Dive Review of Divewise/Holiday Inn Express St Julian’s in
Mediterranean/Malta

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Divewise/Holiday Inn Express St Julian’s : "Interesting diving, strenuous entry/exit process", Jul, 2023, by Gareth Richards, OCC, FR ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 12461 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The diving itself was interesting, however Malta diving is conducted in a way I am not used to. I preface this by saying 99% of my 400+ dives have been from boats that left from a dock, or liveaboards. I have little shore diving experience and maybe that’s the difference. In a nutshell you load all the gear into crates and get in a truck and drive to the site. You then change and gear up fully in the open next to the truck. Walk with fins in hand to the entry point, which can be down many steps or over bare rock depending on the site. Good nonslip boots essential. Conduct the dive, exit and return back the way you came up ladder, over rocks, up steps etc. strip down gear and reload truck, return to dive center, unload truck, wash and put away gear for next day. I just did not enjoy this at all, as the diving fun divided by effort ratio was way too low. What you want is maximum fun for minimum effort and this was way out of balance. It is possible that the process I experienced is because this specific dive center didn’t have a dock or a boat, but I don’t think so, because at the dive sites we encountered many other dive centers with their trucks and all going through the same process. A corollary of this process is that if you are going to a wreck but starting from the shore, you have an underwater transit which in one case was 12-13 minute swim at 30 ft to reach the wreck. On the way back from that one there was strong current which turned into 20 minute swim back. We had large tanks so no issue, but still hard work. There are buoys at the wrecks and normally I would have expected to arrive in a boat and tie up at the buoy. But no. Another time we dove from a zodiac, but we had to enter the water on foot walking from the dive center in full gear and then surface swim out of a small harbor to reach the zodiac. Then surface swim back after the dive, walk back in full gear, etc. The diving itself was interesting and I enjoyed the wrecks. It’s mostly wrecks because Malta was strategic in WW2. I dove on HMS Maori a destroyer, a tug boat, half a large airplane, an enormous tanker split in two pieces that you could easily swim through (I’m not wreck certified but this one you can see right through one side to the other). For sea life you have to keep your eyes peeled! I saw sting ray, cuttle fish (like squid), large nudibranch, trigger fish, fireworms, crab, and most surprisingly of all (to me), grey parrotfish. I had no idea there were parrotfish in the Med. In general the Med is overfished and if you want to see underwater life you should go to one of the marine reserves, there is one near Marseille and one in Spain not far from us. Other places in the Med you will be diving to see “something” like a wreck or underwater artifacts such as in Greece. Here in Malta the life is better than I have seen elsewhere in the Med as I listed above, but it for sure is not the main attraction. Just 10 days earlier I had been in Roatan where the water was 84-88F so 68-75 was a big change. But with a good 5mm it was just fine. No hood or gloves, I brought them but didn’t use them. Most of the instructors were in dry suits but then they are diving all the time. One more topic, all my gear is from the US so I have a yoke regulator. I had previously bought DIN threaded inserts and brought them with me, knowing that all the tanks would be DIN. So far so good, except the Allen key size in my inserts was imperial because they were bought in the US, and the only keys at the dive shop were metric. Their own inserts were not in good shape. My inserts were brand new but after a few dives using the nearest size metric Allen key, which of course was slightly small, the internal hex of my insert got rounded off and it became unusable. Moral of the story, if you want to bring your own inserts, bring the correct Allen key with you. Or buy inserts in Europe that fit a metric Allen key. Or use a DIN regulator. In the end I had to switch to one of their regulators because the inserts were not functional. Annoying because I have a swivel at my second stage and a custom mouthpiece for comfort, and losing that was a bit aggravating. And yet another topic, all tanks in Europe are steel. So you will need dramatically less weight. I was used to using 18lb with my 5mm (new) suit and this was way too much, I only needed around 12. This is neither a plus or minus, but just something to know so you can estimate your starting weight properly. The staff at the dive center were lovely and all very friendly. The instructors were great , patient and helpful. 5 stars for them. I gave the “operations” 4 stars overall as kind of a compromise between great people and a not-fun process. So final verdict, I stopped diving earlier than I planned because I just was not enjoying all the physical labor , and especially walking around in full gear up and down steps and over rocks , up ladders etc, not great for my back. If there was another way where I could do the same sites from a boat, I’d be happy to go back as the diving itself was fine.
Websites	Divewise
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos, Cocos, Philippines, Socorro, GBR, NZ, Bahamas, Mexico Pacific, Cayman, US Keys, Mediterranean (Cyprus, Corsica, Turkey), Belize, Roatan, Bonaire, Cozumel, BVI
Closest Airport	MLA	Getting There	Many direct flights from all over Europe. Used Ryanair nonstop from TLS
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp	68-75°F / 20-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	All dives guided, all nitrox, 5 min NDL
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No accommodation for cameras, subject matter is essentially wrecks . Few small critters and nearly no fish

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Divewise/Holiday Inn Express St Julian’s in Mediterranean/Malta

Divewise/Holiday Inn Express St Julian’s : "Interesting diving, strenuous entry/exit process", Jul, 2023,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Divewise/Holiday Inn Express St Julian’s in
Mediterranean/Malta