Azure Reef (Dwejra)

Most divers reach this boulder field either straight from the Blue Hole's own pool and chimney, or by swimming the length of the Inland Sea tunnel and turning along the wall. Either way, the geometry changes completely once you're among the blocks. Where the Blue Hole is a single shaft and the Inland Sea a single corridor, this is three-dimensional and irregular: room-sized limestone boulders stacked at every angle, with gaps and short swim-throughs between them rather than a wall or a floor to follow. Some of the rock still shows sharp, unweathered edges, a giveaway that this jumble is far younger than the coast around it. A community account of the connected circuit treats the field as a waypoint rather than a destination, naming it only as the stretch of boulders crossed between the tunnel exit and the Blue Hole's arch, which matches how most divers actually use the site: passing through rather than lingering. Divers who want to explore further can also continue from here toward a separate feature referred to as the Coral Gardens.

No other Gozo site lets you dive a headline global news story. This exact spot is where the Azure Window stood, the natural arch that was one of Malta's most photographed landmarks until a storm brought it down. What you swim through today is the direct result of that collapse: fresh limestone rubble rather than an established reef community, still in the early stages of being colonised. Algae are visibly taking hold on rock that was dry land within living memory, and that ongoing process is the real subject of the dive, more than any fish list. It is distinct from the Blue Hole in shape, a scattered field rather than a shaft-and-arch, even though the two sit metres apart and are almost always dived together. Nowhere else on the island offers this particular combination: a famous surface landmark, its documented disappearance, and the aftermath, all in one accessible shore dive.

The Azure Window was a 28-metre natural limestone arch, shaped by erosion over a very long period and, by most accounts, standing in recognisable form since at least the 19th century. It became one of Malta's most reproduced images: a backdrop for film productions and a fixture of Gozo postcards for decades. Concern about its stability was public well before the end. In December 2016, Malta's Environment Minister announced an emergency conservation order barring anyone without authorisation from walking, climbing or jumping from the arch, or entering the water directly beneath it, with a minimum €1,500 fine for breaking the rule.1 The order was time-limited to six months and was never converted into a permanent, enforced law. People were still reported walking on top of the arch in the days before it fell. The end came on 8 March 2017, at around 9:40am local time, during a storm of gale-force winds and heavy rain: the arch collapsed into the sea, reportedly with a loud crack and a large spray of water witnessed from shore. No injuries were recorded in the collapse itself. What had been Malta's most photographed natural arch is now the rubble field dived today as Azure Reef, lying directly beside the Blue Hole.

Come expecting a boulder field, not an arch. Divers who haven't read up on the 2017 collapse sometimes still arrive picturing a swim under a standing window, and it helps to reset that expectation before you get in the water: the arch is gone, and what's left is rubble. Treat the blocks themselves with some caution rather than as fixed scenery. Sources note that pieces of the field could still shift or split, so keep your attention on the structure around you, especially inside the tighter swim-throughs, rather than assuming it's as settled as it looks. The shore approach shares the Blue Hole's rough, coralline-limestone walk, so footwear for that stretch is best packed apart from your dive kit. Most operators and divers treat this as an add-on that follows the Blue Hole, not a dive booked on its own; agree with your buddy where it fits into the day before you start.