in St Juliens.

I would drop Viv or Alan a note to set up whatever you need. Rates are listed on link, as well as suggested accomondation close by.

Hotel Valentina I would really recommend - great value, close, etc.

hotelvalentina.com

Here's what Viv sent me before I went:

Places to stay....

Here is a list for you to google starting with our favourites & nicer ones to the cheaper basic ones - all 5 mins walk from our centre but always happy to collect you especially if you have equipment with you..... if you need any advise before booking I can give you an honest opinion as we want you to be happy with the whole package not just the diving...... in Malta you get what you pay for so choose wisely.......

Happy to help with airport transfers too


Nice affordable Hotels to stay for couples and divers that like some comfort

Cavalieri Hotel - larger hotel with lido and sun beds - no complaints - good breakfast and service nicey furnished
Valentina Hotel - our favorite and newly refurbished little bit of building going on for the new extension but noise kept to a minimum
Argento Hotel - another favourite again newly refurbished with roof top pool to relax after your diving
Bay Street Hotel - offers self catering as well as B & B ontop of the shopping area so you may get a little noise til about 10pm until shops close

Basic / Cheap / Clean

Alexandra Hotel - can be a bit noisy with large groups staying
Tropicana Hotel " " "
Rokna Hotel

Very Basic ideal for back packers and people on a tight budget - like to keep money for activities and do more

Rafael Spinola Hotel
Sogdiana Hotel
St Georges Park
La Vallette Resort
Dean Hamlett
Hostel Malti

If you would like to treat yourselves to something nicer there is always the 5* Westin Dragonara Resort, Hilton, Intercontinental, Vivaldi & Le Meridien


Mike
 
Conversation I had with tech wise is they don't do unguided dives - this may or not be a problem for you :)
 
I've not been for a while. Last time I went we hired a speed-boat and got some cylinder and lime from Rebreathers

Stayed in some apartment in Bugibba and flew Air Malta.

Accommodation was very basic and very cheap. I've used it twice.

Solair Holiday Complex (Bugibba, Malta) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor

Depends what you want to do - these are the dives we did, dived some of them 3 or 4 times (Faroud & Poly mostly):

Um El Faroud, 34m
Odelia, 22m
HMS Moari, 15m
Blenheim Bomber, 43m
Le Polynesian, 60m
HMS Southwold, 72m
HMS Southwold (bow), 68m
HMS Stubborn, 56m
Imperial Eagle, 42m
Schnell Boot, 66m
HMS Eddy, 55m
Rosy Tug, 36m
Blue Hole (gozo), 67m

Matt.
 
I was over last year and got gas and lime from Strand diving in St Pauls Bay, they were a bit cheaper price wise than a lot of the other dive shops and can organise boats etc for independant divers. St Pauls bay is also probably the best place to stay.

There are plenty of reasonable priced hotels. I stayed at the Gillieru hotel which is clean and reasonably priced. It's right on the front but away from the very busy noisy areas but is walkable in 5 - 10 minutes if you want noise. Boats diving HMS stubborn tie up outside the hotel.

while there try to get across to Gozo and do some of the drop offs as well (Reqqa point was my favourite when I lived there). it's well worth the ferry trip

mike
 
Baz

i will be in europe end april early may - what are the dates you had in mind ?
cheers
christian



bazSXD said:
Planning a trip to Malta from Oz in May. I have two places in mind to use for diving:

DiveSystems :: Home :: Established in 1978, Dive Systems is one one of the leading dive centres on the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino offering the very best accompanied diving, courses, technical diving and liveaboard diving in the Mediterranean. and

Tec Deep Blue specialists in technical and wreck diving in Malta Rebreather and Trimix

Having never dived there and considering I am thinking about 8 to 10 experienced CCR Divers what are the pros and cons of each outfit.

We are only interested in wreck diving and depth isn't an issue for the group.

