Malta Wrecks by Certification Level

The most common email I get starts the same way: "I'm a [certification] diver — what can I actually dive in Malta?" Fair question, and the honest answer is more interesting than you'd think. So here it is: every level, what it opens, and the one course that unlocks the next tier.

Malta's wrecks aren't one destination — they're a ladder. Every rung opens sites the previous one couldn't touch, and part of the fun is that there's always a next rung. Find yourself below, and I'll tell you what's waiting.

Recreational — Open Water & Advanced

No technical training? You still get a proper wreck holiday. The Rozi and the P29 at Ċirkewwa sit upright on clean sand — comfortable Advanced Open Water territory, smothered in life and dived as a legendary two-wreck shore entry. The upper decks of the Um El Faroud start at 15m, and the funnel-to-bridge section is one of the best recreational wreck experiences in the Med. Add the Blue Hole and Inland Sea walls at Dwejra and you've got a full week without a single decompression stop.

The next rung: Intro to Tech — one day, twinset configuration, and the mindset shift. It doesn't add depth yet; it adds the foundation everything else builds on.

Entry Technical — Advanced Nitrox & Deco Procedures

This is where Malta properly opens up. With Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures you're planning real staged-decompression dives to 45m — which means the whole Um El Faroud, propeller to funnel at 36m, with bottom time to actually explore her. It means the MV Karwela at 45m, home of the most photographed staircase in Mediterranean diving. And it means the deeper Gozo and Comino sites stop being fly-pasts and become dives.

Add Wreck Diver and the doors open literally — guideline penetration into holds, corridors and cargo spaces. The Faroud's interior is some of the best wreck training ground anywhere.

Full Technical — Extended Range & Trimix

At Trimix Diver level (60m on normoxic trimix) you join a much smaller club, and Malta rewards you for it. HMS Stubborn — a genuine WWII S-class submarine, upright and intact at 57m — becomes your dive. So does most of Le Polynesien, a 1918 French ocean liner lying between 50 and 65m that many consider the finest wreck in the Mediterranean. These aren't scuttled attractions; they're history, sitting exactly where their stories ended.

The next rung: Trimix 75 — a Malta-designed bridge course extending you to 75m. One number, two enormous unlocks: HMS Southwold at around 73m, and the full depth of the Polynesien.

The Deep End — Advanced Trimix & CCR

Advanced Trimix takes you to 100m — as deep as open-circuit diving goes — and in Malta that means one name above all: ORP Kujawiak, the Polish-manned Hunt-class destroyer at 98m. A protected war grave, permit-dived, and one of the most complete WWII destroyer wrecks anywhere. On CCR the same wrecks come with triple the bottom time — which at these depths changes everything.

And beyond 100m? HMS Olympus at 115–130m and HMS Russell at 110m+ sit in dedicated-expedition territory — the realm of exploration CCR diving. Even for me, they're the horizon rather than the weekend. That's what keeps this island interesting.

One course away from your dream wreck?

Here's the thing most divers don't realise: the gap between where you are and the wreck you've been reading about is usually one course. Deco Procedures gets you the whole Faroud. Trimix gets you a real submarine. Trimix 75 gets you the Southwold. Tell me where you are and which wreck is calling, and I'll tell you exactly what the path looks like — no upselling, just the honest ladder.