Um El Faroud

The Um El Faroud is Malta's flagship wreck and carries real weight: a gas explosion aboard the Libyan tanker during dockyard maintenance in 1995 killed nine Maltese workers, and after three years alongside she was scuttled off Wied iz-Zurrieq in their memory as much as for divers. Winter storms later cracked her in two, which only improved the dive — the break lets light into the tank spaces and gives the 110-meter hull a dramatic wound to explore. Divers drop along her upright superstructure, cross the bridge and funnel, and meet the barracuda school that treats the mast as home. A memorial plaque asks for the respect the site deserves.

اللحظة التي جئت من أجلها: Full-size tanker on sand, the storm-split midships, resident barracuda school, moving backstory

التضاريس: A 110 m tanker in two sections on clean sand at about 36 m, upright, off Malta's south coast

نقطة الدخول: Classic entry from the rocks at Wied iz-Zurrieq followed by a surface swim, or by boat; the shore route back involves a ladder exit and is best in calm seas.

المخاطر: Depth and distance from the entry point; interior spaces are extensive and for wreck-trained divers only.

الحفاظ على البيئة البحرية: Treat the wreck as the memorial it partly is; take nothing and disturb nothing.

نيتروكس: يستحق هنا — تقع البروفايلات في النطاق الذي يمدّد فيه النيتروكس وقت التوقف اللاإلزامي بشكل ملموس (بشرط امتلاك التدريب اللازم لاستخدامه).