# MV Rozi wreck site, Malta.



## TeeJF (Jun 15, 2012)

Seeing as how our Irako wreck dive report got a favourable response here's another of our "occasional" wreck dive reports.

*This particular site is in Malta a short way off shore at the very northern most tip of the island on the opposite side to the Malta - Gozo ferry dock. More years ago than I can remember a company in Malta called Captain Morgan used to operate a small submersible vehicle which took paying punters a shallow distance down underwater. They bought an old tugboat called the MV (Motor Vessel) Rozi and sank her after sanitising her by removing the engines and any other equipment that could potentially pollute the water. She sits now on an even keel in quite a substantial depth around of about 36 - 40 metres. Captain Morgan appears to have dissappeared off the radar now and the Rozi has become instead a fairly popular dive site for the slightly more experienced diver. We dived her using closed circuit rebreathers and had a great dive.

The Med has been so heavily fished that the shoreline off Malta (and Italy AND Cyprus too for that matter) has changed dranatically in a few short years. When I first dived there in the early 80s the rocks were covered in grazing wild life which kept the growth of weed down. This life was in turn preyed upon by fish such as wrasse and a dive off Malta at that time was a rainbow whirl of coloured fish throughout. 

Not so now. The rocks are covered in green and red algae and grazing sea urchins are few and far between. As to the fish, well... we did a dive in Cyprus in 2007 and saw ten fish in an hour! Malta has faired little better and a shore dive there is a distinctly boring event. The reason? Well my theory is that together with commercial over fishing of the larger species and "sport" spear fishing of relative tiddlers, and the appalling amount of pollution, especially with copper based anti-fouling paint which drastically affects inverts and shell fish, the entire food chain has had holes picked in it at some many levels it is now collapsing exponentially.

But all is NOT gloom and doom. Many species have retreated further off shore and cannot be easily seen but a ship wreck like the Rozi provides the marine life with an artifical reef and the population density over and within the wrecks is prolific.

So here's a few piccies we took on that dive. I do hope you enjoy them.*


*Le photgraphie sous le mere...​*








*Approaching the wreck she initially appears only as a distant shadow against the dark blue water at this depth. 
It is only when you get closer that you see what she actually is*








*Dropping down to deck level amongst the fish.*








* A visual signal from TJ to tell me that she's OK with her systems and surroundings. 
We were quite new to rebreathers at this point.*








*Swimming forward towards the bridge alomng the port side companionway. That hatch proved VERY inviting!*








*Below decks is an open engine compartment. That ALSO proved rather inviting!*








*This pipe work is all that's left of the engine and ancillary structures now.*








*TJ leaving the engine room.*








*Care is required as you penetrate the wreck, hanging up being a very real danger when you are festooned with kit like a veritable Christmas Tree.*








*The ladder leads up into the crew quarters below the bridge.*








*...and that's where we are now.*








*The tug's smoke stack.*








*Below me TJ hovers over the smoke stack whilst I hold on to the top of the mast to steady myself for the shot.*








*Time to leave and the wreck fades into the distant blue sea.*​

*
That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the piccies!

Thanks for looking... 
​*


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## flyboys90 (Jun 15, 2012)

I enjoyed that report something different,great pics thanks for sharing.


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## night crawler (Jun 15, 2012)

Nice, you make me feel so jelious. Your right about fished out though even as far back as 1979 the waters round San Tropez were fished out, hardly saw any thing when we dived a wreck there.


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## onthebusescrazy (Jun 15, 2012)

Brillant Find And Fantastic Pictures .


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## John_D (Jun 15, 2012)

Nice report, oh I wish I could dive! Captain Morgan is still alive and well and living in Malta, and there are still fish about, this pic was taken last year from the boat with the observation keel shown in the link above.


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## Sshhhh... (Jun 15, 2012)

Very nice, you two dont arf get about!


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## maxmix (Jun 15, 2012)

Different, but very interesting, thanks


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## King Al (Jun 16, 2012)

Fascinating stuff  I would love to do a wreck dive!


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## sonyes (Jun 16, 2012)

Great stuff!! Sooooo jealous.


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## TeeJF (Jun 16, 2012)

Thank you all for your kind comments.



John_D said:


> Captain Morgan is still alive and well and living in Malta,



Well, well, well! I had no idea Captian Morgan was still functioning and I'm staggered frankly because the last time we went to Malta the recession had hit them terribly and so much was closed down it was unreal! Thanks for the heads up.



King Al said:


> I would love to do a wreck dive]



Never too old Al! There's a couple of really shallow wrecks in Malta which are a doddle to do, although I did get hung up inside one during a night dive once so even the most benign wrecks will bite if you take them for granted. I was staggered though at the operation in Coron Bay where that other wreck report is from which we did recently. They were taking day 2 novices INSIDE the shallower wrecks. I say shallow, 26 metres!!! Not recommended. But you don't have to be uber experienced to wreck dive. My own third open water dive was on a cracking wreck called the Breda up in Oban back in the late seventies. Many UK wrecks are so trashed they are little more than a jumble of plates on the seabed. The big stuff you can go inside is much less common.


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