MV Xlendi

Some wrecks tell a story of tragedy, others of careful engineering. The MV Xlendi belongs to the second category. In November 1999, this 81 metre Gozo to Malta ferry was stripped of fuel, pollutants and loose fittings, then sunk on purpose just off Xatt l-Aħmar on Gozo's southern shore. Today she rests on her starboard side on a sandy bottom, with her stern sitting at around 42 metres and her highest rail reaching up to roughly 37 metres. This is advanced wreck territory, and it rewards divers who bring solid buoyancy control and a well rehearsed gas plan. Most teams kit up on the Xatt l-Aħmar platform and make a short, fifteen minute surface swim out to the descent line. The Xlendi never sits alone. She forms the deepest point of a three wreck cluster with the Karwela at 22 metres and the Cominoland at 18 metres, all within swimming distance of one another. Experienced dive teams often plan the Xlendi as a short first half of a multilevel dive, then drift back to the Karwela to extend the profile in shallower water. PADI Advanced Open Water combined with a Wreck Diver specialty is the sensible minimum. Nitrox 32 is the gas of choice and genuinely opens up the dive. The marine life has taken its time but is now worth the descent. You can expect dusky groupers tucked into the superstructure, moray eels peering out of cable conduits, and thick silver clouds of damselfish drifting over the upper hull. On a good day a barracuda or two will shadow you around the stern. Penetration is possible for trained wreck divers, and the car deck in particular is a tempting swim through, though it silts up fast. Carry a reel, run a continuous line, and bring a backup torch you trust. Conditions are at their most reliable from May to October, when surface visibility regularly exceeds 25 metres and the water settles into the low twenties. Easterly winds can turn the shore entry from routine to genuinely awkward, so check the forecast the morning of your dive rather than relying on yesterday's window.