MV Karwela Wreck

MV Karwela is one of the three diving wrecks offshore Xatt l-Ahmar on the south-eastern coast of Gozo. Karwela was a former Captain Morgan Cruises passenger ferry around the Grand Harbour. She was scuttled in August 2006 together with MV Cominoland as an artificial reef for scuba divers. The third wreck MV Xlendi has scuttled already in 1999. Karwela wreck is about 50 m long and is sitting perfectly upright on a sandy bottom with a maximum depth of around 40 m. Her bow lies at 39 m deep, whereas her stern rests at 41 m. The top deck with the captain's cabin starts at depth of 30 m. The wreck is safe to penetrate because of the various openings made before scuttling, and there is plenty to explore on its three decks. Large holes were cut all along the sides of the first two decks, and there is a photogenic staircase in the middle of the wreck leading to the lower deck, which is lit by portholes. There is a small amount of silt and sand inside.

Karwela's bow is approximately 80 m south of the dive’s entry point and about 40 m from the drop-off. She is the middle one of the three wrecks in Xatt l-Ahmar, between Cominoland which lies about 60 m east, and Xlendi about 60 m west of Karwela. All the wrecks are usually dived from the shore but can be done by boat as well. Karwela is probably the most dived wreck around Gozo, as she is more interesting than upturned Xlendi, closer to shore and larger than Cominoland. Shortly after the sinking of Karwela, a Volkswagen Beetle car was also sunk onto her starboard deck by the stern by some local divers, who swam it out on floating barrels. Unfortunately, nothing is left from this car wreck. There is another car wreck near Xlendi in Xatt l-Ahmar though.

Location: Gozo, Malta.