The Independent in the UK have just run a good article about why Malta is a top diving holidays destination - to read the full article click here

As I floated through the open hatchway into the engine room, it was almost as if the scene had been frozen in time. The ship’s charts were still in the rack and the phone was on the hook, but seaweed waved gracefully around the wreck, now home to octopus and fireworms.

On the seabed lay some Royal Navy china, smashed into pieces when the Lady Davinia, formerly HMS Greetham, was sunk. As I picked up one piece for a closer look, I was amused to discover it had been made in the Wedgwood factory just 15 minutes from where I grew up. Now 64 years later, it was half-buried in the sand, waiting to be rediscovered.

Just 15 metres above me, the busy cafés of Sliema, on Malta’s east coast near the capital Valletta, were full of tourists relaxing in the sunshine.

The Mediterranean island, along with neighbouring Gozo, was last year voted the best diving destination in Europe by readers of Diver magazine in America, thanks to its clear, warm waters, and more than 30 underwater sites, with reefs, fish, caves and lagoons as well as the numerous wrecks. There’s also a long diving season (from Easter through to November), and plenty of English-speaking instructors, so it’s ideal for beginners from the UK.

It was all a long way from the swimming pool in Waterloo, London, where I’d started my dive training with the London Hellfins Scuba Diving Club. Although you can do the complete course in Malta, I wanted to get the theory lessons and pool training needed for the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) qualification done in the rainy UK, rather than being cooped up in a classroom while the sun shone outside.

The chlorine-scented pool that I’d practised in seemed a world away as I headed to my hotel, the Maritim Antonine Hotel & Spa in Mellieha, in the north of Malta.

While the UK froze, the sun was shining on the small hillside town, dominated by its huge baroque church, which is still the focal point of life on the island – although, for younger Maltese, it often seems to be a meeting point to start a night out.

Mellieha is also home to one of the island’s best restaurants: Giuseppi’s Wine Bar. Despite the uninspiring name – and its less-than-obvious entrance on St Helen Street – the seafood and local fish on the menu are spectacular, thanks to local chef Michael Diacono.

Over some Maltese wine, it was time for a quick introduction to the island by dive instructor Dave, who moved here three years ago from Lowestoft, enticed by the laid-back way of life, the year-round sunshine, and the fantastic choice of dive sites. He revealed it’s the wrecks that make Maltese diving so special. And according to Dave, even on the rare occasions when there’s bad weather, or when the wind makes the sea too rough for diving in one place, there is always a more sheltered option to try less than an hour’s drive away.

The next morning, I shoehorned myself into a short pink wetsuit and some fetching black Neoprene boots as Dave led me into the calm waters of Qawra Bay, just along the coast from Mellieha, for my first ocean dive.

Things got off to a slow start when it turned out I was too light to sink, but, after a brief pause to fill my pockets with lead, I headed slowly down past shelves of seagrass towards the reef – while trying to keep an eye on my oxygen and my dive buddy, look out for landmarks to guide myself, stay balanced without shooting down to the seabed or up to the surface too fast, and still find the time to enjoy the scenery.

Once I’d worked out how to balance these various factors, I relaxed. After spotting a flying gurnard with its stunning iridescent blue markings hidden in the sand, I started to forget the strangeness of being completely surrounded by water.

The sea around Malta is home to grouper, rainbow wrasse and parrot fish, not to mention eels and more elusive barracudas and seahorses. Whether I dived one of the many wrecks or among the rock reefs and soft corals, there was plenty of underwater company, with shoals of brightly coloured fish darting over to investigate this curious bubble-blowing intruder.

With each dive I had more tests to pass, but also more exciting sites to explore. On Manoel Island, a spit of land opposite the capital Valletta, we strode off the sea wall to investigate a bombed barge, the Water Lighter X127.

Also known as the Carolita, she was sunk during the Second World War (probably after being mistaken for a submarine), and I could still make out the gaping hole left by the bomb that had finished her off.

The next day we explored the Lady Davinia. I got kitted up on the quayside, much to the amusement of a couple of local fishermen as I waddled to the shore weighed down with tank, lead and unwieldy flippers before vanishing under the waves. And when I emerged from the dive, my fifth, I was a certified Ocean Diver.

After swimming alongside them during the day, it felt almost rude to tuck into fish every evening. But specialities such as octopus carpaccio at harbourside restaurants around the island were too mouth-watering to miss.

Peppino’s in St Julian’s Bay, near Sliema, has tempted celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Madonna and Daniel Craig in the past, while they filmed in Malta (which has doubled as places such as Troy and Lebanon on film).

Meanwhile, in St Paul’s Bay, a short drive from Mellieha, Tarragon Restaurant has already started winning local awards for its modern twist on Malta’s classic favourites, such as black tiger prawns in champagne tempura.

