Diving

The islands of Gozo, Malta and Comino are most probably, the only remaining Mediterranean islands still totally unspoilt, with Gozo being a haven for scuba divers from all over the world. The warm crystal clear waters ensure perfect diving in Gozo. One can enjoy the drop offs, caves, tunnels, grottos and spectacular scenery for which Gozo dives are renowned. Combine this with the profuse marine life and you have a diving photographer's paradise.
Frankie's Gozo Diving Centre offers complete diving holidays in Gozo, including airport transfers, self drive car hire, accommodation in Gozo Farmhouses, villas and self catering apartments as well as at the dive centre's hotel. We offer beginners' dives, all PADI diving courses, guided dives as well as unguided non limit dive packages for the more experienced. Apart from the excellent shore dives, less frequented sites can be reached with any of our dive boats.
For the less experienced or the total beginner, one could not find a safer, or more exciting place to learn todive. At our diving centre we have hotel for diver a training pool that has been specially constructed for beginners' courses. Unlike normal pools, it has a flat bottom and two different depths, one of 1.5m and the deep end of 4.5m. This is the only pool of its kind on the island as our centre is not just a dive shop but a complex for divers
The Mariblu Guesthouse is part of our Dive Centre Complex. Here one can stay in double rooms, on bed and breakfast or half board.Family suites, consisting of 2 seperate bedrooms, bathrrom, kitchen and dining room are ideal for groups or families as here they can stay on bed & breakfast or even self catering as these suites have a fully equipped kitchen and facilities. Our restaurant, The MARIBLU offers Italian and Traditional Local Cuisine, while our Pizzeria & Wine Bar is open all day. Mouth watering pizzas as well as light snacks are served all day by the pool. We also serve dinner al fresco and also organise barbeques by the pool for our divers. After the dives, one can relax and have a beer while making new friends and talking about the diving experiences and travel plans. It is just like a DIVERS' CLUB for a week or two and this is also what makes our centre different from others, which are just dive shops that close down after the dives. After all, that's what is nice about diving, talking for hours about a 45 minute dive !! We do not just provide diving services but also a good friendly atmosphere which after all is the social side of diving.
Unlike in other normal hotels, here, all the residents have the same hobby and interests - diving - and so you will not be isolated, not even if you are travelling single.
We can offer all services from your arrival at Malta International Airport till your departure.
We will meet you at the airport and provide the transfer to the accommodation of your choice. Same arrangement will be provided on the way back.We can also book self drive cars for you and you will find these on arrival by the ferry or where you will be lodging.
There is a variety of cars from small economical cars to bigger and airconditioned ones. For groups, we suggest self drive jeeps that will be more ideal for bigger numbers and will get you anywhere round the coast.
Besides diving services, we also offer Private Charters, daily cruises, sailing trips, jeep safari, combi tours and other excursions round the islands. These are also ideal for non diving members of the group or family. The "BLUE LAGOON" is a 40 foot motor cruiser which is used for daily boat dives round the island. This too, has been built with the driver in mind as it has a big diving platform with nice ladder specially designed for divers. It also has a head (toilet) kitchen and fresh water shower. The "BARBAROSSA" is a 70 foot wooden motor sailing yacht and it is the only one of its kind on the island. We use this graceful boat for Dive Safaris, Sailing Trips and also for Private chartering not just round the islands of Malta and Gozo, but also to Siciliy. The BARBAROSSA can sleep 12 divers in 6 double cabins, all with ensuite facilities. It also has an aircompressor on board.

Frankie's Gozo Diving Centre is now a well established dive centre in a class of its own, offering all the facilities that the diver needs, in just one place - the professional way
These facilities include a specially built deep diver training pool, ideal for beginners courses. Our dive boats have been designed with the diver in mind to give extra ease and comfort during boat dives. The dive shop is very well equipped with the best brands if diving gear, both for hire and sale. All PADI videos and teaching aids are to be found in our lecture rooms. Rinsing and drying rooms have been purposely built for our divers. We offer dive courses from the Introductory to the Assistant Instructor Level. Our instructors can also lead you either from the shore or from our dive boats to wonderful reefs, magnificent drop offs, caves, tunnels or wrecks, even on night dives.

Malta - Gozo transport

Public local transport is the cheapest way of going around Gozo. Its limit though, is its restricted time-table which at times can be infrequent. Gozo buses are painted grey with red stripe on each side and can carry approximately 50 passengers. The cost per trip does not exceed 20 Malta cents.Gozo route buses serve villages around Gozo from the central Victoria Bus Terminus in Main Gate Street. They are identified by the number they carry on the front (See Bus Schedule below). In Summer, buses operate trips to Dwejra and Ramla Bay, while they increase the trip frequency to Marsalforn and Xlendi Bays

Taxis
Taxis in Gozo are easy to notice, being painted white with a "TAXI" indicator on the roof. They also carry their registration number on the side doors. They are driver-owned and probably the most comfortable way for getting around Gozo. They can be found in Taxi stands, mainly by the ferries at Mgarr, or at Victoria in Triq Putirjal (Main Gate Street), a stone's throw away from the main bus terminus. Taxis in Gozo are all metered.

Self-Drive Cars
This is the most popular and convenient way to get around in Gozo. Below is a list of established Gozo car hirers. The rental rates vary according to car model, length of hire, and season. July to September is considered to be the peak season. However, self-drive car rental in Gozo is said to be reasonably priced when compared to mainland Europe. Drivers must hold a valid driving licence and be over eighteen. Driving is on the left-hand-side of the road and seat belts are compulsory both in the front and rear seats. The maximum speed is 40km/h in urban areas and 60km/h outside urban areas

Hire a car or you will be waiting half your holidays for buses or taxis. It's not expensive if you hire outside hotel.

