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Early the followingmorning I bid farewell tomy pirate
ship to begin an island adventure, led by amiable Brit and
adrenaline junkie Xavier Hancock of Gozo Adventures. If
there’s a rock face to be climbed, mountain to be biked or a
cave to be snorkelled, he’ll lead you to it. Our day starts in
Dwejra on the south coast of the island, home of the Azure
Window, amagnificent natural arch that one day will
crumble into the sea. A few brave souls walk along the top of
it, but it’s beneath that the real treasure lies, in the formof
the Blue Hole – a deep vertical cave that gives way to the
open sea ninemetres down. Snorkellers potter about on the
surface, while serious divers plunge in to access the large
cave at the bottom, with its abundant garden of sealife.
I’m impatient to snorkel and see some wonderful
underwater sights for myself, so we pitch up atWied
il-Ghasri, a long, thin S-shaped channel of clear, green water
on the north coast. I’mglad that Xavier tells me nothing of
what I’mabout to see, because words cannot prepare anyone
for the Cathedral. We snorkel down the channel just before it
reaches the open sea and climb out on to a ledge, above which
is a wide horizontal slit in the rock, less than ametre high.
We squeeze in through the low opening and lie down,
side by side. He tells me to start rolling over, following him
into the dark – and then I see something so sublime that I’m
speechless. In front of us is a blue-lit chamber; a dome of rock
as high and as perfectly curved as any cathedral. Beneath is
a shimmering pool of water, 15mdeep and clear to the
bottom, silvery blue in colour andmystically lit frombelow.
It is one of themost beautiful spaces I’ve ever seen. I want to
slip into this ethereal pool but sadly I can’t – there’s no way
out except to hold your breath for at least aminute and dive
down underneath an arch. Divers come fromall over the
world to experience this magical place and it is easy to see
why: this is one of those places to see before you die.
As we gaze down into the water, a distant but thunderous
boom sounds periodically; a blowhole, Xavier tells me, which
was closed over by farmers whose fields were being covered
in sea salt. Every fewminutes, a breath of wind passes over us,
sending shivers, seconds before the boomcomes again,
signalling the sheer power of wind and water.
Above
, themystical
blue light of the
Cathedral cave;
left andabove left
, the
Moorish architecture
of Victoria’s citadel;
opposite page
, the
AzureWindow
at Dwejra Bay is
a prime spot for
snorkelling and diving
TRAVELLER
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