About 7.9 metres off the Marsalforn shore, Għar Qawqla is a rock with a natural jumping platform, beside a quiet rocky swimming area in the Gozo sea.
Landmark, Marsalforn. Meridian Dispatch.
A divers' listing reports sufficient parking on Triq Għar Qawqla, the street above the site in Marsalforn. From there the water is a short walk down a sloping path, short enough to carry snorkel or dive kit from the car.
Yes. A divers' listing marks access to the shore as free, with no permit needed to dive from it. Visitors report a small kiosk beside the swimming area.
Pick a calm day, since the swim out needs a settled sea. The water stays warm enough for diving almost all year round, so the site is not limited to the summer months.
Its name means "the cave at the steep hill", and it was the best known of the natural sea caves on the Marsalforn shore. The shore beside it is a rocky swimming area that rarely gets overcrowded.
Much of the interest here is under the water, around and below the rock. The seabed lies about 10 m down, a mix of boulders, sand and rocks. Visibility ranges from 10 to 40 m and averages 25 m.
Scorpionfish, moray eels, octopus, parrotfish and damselfish live on the bottom among the boulders. The site works as a reef dive, a shore dive or a snorkel, so non-divers with a mask see the same ground from the surface.
A sloping path leads from the street down to the rocky shore. Wear shoes you can swim in.
Reaching the rock means a short swim from the shore, and the current here is limited or absent, so the crossing stays easy.
Put on a mask and snorkel over the seabed below. Dive schools use the same shore as an entry point, often for training, so expect divers in the water. When you are done, take the path back up to the street.
Bring your own water, snacks and sun protection down the path.
An onshore wind rules this cove out. Gozo is small, so if wind is pushing onto this shore, a sheltered one on another side of the island is only minutes away by road.
Gozo's salt pans start a walk west of Marsalforn, and the coast path runs on past them to a gorge with a pebble cove at its foot. Back in the bay, you climb down steel ladders off the rocks into deep water.
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