It is hard to believe that our last club trip to Malta was in 2003, so about time that we gave club members who had joined since then the opportunity to experience the joys of shore diving! So in the evening of Friday 17th May, a group of 21 (14 divers, 5 non-diving partners, 1 non-diving Dad and our junior member, Amy) boarded a plane at Heathrow bound for a week in Malta.
We stayed in Bugibba in self-catering rooms at the hotel Topaz and diving was with Deep Blue Diving. Non-divers visited various areas of the island using the bus services, some on the ordinary buses and some on the open top ‘get on – get off’ tourist buses.
Diving was all shore diving (hard work some days) with transport in trucks. Two dives each day, then back to the Dive Centre to wash kit and then walk back to the Hotel (usually with a stop at the local bar for a beer first) to meet the rest of the group. Jonathan, the Dive Centre owner, together with our guides Amy, Nick, Cormack & Blair made sure we got the most out of each dive.
Evening meals were mainly in Bugibba town, a 10/15 minute walk from the Hotel. Some of the group visited Mdina, or Valetta in the evening, and some couples preferred a romantic meal for two, but the first and last night were full group meals (usually with Amy in charge!).
This was the first experience of a BUDC club holiday for some – others already knew what to expect!!
Click here to see a list of the dives that we did, some photos of the holiday and a video of how to do an entry from the rocks!
