Um El Faroud
One wreck. Several descents. Still unfinished.
Some dive sites fit neatly into a single logbook entry. The Um El Faroud does not.
At almost 110 metres long, the wreck is far too large to explore properly during one recreational dive. One descent might be spent around the stern and superstructure. Another might focus on the bow, the enormous break through the centre or the propeller resting near the seabed.
The Um El Faroud does not reveal itself all at once. It appears in sections, each large enough to become a dive site in its own right.
Dive profile
- Dive type
- Deep wreck and artificial reef
- Wreck length
- Approximately 110 metres
- Depth range
- Approximately 15-37 metres
- Distance from shore
- Approximately 150 metres
- Recommended level
- Advanced with suitable deep-diving experience
- Penetration
- Wreck-trained and equipped divers only
Before the Faroud belonged to the sea.
Long before it became one of Malta's best-known wreck dives, the Um El Faroud was a working oil tanker with a tragic final chapter above the surface.
The Seafalcon
The tanker was built in Middlesbrough and originally named the Seafalcon. It was later acquired by Libya, renamed the Um El Faroud and used to transport refined fuel between Libya and Italy.
The explosion
On 3 February, flammable vapour ignited while the ship was undergoing maintenance inside Dock No. 3 at Malta Drydocks. The explosion caused extensive structural damage.
The scuttling
After remaining in the dockyard for around three years, the vessel was towed from Grand Harbour and deliberately scuttled off Wied iż-Żurrieq as an artificial reef and diving attraction.
The split
Severe winter storms broke the wreck across its central section, close to the area weakened by the original explosion. Its bow and stern now sit separated and slightly offset.
One ship. Three very different dives.
The Faroud rests upright on a sandy seabed. Its shallowest structures begin at roughly 15-18 metres, the main deck sits around 25 metres and the deepest sections reach approximately 36-37 metres.
Height and machinery
The bridge, superstructure, side corridors and accommodation areas dominate this section. Drop towards the seabed and the propeller appears, with the ship towering above it.
The ship torn open
Jagged edges expose the vessel's internal construction while remaining open to the water. The bow and heavier stern no longer align, making the break even more dramatic from a distance.
The full silhouette
Railings, winches and open deck space lead towards the pointed bow. Moving away from the hull reveals the ship's outline and the scale of the distance travelled.
An artificial reef
Marine growth now covers the exposed metal while fish use the railings, corridors and machinery as shelter. Sightings change from dive to dive.
Choose one objective before entering the water.
Trying to see the entire wreck during one dive is neither realistic nor particularly rewarding. Select a route, agree the limits and leave something for the next descent.
Stern + propeller
The best route for appreciating the wreck's height.
- Enter at Wied iż-Żurrieq and begin the 150-metre journey towards the wreck, completing part of the approach at the surface or underwater according to the team's plan and conditions.
- The funnel or upper superstructure may be the first section to appear. Continue around the bridge, side corridors and stern.
- Remain around the upper structures for a profile largely between 18 and 28 metres, or descend towards the rudder and propeller if the agreed depth, gas and no-decompression limits permit.
- Move towards the central split and begin the return before the wreck's size tempts the team beyond the planned turnaround point.
Bow + central split
The route for dramatic outlines and the ship's torn centre.
- Approach the wreck with the middle and forward sections as the agreed objective rather than attempting a full circuit.
- Pass through or around the open central break and continue across the deck towards the bow, monitoring current, gas and no-decompression time.
- Move away from the bow and look back at the full outline of the ship. A diver alongside it provides the clearest sense of scale.
- Return along the opposite side of the hull, using the split as an earlier turnaround point if the team's limits make the bow impractical.
Penetration plan
A separate wreck dive, not an addition to a general tour.
- Agree a specific internal route, entry, exit, turnaround pressure and maximum depth before the dive.
- Use appropriate wreck training, line procedures, equipment and gas planning for the entire team, including suitable redundancy where required.
- Maintain awareness of darkness, silt, entanglement, restricted movement and disorientation throughout the overhead environment.
- Abort the penetration if any diver, equipment item or environmental condition falls outside the original plan.
The Faroud, frame by frame.
Photographs and portrait footage collected across different descents, from the first silhouette in the blue to the details hidden across the wreck.
Photographs
Four frames
Dive reels
Eight portrait clipsThe wreck changes each time I return.
For much of the approach, there may be nothing ahead except open blue water. Then a dark shape begins to form in the distance. What initially resembles a wall becomes an entire oil tanker.
The scale takes over
During my earlier dives, most of my attention was drawn towards the Faroud's largest and most obvious features. The superstructure, split, bow and propeller are difficult to ignore.
As the visibility clears, isolated lines become railings and shadows become sections of deck. Everything feels oversized, particularly when compared with the divers swimming beside it.
The details begin to appear
Once I was no longer trying to understand the whole ship at once, smaller details became as interesting as the major structures.
Pipes, ladders, winches, damaged metal and spreading marine growth slowly turned the wreck from one enormous object into a collection of individual discoveries.
One wreck, several landscapes
Swimming above the deck feels like moving across an abandoned industrial site. Dropping alongside the hull transforms it into a vertical metal cliff.
Moving away from the bow reveals the ship's outline, while descending towards the propeller makes the stern tower overhead. The central split frames blue water between jagged sheets of metal.
Leaving before it feels finished
Eventually, gas, depth and no-decompression time force every exploration to end. The wreck recedes into the blue until its structures merge into a silhouette and finally disappear.
No matter how much of it I have explored, I have never surfaced feeling that I have finished with the Faroud. There is always another section that deserves more time.