TRAVELSPECIAL
Winter storms did more damage to the Azure Alps
British market was very much still missing . Many European countries allowed travel within the EU borders , whereas the UK still had onerous testing and quarantine restrictions . Hopefully that will remain a thing of the past , and 2022 will see a return to normal service . Covid ( or rather the lack of human activity during lockdowns ) did deliver a few unexpected bonuses – cetacean sightings rocketed over the last two years , with fin whales coming much closer to land . Whale song was more frequently heard by divers , and sightings of dolphins became a weekly , if not daily , occurrence . This was probably a consequence of reduced boat traffic in inshore waters ... but whatever the reasons , it was welcome .
The changing face of Malta and Gozo
Five years ago , my phone rang and a friend uttered the words “ It ’ s fallen ”. The famous natural arch known as the Azure Window had finally fallen in a storm . We jumped in the car and , like so many other people on that windy March morning , we drove down to look at what was no longer there . Over the previous 12 years I ’ d watched it get eroded a little more every season .
I ’ d done photographic surveys underwater for local and overseas University geological departments and we knew it would happen one day , but it was still a sad day when it finally went . Six days later the storms relented and we were , at last , able to dive it and see the results underwater . The Blue Hole and Azure window had always been a great dive site – Jacques Cousteau famously described it as one of the ten best dive sites in the Med . Well , it ’ s even better now ! That first dive revealed a new landscape of huge boulders the size of tower blocks , some rising from 50m to 8m and composed of gleaming , freshly broken rock . Precariously balanced at first , many have now settled further and created a whole new playground . Now these same boulders provide a wonderland of swim throughs , overhangs , fish nurseries and a wildlife haven accessible to every diver from Ocean Diver to trimix CCR .
Changes have also taken place among our compliment of shipwrecks , as time and salt water continue their slow assault .
The Blue Hole and Azure Window , before ( right ) and after ( left ) the fall
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