MV Karwela
Type: Wreck
Max Depth: 40m
Average Depth: 35m
Dive time: 45 mins
Minimum certification: deep
Difficulty: intermediate
The dive
With an easy shore access to the dive site, the MV Karwela lays at a depth of 40 meters in Xatt-L-Ahmar, next to the MV Cominoland and the MV Xlendi. At a length of 58m, the wreck sits on the seabed with three decks to explore. The top deck starts at 30m, and if you’re swimming through the ship, the famous staircases in the centre will lead you down the other decks.
Back on the shallow reef, you’re sure not to get bored with the rich marine life, and the occasional Octopus and Seahorse!
The history
This old tourist ferry once took up to 800 passengers a time in and out of the grand harbour in Malta. But its story starts earlier:
Commissioned in 1957 by Meyer Jos. L in Papenburg as a leisure ferry, its original name was the MV Frisia II, operating in the North Sea under the company Norden-Frisia AG. She was renamed in 1981 to MV Nordpaloma and shipped to Malta in 1987. At this point, she was renamed to what we know her today as: the MV Karwela, and operated as a passenger ferry, unti 2006, when she was decommissioned and scuttled off the coast of Gozo.