For such a tiny island, there’s plenty to see on dry land. And as I could only safely dive for a couple of hours every day, I did plenty of exploring – when I could drag myself away from the hotel’s rooftop pool and the hot stone massages of its underground spa.

All roads lead to Valletta, around a half-hour drive from Mellieha. The fortified city, a grid of cobbled streets and steep steps, was built in the 16th century by the Knights of St John – otherwise known as the Knights Hospitaller.

Given the island as their base by a 16th-century king of Spain, and charged with protecting it against the Ottomans, they then built the new walled capital as a fortress to keep out the Turks.

The city is a Unesco World Heritage site, and walking through the streets takes you through centuries of history. Many of the façades of the auberges, the knights’ grand former palaces, are unchanged, and you can visit the Grand Master’s Palace, home to the Maltese government.

Most memorable for me, though, was the former capital of Mdina, the walled fortress in the centre of the island. Unlike Valletta’s wide, planned streets, the twisting alleyways date from around the time of the Arab occupation of the island in the ninth century.

The city is closed to all but residents’ cars. As I ambled to the bastion walls, past the Nunnery of St Benedict and the 700-year-old palazzos and casas of the Maltese nobility, nothing broke the quiet except the echoing clop of horse and carriage.

All too soon, though, it was time for my last dip: at Cirkewwa, in the island’s far north. One of the best beginner sites, the water here is astonishingly clear, and, although I couldn’t stray below 20 metres, the seabed at 36 metres looked temptingly close. One of the string of small underwater caves contained a statue of the Virgin Mary, and there was a natural stone arch in the rocks to swim through.

If you’re considering a diving holiday for next year, there’s no better place than Malta - and that’s according to the divers themselves.

As The Independent in the UK report:

As I floated through the open hatchway into the engine room, it was almost as if the scene had been frozen in time. The ship’s charts were still in the rack and the phone was on the hook, but seaweed waved gracefully around the wreck, now home to octopus and fireworms.

On the seabed lay some Royal Navy china, smashed into pieces when the Lady Davinia, formerly HMS Greetham, was sunk. As I picked up one piece for a closer look, I was amused to discover it had been made in the Wedgwood factory just 15 minutes from where I grew up. Now 64 years later, it was half-buried in the sand, waiting to be rediscovered.

Just 15 metres above me, the busy cafés of Sliema, on Malta’s east coast near the capital Valletta, were full of tourists relaxing in the sunshine.

The Mediterranean island, along with neighbouring Gozo, was last year voted the best diving destination in Europe by readers of Diver magazine in America, thanks to its clear, warm waters, and more than 30 underwater sites, with reefs, fish, caves and lagoons as well as the numerous wrecks. There’s also a long diving season (from Easter through to November), and plenty of English-speaking instructors, so it’s ideal for beginners from the UK.

It was all a long way from the swimming pool in Waterloo, London, where I’d started my dive training with the London Hellfins Scuba Diving Club. Although you can do the complete course in Malta, I wanted to get the theory lessons and pool training needed for the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) qualification done in the rainy UK, rather than being cooped up in a classroom while the sun shone outside.

The chlorine-scented pool that I’d practised in seemed a world away as I headed to my hotel, the Maritim Antonine Hotel & Spa in Mellieha, in the north of Malta.

Mellieha Malta

While the UK froze, the sun was shining on the small hillside town, dominated by its huge baroque church, which is still the focal point of life on the island – although, for younger Maltese, it often seems to be a meeting point to start a night out.

Mellieha is also home to one of the island’s best restaurants: Giuseppi’s Wine Bar. Despite the uninspiring name – and its less-than-obvious entrance on St Helen Street – the seafood and local fish on the menu are spectacular, thanks to local chef Michael Diacono.

Over some Maltese wine, it was time for a quick introduction to the island by dive instructor Dave, who moved here three years ago from Lowestoft, enticed by the laid-back way of life, the year-round sunshine, and the fantastic choice of dive sites. He revealed it’s the wrecks that make Maltese diving so special. And according to Dave, even on the rare occasions when there’s bad weather in Malta, or when the wind makes the sea too rough for diving in one place, there is always a more sheltered option to try less than an hour’s drive away.

The next morning, I shoehorned myself into a short pink wetsuit and some fetching black Neoprene boots as Dave led me into the calm waters of Qawra Bay, just along the coast from Mellieha, for my first ocean dive.

Things got off to a slow start when it turned out I was too light to sink, but, after a brief pause to fill my pockets with lead, I headed slowly down past shelves of seagrass towards the reef – while trying to keep an eye on my oxygen and my dive buddy, look out for landmarks to guide myself, stay balanced without shooting down to the seabed or up to the surface too fast, and still find the time to enjoy the scenery.

