Elena Micallef Borg, daughter of well-known diver Tony Micallef Borg, recalls her father’s disappearance at sea in 1978 and the painful experience of the recovery of his body nearly eight years later. She spoke to Simonne Pace.

December 17, 1978 is a day Elena Micallef Borg will never forget.

She even remembers the clothes she was wearing, even though she was 14 at the time.

“At noon I thought I heard my dad whistle. So I ran downstairs, thinking he had arrived home. That was the exact time he went missing,” Elena recalls vividly.

Tony Micallef Borg was a jovial character with a zest for life.

It has been 40 years since Tony Micallef Borg’s tragic disappearance at sea while diving and 33 years since his corpse was discovered in 1986.

“It was a week before Christmas and such a beautiful day,” she reminisces.

The day before he was lost at sea, Tony, a loving husband and father to two girls, had organised his yearly event to raise funds for the gym at Id-Dar tal-Providenza, by setting up a crib at the pool of the Villa Rosa Hotel.

On that fateful day, Elena and her younger sister Adrienne, 11, wanted to go the cinema but their father had other ideas: he planned to wake up early to go to Mass and then go for a dive.

Several of his friends could not make it, having had a drink too many the night before. Just two of his friends - Frederick Demanuele and Eric Bonnet - joined him on the boat but when he dived into the water at Żonqor Point, he was alone.

On that day, the sea was flat calm.

“We received a phone call asking for divers to help out in a search. I suddenly realised it was my father they were looking for. I burst out crying, even though they did not mention who the diver was.”

Tony’s wife, Margaret, and her two daughters went to their grandparents’ house, where the family waited impatiently for news.

“I will never forget seeing my grandfather in a corner sobbing his eyes out. For two weeks we camped there, hoping for some news. We still celebrated Christmas, as that is what my father would have wanted. But we said ‘Holy’ Christmas instead of ‘Happy’ Christmas, as what we celebrated was the birth of Jesus, which is normally happy. For us though, it was a time spent not knowing where my father was.”

At noon I heard him whistle. So I ran downstairs, thinking my father had arrived home. That was the exact time he went missing

Tony’s body was recovered in June, 1986. At the time, Elena was studying in Paris.

The divers who found Tony were Marco Briffa and Chris Chapman.

“We were told he couldn’t have found a more beautiful cave where to ‘sleep’. My father marked his diving equipment with ‘007’ and there were no missing divers at the time, so it was pretty obvious that it was him. But we will never know what really happened or how he died.

Tony was a keen sportsman and set records in many sports, but diving was his passion. He also represented Malta in a number of international spearfishing competitions. A physical education teacher by profession, he mastered most sports – except cricket, says his daughter.

Cresta Quay, the family’s diving centre in St Julian’s, was where she and her sister Adrienne spent most of their childhood.

“We were at Cresta Quay practically every day. We woke up in the morning, wore our swimsuits, flip flops and T-shirts. We had a lovely childhood, swimming and diving. We also helped out at the diving school.

“Saturday evening was the only time I got to wear ‘real clothes’. Sunday was the day when we were out on the boat as a family – and, of course, we would dive,” she says.

“Adrienne and I were his shadow. We wanted to be with my father all the time.”

Tony Micallef Borg with his spearfishing buddies after one handsome catch.

She recalls another incident which could have had tragic consequences: “I once wanted to go with him to Ċirkewwa but he refused to take me along. I was so upset. That time, the brakes of his Jaguar vehicle failed and he ended up in the sea, but he managed to escape out of a window. Had I been with him, I probably wouldn’t be remembering him today.”

Elena loves the sea and continued diving even after her father died. Having started when she was only six years old, it was the most natural thing to do. “It is a beautiful sport where you discover another world.”

“I had mixed feelings about it because my father loved the sea so much. I sometimes wish he was never found, as diving was his passion, but at least it brought us closure.

“He was a creative and innovative man, so losing him at such a young age was tragic. However, knowing that he passed away doing the thing he loved most made us happy to accept his absence in our lives.”

Now 55, she still misses her father’s jovial character and zest for life.

“Losing him is like losing a limb. It can never be the same again. But what he taught us gave us the courage to move on and live life to the full. He was a determined man who always did what he dreamt of and nothing would stop him from achieving his goals.”

The family had to wait until August 1986 to finally put Tony to rest.

“It has been hard but knowing that he is in a better place gives us peace.

“It was like living in a dream, something we wanted but not in this way – as we would have preferred to find my father alive. But such is life, and that was ‘his day’ to join his Creator, whom he loved so much.”