I am after a total package thing, no last minute surprises etc.

regards Baz

PS good place to stay ??
Click to expand...
 
Baz,
When in May? I could be tempted to come out as well! (normoxic trimix)
There is accommodation available from basic and dirt cheap to expensive luxury.
There are a selection of purpose sunk wrecks that are all easy shore dives which are all in air dil ranges, then there are wrecks that are diveable from a boat in pretty well any depth range you pick.
I really want to do some dives on the Polynesian (75m to the bottom, huge enough that you can spend days diving it without going below 60m)
Scuba Diving Malta Gozo Comino ISBN 978-0-9541789-1-8 covers most of the shore diving and some of the boat diving.

If baggage is really tight for you lot I can probably scrounge up a spare JJ (may need to bring your own cells), bring out the rEvo and bring the Apoc to dive myself, I seem to remember it's about 40 euros per additional rebreather for me to fly them to Malta and back.

HTH
Simon A
 
Last edited:
I normally dive with Dive Deep Blue, but this year I decided to give Techwise/Divewise a try..........what a mistake! Guess who I'll be diving with again next year.
 
I dived with Tec deep blue and on the day I was booked in to do some guided dives (missus not trimix) on the Stubborn they completely forgot about me and when I called they had to dig through emails and paperwork for my booking form etc.

This ended up with me not doing the dive I wanted to do and just bimbling around the Rosie. This was enough for me. I hear that Techwise are good so maybe give them a go next time I get out there.
 
I dived with Tech Deep Blue and with Divewise/Techwise several times and I found they were both excellent. Always made feel very welcome and looked after.

If course they are busy dive centres with lots of other stuff going on, and CCR divers are fussy characters wanting exact mixes made into tiny cylinders late at night. But both of these centres have really gone above and beyond to make sure we got what we needed for every day.

It's hard to find a centre who will sort you with gas and cylinders and sofnalime and somewhere to store/wash your gear, but not force you to dive with then or hire a guide or vehicle through the centre. With some (a lot) of arm twisting this was able to be arranged. Superb.

And Strand Diving sorted us with Helium when apparently no one else on the Island had any. So special mention to them.

At cienu,
TB.
 
Dave Ormston said:
I normally dive with Dive Deep Blue, but this year I decided to give Techwise/Divewise a try..........what a mistake! Guess who I'll be diving with again next year.
Click to expand...

What was wrong with Divewise Dave? I have been looking at going to them and only heard good things.
 
erikradstrom said:
What was wrong with Divewise Dave? I have been looking at going to them and only heard good things.
Click to expand...

Set up for recreational - staff mindset is all divers are idiots.
Insist on guiding but don't have CCR guides.

I taught two trimix classes from there and thought they were a good set up. Then I visited them as a CCR diver and saw a very different side to the facility. Would not use again.
 
Clare said:
Set up for recreational - staff mindset is all divers are idiots.
Insist on guiding but don't have CCR guides.

I taught two trimix classes from there and thought they were a good set up. Then I visited them as a CCR diver and saw a very different side to the facility. Would not use again.
Click to expand...

That is the opposite of what I heard, and all I talked to are CCR divers.
Hmm could it have been a one timer?
 
erikradstrom said:
What was wrong with Divewise Dave? I have been looking at going to them and only heard good things.
Click to expand...

Basically like Clare said, if you like being treated like cattle and being made to jump through hoops Dive/Techwise is the place. It's also very expensive.

Now last time I went I dived with Strand and it couldn't have been more different, very professional, knowledgeable, cheap and generally went out of there way to make it an excellent experience!

Dave
 
Dave Ormston said:
Basically like Clare said, if you like being treated like cattle and being made to jump through hoops Dive/Techwise is the place. It's also very expensive.

Now last time I went I dived with Strand and it couldn't have been more different, very professional, knowledgeable, cheap and generally went out of there way to make it an excellent experience!

Dave
Click to expand...
jepp
laurent is the man.

gruss sepp
 
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