Once I’d worked out how to balance these various factors, I relaxed. After spotting a flying gurnard with its stunning iridescent blue markings hidden in the sand, I started to forget the strangeness of being completely surrounded by water.

The sea around Malta is home to grouper, rainbow wrasse and parrot fish, not to mention eels and more elusive barracudas and seahorses. Whether I dived one of the many wrecks or among the rock reefs and soft corals, there was plenty of underwater company, with shoals of brightly coloured fish darting over to investigate this curious bubble-blowing intruder.

With each dive I had more tests to pass, but also more exciting sites to explore. On Manoel Island, a spit of land opposite the capital Valletta, we strode off the sea wall to investigate a bombed barge, the Water Lighter X127.

Valletta Malta

Also known as the Carolita, she was sunk during the Second World War (probably after being mistaken for a submarine), and I could still make out the gaping hole left by the bomb that had finished her off.

The next day we explored the Lady Davinia. I got kitted up on the quayside, much to the amusement of a couple of local fishermen as I waddled to the shore weighed down with tank, lead and unwieldy flippers before vanishing under the waves. And when I emerged from the dive, my fifth, I was a certified Ocean Diver.

After swimming alongside them during the day, it felt almost rude to tuck into fish every evening. But specialities such as octopus carpaccio at harbourside restaurants around the island were too mouth-watering to miss.

Peppino’s in St Julian’s Bay, near Sliema, has tempted celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Madonna and Daniel Craig in the past, while they filmed in Malta (which has doubled as places such as Troy and Lebanon on film).

Meanwhile, in St Paul’s Bay, a short drive from Mellieha, Tarragon Restaurant has already started winning local awards for its modern twist on Malta’s classic favourites, such as black tiger prawns in champagne tempura.

For such a tiny island, there’s plenty to see on dry land. And as I could only safely dive for a couple of hours every day, I did plenty of exploring – when I could drag myself away from the Malta hotels rooftop pool and the hot stone massages of its underground spa.

All roads lead to Valletta, around a half-hour drive from Mellieha. The fortified city, a grid of cobbled streets and steep steps, was built in the 16th century by the Knights of St John – otherwise known as the Knights Hospitaller.

Given the island as their base by a 16th-century king of Spain, and charged with protecting it against the Ottomans, they then built the new walled capital as a fortress to keep out the Turks.

The city is a Unesco World Heritage site, and walking through the streets takes you through centuries of history. Many of the façades of the auberges, the knights’ grand former palaces, are unchanged, and you can visit the Grand Master’s Palace, home to the Maltese government.

Most memorable for me, though, was the former capital of Mdina, the walled fortress in the centre of the island. Unlike Valletta’s wide, planned streets, the twisting alleyways date from around the time of the Arab occupation of the island in the ninth century.

The city is closed to all but residents’ cars. As I ambled to the bastion walls, past the Nunnery of St Benedict and the 700-year-old palazzos and casas of the Maltese nobility, nothing broke the quiet except the echoing clop of horse and carriage.

All too soon, though, it was time for my last dip: at Cirkewwa, in the island’s far north. One of the best beginner sites, the water here is astonishingly clear, and, although I couldn’t stray below 20 metres, the seabed at 36 metres looked temptingly close. One of the string of small underwater caves contained a statue of the Virgin Mary, and there was a natural stone arch in the rocks to swim through.

For information on diving Malta holidays visit yourmalta.com - they also have airlines with details of flights to Malta.

ThisisBristol visited the island recently, and had this to say:

The Mediterranean is never far away wherever you are on Malta, which is just 20 miles long and 12 miles wide. The surrounding clear blue waters of the Med enhance the charm of the island – and that of its near neighbour, Gozo – and have enriched its history.

Arabs, Ottomans, French, British – all have come over the centuries, leaving aspects of themselves in what, nowadays, is a small but proud and forward-looking independent state.

For the modern-day tourist, it teases the curiosity, as you seek to piece together the jigsaw of which foreign visitor of years gone by influenced what can be seen today.

Malta’s setting, at the heart of the Mediterranean, is what has proved the magnet for the invaders of the past and the recreational visitors of the present.

Just over three hours away by Ryanair from Bristol Airport, Malta has long been a destination for holidaying Brits, unsurprisingly, in view of the close links between the countries. Flights to Malta are available with most regional airports.

Indeed, Malta’s flag bears an image of the George Cross awarded to the islanders by Britain for their fortitude in withstanding Nazi bombardment during World War II.

That sense of a country under siege permeates the history of the strategically significant island, although it is now a fully-fledged member of the European Union, with the euro adopted two years ago as its currency. Consensus has superseded confrontation in the forging of economic alliance.

Relax at a Maltese resort or visit its historical sites – everywhere is within easy reach. Gozo is also just 20 minutes away by ferry.

