The Blue Hole Interest – Cave Wall Popularity – High Depth – 15m (avg), 25m (max) Qualification – Advanced Shore access – Medium Location – 36.0530°N 14.1887°E (Exact) Dwejra was and still is one of Gozo’s most visited tourist sites. One can find the Blue Hole which is one of the most beautiful dives the Maltese Islands have to offer. Not only is it great for scuba diving but a marvelous site to see for snorkelers, swimmers and freedivers alike. It is one of the safest way to get in and out of the water safely, since it acts as a sheltered pool. It’s a sinkhole in limestone, and it formed a circular rock formation that spans up to 10 metres wide and 5 metres across. Best to be dived in the afternoon, and when other diving sites are hard to get when weather is bad. The sinkhole goes down about 15 metres deep and has a lovely archway to pass through which leads to a nice shallow pool. From the pool one can come out into open sea at a depth of 9m filled with marine life, coral and tubeworms! There are large boulders from where the Azure window has collapsed which is now called The Azure Reef. Opposite of that you can find a large cave. Normally the two dives are combined into one whole dive. The Azure Reef are the remains of what was formerly called the Azure Window. It had collapsed on the 8th of March 2017. There is another route which is going through the Inland Sea and out the Blue Hole, or the other way around. There is a walk of about 200 metres to get to the Blue Hole, but the diving makes it worth the walk with all the equipment! Azure Reef Interest – Reef Popularity – High Qualification – Advanced Shore access – Medium Location -36.0536°N 14.1884°E (Exact) The Azure Window was an internationally well known tourist attraction. It’s limestone had been eroding slowly for years and was known and bound break apart at some point in time. What is unfortunate is that tourists had also been walking on it back and forth for years, even though it had been banned – which in turn had quickened the degradation process quite hastily. During a storm with very strong winds and waves, the window finally collapsed and fell into the sea. However, one could say that from one unfortunate occurrence, something positive came out of it. The Azure Reef has been attracting new marine life, and has become a new reef in itself for divers to enjoy! The site starts from just below the surface and descends down to under 40 metres. At the minute, it is quite barren since the rocks haven’t been in the water for very long. Marine life will soon call this home and algae are forming on the boulders, and sure enough the boulders’ sharp edges will deteriorate. Divers who have been to this new site have already, have still seen plants that had been growing on top of the rocks while the Azure Window was still intact on the surface. Divers also have new routes and swim throughs to pass through. However, since the reef is fairly new and things might change from one second to the next, precaution must always be taken and divers must always be vigilant and boulders might split or shift. If you venture on outwards toward the outer cliff face of where the Azure Window was, you can see shoals of Damsel Fish, Picarel, and Bogue swimming around near the cliff face. Whatever you do, don’t forget to look up, you might spot some Dentex or Amberjack fish on the hunt!