Returning to Malapascua

[whatacoolfish]

Hey all, I’m considering a return trip to Malapascua and would love to hear from people who visited before and after the move to Kimud Shoal. I was there in 2018 and dove Monad all 4 mornings I had on the island and loved every dive, but footage I’ve seen from Kimud makes the dives look even better, with closer encounters in shallower/brighter water. So is it different enough to warrant a return trip when there are so many other places to dive? My other question is, are the non thresher dives interesting enough to keep me entertained for a full trip or should I combine it with another location (Anilao, Dauin or somewhere else)?

Thanks!

 

[Centrals]

There are other places offering excellent diving: Southern Leyte.
Anilao is well known for macro.
Dauin + Sipalay would make a interesting trip. However, getting to Sipalay requires a bit of travelling even these two places are on the same island of Negros.
LoB to Tubattaha but the season is short, mid Apr to mid May is the best time to avoid weather interference.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I revisited Malapascua in January of this year, the previous visit was in 2016. Kimud, which was a wasteland previously, is now a beautiful lush coral garden with masses of colorful cleaning fish. The views of the many threshers were fabulous, they were everywhere and the vis amazing. I had some excellent macro dives at Gato, the White Tips are still there. Other dives were also productive. We did a Monad on the way back, which was reasonably good but no tigers. The second last morning I skipped the shark dive and a tiger put in an appearance right in front of the group a Monad. I also did Dauin and Moalboal on the same trip, was glad I did them but Malapascua was way better. It’s busier on the island of course but it’s still very beautiful !

 

[whatacoolfish]

Thanks for the input Centrals, I did Tubbataha on that trip in 2018 as well. If I’m not doing Malapascua I would go to another country probably.

Thanks Tippytoes, this is what I was wanting to hear. How many days did you spend there? I feel like I can skip Moalboal, is it worth the travel to go to Dauin and Apo for 3 days or should I just spend like a full week at Mala?

 

[Brett Hatch]

I did my first Philippines trip in Feb of this year. We spent a couple nights in Cebu, then 4 nights Malapascua, 4 nights Bohol, and 4 nights Dumaguete. Malapascua and Dumaguete both had very good diving, Bohol was so-so diving (but great topside life and the tarsier sanctuary was really fun)

I only did 1 morning dive on Kimud. About 1 dozen thresher sharks that day, good 20m vis, average dive depth around 10m, with the most to see around 7-15m. Lots of happy coral and smaller bony fish, lots of invertebrates, bright morning light. Overall one of my most memorable dives on the trip. If I ever return, I'll make sure to see the threshers at least 2 mornings. Didn't see any tiger sharks, but others had seem them recently. The water was too surgey to see more than a glimpse of the white tips at Gato that day, but we still had good dives there

 

[Tippytoes12]

Thanks for the input Centrals, I did Tubbataha on that trip in 2018 as well. If I’m not doing Malapascua I would go to another country probably.

Thanks Tippytoes, this is what I was wanting to hear. How many days did you spend there? I feel like I can skip Moalboal, is it worth the travel to go to Dauin and Apo for 3 days or should I just spend like a full week at Mala?

I spent nine days there, took all of January off unpaid which was amazing. I don’t think that Dauin is worth the very long journeys. The earthquake some weeks ago may well have damaged roads or they may be busier because of road repairs of transport of aid. So the journeys may be even longer.

 

[ScubaBackpacker]

Hey all, I’m considering a return trip to Malapascua and would love to hear from people who visited before and after the move to Kimud Shoal. I was there in 2018 and dove Monad all 4 mornings I had on the island and loved every dive, but footage I’ve seen from Kimud makes the dives look even better, with closer encounters in shallower/brighter water. So is it different enough to warrant a return trip when there are so many other places to dive? My other question is, are the non thresher dives interesting enough to keep me entertained for a full trip or should I combine it with another location (Anilao, Dauin or somewhere else)?

Thanks!

I dove Monad shoal prior to Covid and Kimud shoal in August 2025. We did 6 dives on Kimud in August.
The return to Malapascua was well worth it as Kimud is a much shallower dive, with better visibility and a greater variety of organisms , in addition to the sharks. I thought Gato one of the pinnacle dives were also interesting.
But it sounds like it is getting insanely crowded during season. It wouldn't surprise me if the sharks relocated somewhere else again due to the disturbance of the cleaning stations by the increasing number of divers. See other recent Malapascua threads.

 

[whatacoolfish]

I dove Monad shoal prior to Covid and Kimud shoal in August 2025. We did 6 dives on Kimud in August.
The return to Malapascua was well worth it as Kimud is a much shallower dive, with better visibility and a greater variety of organisms , in addition to the sharks. I thought Gato one of the pinnacle dives were also interesting.
But it sounds like it is getting insanely crowded during season. It wouldn't surprise me if the sharks relocated somewhere else again due to the disturbance of the cleaning stations by the increasing number of divers. See other recent Malapascua threads.

This is a definitely a thought that makes me want to get there sooner than later.