Malta - Rare Attractions

After some new immigrants arrived in Malta, the so called Temple Culture developed around 4000 BC. The first temples were constructed about 3600 BC. Ggantija in Xaghra (Gozo) is one of them. The temples were built with huge stone blocks and almost always consist of a number of trefoil shaped rooms, interconnected by a corridor.

The most visited temples in Malta are
Ggantija in Xaghra (Gozo)
Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, close to the village of Qrendi
Tarxien.

There are many other temple remains in Malta. Some are closed to the public, others are accessible. A good tourist map will show the location of most of them.

In the year 60 AD an event took place that is comprehensively described in the Bible: the shipwreck of the apostle Paul (Acts of the Apostles 27 and 28) . According to the legend this shipwreck took place at St. Paul's Bay. Saint Paul stayed in Malta for three months and performed a number of miracles, like the healing of the father of Publius, the Roman governor. Publius became the first bishop of Malta. Tradition has it, that St. Paul converted the Maltese to christianity, but there is no historical evidence to prove it. The first signs of the existence of a christian community in Malta date back to not earlier than the fourth century. Nevertheless Saint Paul is regarded as the one who brought christianity to Malta; Saint Paul is the patron saint of Malta and the cathedral of Mdina is dedicated to him.

The old city of Mdina still bears a touch of its Arab past: walking through the narrow streets it almost feels like being in a serene version of a North-African town. Yet Mdina has much more remains from more recent times: the late Middle Ages and the 18th century. The Maltese language is a descendent of the Arab dialect that was spoken here during the early Middle Ages, although many Maltese prefer to give it a Phoenician origin. The language is extensively influenced by Italian and English, causing Maltese to be a mixture. Yet the language is a Semitic language, so it is related to Arabic and Hebrew. Maltese is quite a unique language: it is the only Semitic language written with the Latin alphabeth. For most visitors Maltese will be abracadabra , but don't worry: almost all Maltese speak fluent English, the second official language of the country.

The Mdina was the capital of Malta until the arrival of the Knights. Mdina is situated inland and was not a suitable capital for the Knights, since they possessed a fleet. For that reason they settled in the small town of Birgu, at one of the natural harbours of Malta, the Grand Harbour. Already after several years it became too small and in 1554 the Knights built the city of Senglea, opposite Birgu at the same bay. Confrontations with the Turks were unevitable. In 1551 Tripoli fell into Turkish hands and Gozo was heavily ransacked. This was followed by a severe siege of Birgu and Senglea in 1565, recorded in history as the Great Siege . Malta was within an ace of being occupied by the Turks, but on the 8th of September they withdrew. The fact that the Knights withstood the Great Siege gave them new courage. Already the year after they started building a new fortified city, the city of Valletta, named after the Grandmaster of those days, Jean Parisot de la Valette, the leader of the Order.

Resorts on Malta island Gozo

Vizit to Malta, island Gozo.

The Republic of Malta is a small but heavily populated island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean. Consisting of 7 islands it is a popular tourist resort due to it's tropical climate, exciting nightlife, and a history dating back thousands of years.

Some fotos

If you can drive, then hire a car, its quite cheap and the bonus is that Gozitans drive on the same side of the road as the uk. The island is relatively small so there is no chance of getting lost, the roads are not that busy, although if you pass throught the capital of Rabat (Victoria) then sometimes there is a gentle build up of traffic. The Citadel in Rabat is well worth a visit, the church is beautiful (although if you visit the churches in Gozo it is respectful for men to wear trousers and a top and for women to cover their shoulders, no shorts!) there is also a jail where the English Knights were imprisoned. You are able to go inside and see their engravings on the walls. Rabat also has a market situated opposite the Citadel. Banks are available and ATM machines, newsagents and jewellers. There are locations to pick up herb-infused Gozo cheese, quite rich and excellent..

If you like visiting churches then you have to go to Xewkia and visit the church in the main square which has one of the biggest domes in Europe. Its absolutely massive, but totally awesome.

And then there is Ta Pinu in Gharb. A fantastic building both inside and out and the history of Ta Pinu is interesting, a must do visit, especially for the religious amongst you.
Xlendi is well worth a visit, it is a lovely bay resort, with mostly hotels, and many restaurants along the sea front, including a chinese restaurant. Take a walk around the bay and see lovely views.
Ramla Bay is a lovely sandy beach and has a couple of bar/snack shacks on the beach, which do an excellent English breakfast. Also you can visit Calypso's Cave which overlooks Ramla beach. Alternatively a short drive away in Qala you can see the Island of Comino and the blue lagoon.
The visit to the azure window was a bit of a let down, lots of coaches and mini buses and men trying to sell you postcards, although there is a tiny church perched nearby which I enjoyed more than looking at a hole in the rocks! This area is, however, a major attraction for scuba divers, with some of the most brilliantly colored coral.
To explore the Island you really need a car, that way you have the freedom to explore all the hidden coves (beware sometimes the roads are very steep.) Marlasforn near Xaghra is (in my opinion) is not worth visiting, it is spoilt by nasty looking buildings and appartments which remind me of Spain and lots of Brits out on the lash. Apparantly this is the place to go if you are young and want that sort of holiday, but for the rest of us who prefer a mediteranean country to retain its history, and its way of life, with its beautiful rustic buildings and farmhouses best stick to Xaghra. Xaghra being my choice to stay, due to its wide choice of farmhouses to rent, a busy and friendly town square with great restaurants and a couple of bars. There is also a few supermarkets scattered around with excellent deli's.There are lots of diving schools available if you like that sort of thing, Malta and Gozo are renowned for excellent diving

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