Dwejra

Gozo is noted for a number of natural features. Each is separately listed as a must see stop, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that they are all clustered within a few hundred meters of each other. To end our day in Gozo we headed toward Dwejra to take in the spectacular natural sites.

The most notable feature is the Azure Window, a large hole carved out of the surrounding limestone by the action of the waves over thousands of years. It is framing Amy in the background of this photo. You are strongly discouraged from climbing on top of it, but you can walk down to the base if you even realize that is where the little path across the rocks is taking you. If you don’t take this little walk you will never get to see the Blue Hole. I had heard mention of it and assumed it was referring to the Azure Window again. Wrong.

The Blue Hole, shown below, is a deep hole carved out vertically from the rock near the base of the Azure Window. In speaking to a diver I discovered it is connected to the sea by an underwater channel approximately 16 meters down from the surface. The hole itself is some 22 meters deep. After you get more than 10 meters deep there is very little light filtering through the water from above which must make for a really interesting passage to the sea.

Near the parking area for the Azure Window you see an unremarkable, little, puddle-sized bit of water. It is populated by a group of boats that are dense enough to almost fill the surface. Can’t be much going on there, right? Wrong. This is referred to in grandiose terms as the Inland Sea. It isn’t much to look at until you head down and discover that it is connected to the open sea by a small passage through the rock. You can hire a boat and go out through the hole to see the Azure Window from the other side. It would seem to be a smaller version of the Azure Window. Who knows, in several thousand years it might be "the" window while the other opening is totally gone.

The last natural feature is on the other side of the parking area. It is a small island in Dwejra Bay which is called Fungus Rock. It doesn’t look like a fungus, so the name isn’t descriptive in that way. So, what is it? Apparently, the Knights of St. John discovered a very rare plant that grew only there which they felt had significant medicinal powers. Setting foot on the rock while it was under their rule could net you three years rowing in the galleys. Modern pharmacologists have discovered that the plant (not actually a fungus) has no medicinal properties.

Following our time in Dwejra, we headed back to Mgarr and boarded the ferry back to Malta,