Dive sites encompassed all 3 of the Maltese Islands; Comino, Gozo and Malta itself. The majority of the diving took place on Malta which is the larger of the 3 islands, but visits were made to Comino, via dive boat, and to Gozo using the less adventurous Ro-Ro public ferry.

Everyone agreed that the highlights of the expedition were the night dive at Cirkewwa and the dives on Gozo which included the Blue Hole, Azure Window, and Inland Sea.

There was a variety of diving experience amongst the cadets from those who had been diving for a few years and were highly experienced and qualified to those novices who qualified whilst in Malta. The pool training was completed in the UK, along with the theory examination, with the open water dives being completed in Malta.

A bonus for 5 cadets was the chance to complete their Advanced Open Water Diver qualification whilst out there and at a greatly reduced cost!

For those new to diving, there was a great improvement shown between the first tentative steps into the water at Blue Grotto on the west of Malta to the confident swim down to 24m at the Inland Sea in Gozo.

Every cadet approached each dive with the same vigour and excitement, whether it was their first step off the dive boat at the beginning of the week or the exit from the Blue Hole on the final day.

Due to the restrictions imposed upon altitude and diving, and the obvious knock-on implications when boarding a pressurised airliner the final day on Malta had to be a ‘dry-day’ with no diving being undertaken. This gave cadets the opportunity to experience something a little closer to the heart of the Air Training Corps; flying.

Hosted by the Island Microlight Club, we spent an enjoyable afternoon at their clubhouse just outside the fence at Luqa airport, with the opportunity to look round their aircraft and get a 30 minute flight around Malta in one.

The adventurous members of the party took the challenge of a trip in the more ‘traditional’ weight-shift micro-light, whilst the rest got a flight in the more modern version, which included such luxuries as an enclosed cockpit and fly by wire controls! This was an excellent way to get everyone prepared for the flight home and back into the habit of ascending from sea-level rather than descending!

The paperwork has already been submitted for a return visit in February 2008 with a few places having been snapped up already by cadets along with a significant number of enquiries from ATC staff who wish to join us.