Over 19th – 26th October 2013, a team 11 of divers consisting of 8 members of Army Training Unit (North East), a member of the Yorkshire Officer Training Regiment (Instructor) , a member of 38 Signal Regiment (Instructor) and our Sub-Aqua Diving Supervisor, Billy, undertook an adventure training expedition in Malta and Gozo. The aim originally was to increase the experience of newly qualified BSAC (British Sub-Aqua Club) Ocean Divers (OD) and to conduct deeper and more varied dives to progress the qualified divers towards attaining their next diving qualification. However, due to unforeseen circumstances 3 members of the group needed to use their first few dives in Malta as their qualification dives for the OD qualification. This did then enable the other members of the group who had not dived for a number of years to brush up on their skills.

The expedition was based in St Paul’s Bay in the north east part of the island, but Malta is so small that it is possible to dive off any part of the island, depending upon the prevailing wind and weather. The weather proved to be perfect, with hot sunny days and calm placid sea conditions; this meant that we had the pick of the Island’s dive sites.

We dived mainly off the shores of Malta, but also in the Santa Maria Caves on the Island of Comino and the wreck of the P31, which were accessed from a boat just off the Island. Initially we dived at Cirkewwa, a shallow area which allowed the novice Ocean Divers to complete their qualifying dives and then, once newly qualified, they were able to build up their experience and confidence so that the dives could become progressively deeper and more challenging.

The night dive at Cirkewwa proved fascinating; a whole new world compared with day time diving. “Billy the squid” and “Ollie the octopus” provided the main entertainment of the evening, although I don’t think they enjoyed the torch spot-lights!

The final full day of diving was spent on Gozo; diving the Blue Hole with the Azure Window and the Inland Sea, where we managed to get a great underwater group photo. For the more experienced and qualified divers, there was the final dive of the expedition; the wreck of the Imperial Eagle and the Statue of Christ, with the latter at 25 metres, and the former at around 40 metres.

The “off-gas” day was spent in Valletta looking around the Malta at War Museum, with its fascinating tunnels and the National War Museum on a mini Battlefield Tour.

The Assistance provided by the Ulysses Trust is greatly appreciated by all the members of the expedition, and enables the cost of the expedition to become more affordable to more personnel. Therefore I would like to thank the Trust on behalf of all our expedition members.