You can absorb some of what Malta is about by sitting at a street-side cafe in the quaint fishing village of Marsaxlokk. Gazing out at the vividly painted, multi-coloured fishing boats – known locally as luzzo and kajjik – bobbing about on the water starts to form an impression of the role the Mediterranean plays in Maltese life.

Marsaxlokk Malta

The catch of the day is sold at a fish market in the village.

You can get up close and personal with the Med in a small outboard motor-powered boat at Wied iz-Zurrieq’s Blue Grotto, pretty much a must-see, as the craft meanders between the striking rock formations, at one moment in semi-darkness before re-emerging into glorious warm sunshine from a cloudless sky.

Close by are the ancient temple structures of Hagar Qim and Mnadjra, sited against the inevitable backdrop of the Mediterranean.

A good way to learn what has shaped Malta is to watch an audio-visual history in The Malta Experience, next to Fort St Elmo, in Valetta, the nation’s capital.

There is more to see in Valletta, with the best view of the island’s Grand Harbour from the Upper Barrakka Gardens, on the St Peter and St Paul Bastion. Across the water, from your elevated perspective, can be seen Fort St Angelo and the Three Cities.

It was during the two-year long French occupation under Napoleon that Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea were given the collective Three Cities title. Again, though, the Maltese sense of independence is apparent, as Vittoriosa, which translates as ‘the victorious one’, is known to the locals as Birgu, well worth knowing as you find your way around.

A highlight of a visit to Valetta is the Co-Cathedral of St John. Fairly ordinary looking from the outside, the contrast inside could hardly be more marked, with the stunningly ornate interior décor a homage both to Malta’s overwhelming devotion to Catholicism as well as honouring the island’s venerated Knights of the Order of St John.

Originally formed in Jerusalem to care for the sick, the Order developed into a military organisation, dedicated to defending the Catholic faith.

After a somewhat nomadic existence, the Knights were given Malta by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, in 1530. Previous encounters with the imperialistic Ottomans came to a head in 1565 with one of the most significant events in Malta’s history – the Great Siege.

Against seemingly insurmountable odds, the Knights, under their inspirational Grand Master, Jean de LaValette, who was in his 70s, held off the invader.

Valetta was named in the leader’s honour and the Co-Cathedral gives the modern-day tourist an insight into that period, with mosaics on the floor covering the interred remains of Knights or paying tribute to those who died and are buried elsewhere.

Perhaps the greatest treasure in the Co-Cathedral, however, is Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist.

The painting, commissioned by the then Grand Master of the Order of St John, occupies a whole wall of a room in the Co-Cathedral and concentrates the mind as you appreciate the style of the rumbustious and rebellious Caravaggio, with the subjects of the work in a corner of the painting and the rest in darkness.

At the other end of the same room is another Caravaggio – St Jerome Writing. This painting has a fascinating contemporary tale to tell, having been stolen before being saved in the nick of time before, perhaps, being lost forever.

Malta is certainly steeped in history but it has an eye on the future and one of the most striking examples of that is Tigne Point, an ultra-modern residential, business, shopping and dining development, at Sliema.

The Point Mall is described as Malta’s first international standard shopping complex, with around 50 stores offering goods ranging from fashion and jewellery to household goods and books.

A prime place to eat at “The Point” is the Salini restaurant. At night, its view across the harbour of the lit-up Valetta is hard to beat.

If that is a feast for the eyes, then the menu is equally satisfying, based on Salini’s tagline, “Flavours of the Mediterranean”. Served up tapas style, there was something for all palates, with salami, pork belly, cod in beer batter, seared tuna, anchovies in breadcrumbs and lamb tagine with potatoes available. A dessert highlight was a drinkable lemon sorbet.

Accommodation to suit all budgets is available with, nearer the top end, the five-star Corinthia Hotel St George’s Bay, in St Julian’s, providing that extra bit of luxury. Its 180 rooms and 70 executive club rooms include 39 suites. There are five outdoor pools and a day spa for those who want to chill out.

Depending on the length of a stay in Malta, a day out from the main island to Gozo is well worth while, making the short ferry trip from Cirkewwa.

Gozo, which means “joy”, was named by the Aragonese in 1282 and features the remnants of a significant historical site.

To put the Ggantija Temples into context, they predate Stonehenge by 1,000 years and are thought to be the oldest freestanding structures in the world. The complex, excavated between 1816 and 1820, has two Neolithic temples that are 7,000 years old. To read the full article click here

For the latest offers for Malta holidays visit yourmalta.com

Sliema

Are you visiting Malta in March - and celebrating your birthday while on the island?

Good news - book into the Palace Hotel in Sliema - review at http://www.yourmalta.com/hotels - and they will give you dinner on the house on your birthday at their TemptAsian restaurant!

Even if it’s not your birthday when you visit for a holiday, the Palace in Sliema is well worth considering as your hotel as it does get good customer satisfaction rates.