Don't even think about Malapascua...No thresher sharks, terrible visibility, a house reef consisting of a sunken jeepney, take a shower in salt water, rinse your scuba gear in salt water, enjoy the dynamite fishing at gato island and the tonnes of dead fish on the sea floor. The worst excuse for a dive site that i have ever encountered.
Best diving on cebu?
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jonix
Contributor
joestone:
really? very sad to hear...when did you last dived malapascua?
clgsamson
Koya Kap
I met somebody last Dec. 28 in Aquav and he was telling us a story about Malapascua. He sez he and his dive buddies saw threshers and two conference table size mantas (Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 2005). The threshers were on sked during their early morning dives. The mantas always appeared around 1:30 pm. Maybe your luck just ran out.
Yes I too would appreciate some more info about your dive.
Yes I too would appreciate some more info about your dive.
Pinay_Diver
Contributor
joestone:
Hi Joestone,
really sad to know about what you have experienced in Malapascua.
I've been to Malapascua twice ( 2004-2005). And I saw threshers and mantas on both occasions. I enjoyed Gato island for there were sharks and lots of it.
I hope you have better luck with other dive sites in the Phils.
Hi Pinay Diver, clgsamson and jonix...I was in Malapascua in mid-February 2005. To prove my point, I will upload a very ugly picture at Gato island where i saw the results of dynamite fishing. The destruction is very unfortunate. In Mid-Feb 2006 I will be going to Apo Island, balacasag island and donsol. I got my OW license in Panagsama and I dove at Puerto Galera.
manhattandiver
Contributor
I was in Malapascua for three days in September and the thresher sharks showed up each morning. Mantas also appeared one day as well. In February the water is colder and the chance of seeing the sharks is about half of what it is from June to December. That being said, other than some wrecks (one of which is in 50 meters of water), I didn't think that the diving there was very impressive. Visability is much poorer than around Moalboal or Bohol and due to extensive dynamite fishing, there is not as much coral or fish life either. I know that traveling can be a bit of a pain, but my recommendation would be to visit Malapascua for a few days, see the thresher sharks (hopefully) and then head to either Moalboal or Bohol (more specifically Alona Beach, on Panglao Island, just South of Bohol). You can dive in Malapascua the morning you leave, stay in Cebu overnight and then get to Moalboal or Bohol early enough to dive that afternoon.
manhattandiver:
I think the key to enjoying Malapascua is getting hooked up with a good dive master. Of what I remember of my last trip is that there is a higher chance to see the threshers in the early mornings. Forget about catching them in the afternoons. He who wakes up at dawn wins....
:azvatar:
joestone:
The photo is very disturbing indeed. What is surprising is that I don't see the same outburst of emotion in this board the way I saw when some stupid Korean diver vandalized our reef.
What's wrong guys?
shugar
Contributor
i didn't see the pic till you said you saw it... it made me look back up the thread... it's in his gallery where most people don't look...Armand:
you want the same noise? it has to be "packaged" like axua's coral grafitti - out in the open and a call for righteous indignation
there's nothing to beeyatch and whine about if they don't know it's there... don't worry, it's not joestone's fault in any way, but if the pic was out in the open then everyone would see it - we might even be able to do something about it diba?
Jag
manhattandiver
Contributor
Twomixdiver:I think the key to enjoying Malapascua is getting hooked up with a good dive master. Of what I remember of my last trip is that there is a higher chance to see the threshers in the early mornings. Forget about catching them in the afternoons. He who wakes up at dawn wins....
That's absoultely correct. Diving with the threshers means getting up before dawn and being in the water by 5:30 AM. By 6:00 AM they are basically gone.
As for the dynamite fishing, while on Malapascua I heard stories that local government officials were actually the ones selling the explosives to the fisherman. Very disturbing if true. When diving the wrecks you can see unexploded bottles of the stuff laying around. Not long before I got to the island, a diver surfaced with one of those, thinking that he had recovered a WWII "artifact". The boat crew recognized it as a misfire and threw the bottle back overboard as quickly as they could.
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