(Good) Friday 9th April 2004 and I wake in the Santana hotel, Buigibba, Malta. Pick up was 08:30 and the guys from Maltaqua pick me up and take me to base for my medical - required in Malta - and to get tanks and weights. The medical is not self cert but with a doctor who took my blood pressure (120/65), listened to my heartbeat had me piss on a stick. All ok and I am cleared to dive. There was a 42m wreck dive on the cards, but I passed on that for the gentler double shore dive. We had a small group and I was buddied up with Pino (sp?) a local Maltese guy. He was not too sure about the benefits of the long hose, but was a decent guy, a decent diver and away we went. The site was the Blue Grotto which was actually a wall in the narrow bay which housed the boats which go out to the Blue Grotto itself.

Facts and figures are...16 degree water and 15m vis, air temp in the low 20s and no wind to speak of. Clear skies, so a nice light, blue water dive against a wall, bottoming out at around 26m. Life was typically disappointing for the area, but the toppography was nice if unspectacular. The life we saw consisted of a lone John Dory, a jelly, fireworms and bits. Some encrusting life, and some weed. A nice dive, not even spoilt by the ridiculous overweighting I had set myself up with.

Good Friday brings road chaos in Malta so we headed back to the north end of the island for a second dive about 5mins from the dive store. Another shore dive from a low rock platform, and the same facts and figures as above apart from a max depth of around 16m. The highlight was to be a cave, which was small but ok (I have been spoit in the past). For me the highlight was a couple of nudibranch which I still need to ID. Not a bad couple of dives, warmer and far clearer than my reintroduction to the UK so I should really just get over myself and enjoy the here and now. Time to stop comparing with back home (hehe!)