Malapascua or Phuket

[andydob27]

I'm taking a trip the end of march for 7-9 days. I was pretty sure Phuket was going to be the place. But I just heard back from the travel agent and the flight is the same price for Phuket or Cebu.

I've wanted to get to Malapascua now for a few years. For the Threshers of course. But I'm thinking all the other dive sites are probably pretty great too?

Does anyone have any strong feelings either way? I'm just looking for a relaxing vacation, 3 dives a day, good diving, nice/clean/quiet accomodation without breaking the bank.

Thanks for your input.

Andy

 

[Centrals]

My experience ONLY:
If you are interested on diving ONLY then Malapascua. But do prepare to get up before 5am for the thrasher shark!!!
If top side attraction and infrastructure are more important then it has to be Phuket.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Andy,

Ditto what Centrals said.

Also, be aware that there is no guarantee of threshers. To take your shot, you'll get up very early and hang deep on the site (Monad Shoal), like 90'+ with little else to see if there is no shark action.

There are many excellent dive sites, e.g., Gato Reef, and some boffo night diving, e.g., the Lighthouse with great nudis and Mandarinfish mating activity.

Have a blast.

DocVikingo

 

[DevonDiver]

Ditto (again) on Central's advice.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

I would dive Alona Beach,Panglao/Balacasag Island before going to Malapascua. Alona Beach area has alot of topside activities plus the diving is much better & cheaper. I dive with Seaquest which has (3) locations aound Cebu area. Just this morning we dove with a young Whaleshark 5m to 7m long. Baliacasag Island has shoals of Jacks & Barracudas along with the largest turtles I've seen in Philippines. I have dove Malapascua/Moalboal/Dauin/Dumaguete and choose to live/dive in Panglao Alona Beach area the last (3) months. Take the FastCat out of Cebu to Bohol,trike to Alona Beach...jump in!

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

 

[1thumper]

Hi Andy,

I've been to both a couple of times, most recently to Malapascua last month. Phuket's major advantage is the nightlife, variety of restaraunts, and many other things to do besides diving. Malapascua is a small island feel with several places to eat but which only a couple are really good (Angelinas, Oscars), but not too much to do but dive or sit on the nice beach.

Diving at Phuket is cattle boats and long drives to the sites, and you will only go the the relatively few sites where and when they have scheduled; forget sunrise or night dives. Malapascua is small boat diving, often one can ask to go to a particular site and if you want 4 or maybe 5 five dives a day it can be done.

Phuket has some nice sites (I like Shark Point the best, but Anemone Reef is also beautiful) but not too many; the cattle boats have a very limited site selection. Actually if going to Phuket maybe better to then take a boat to Phi Phi Island where there is more site variety and shorter rides. Or take a liveaboard to the Similan islands which I have not seen but is supposed to be great.

Malapascua has in my opinion a better variety of sites. Monad Shoal (about a 30 minute ride) is the best known and is great when the thresher sharks or mantas show, but otherwise you spend 50 minutes watching plankton drift by...figure on average to have a shark sighting only every 2-3 dives. Gato Island is great, good swim-thru that really doesn't require cave cert and probably will see whitetips sharks afterwards. Going to Calangaman Island for a day trip offers two great wall dives and a good beach BBQ. Most of the local sites are also good and less than a 15 minute dive.

At Malapascua I can strongly recommend Thresher Shark Divers. At Phuket no particular shop recommendation but I did an AOW course years ago with Marcia Fisk Ong (http://gekkoscubadivers.com/) and she was very good for a course and a source of info.

Malapascua is much less expensive.

My vote would definitely be Malapascua, but you'll have fun either place. Enjoy!

 

[Rhone Man]

Never been to either (yet...), but I would just chime in that Phuket has a reputation of poor(er) vis during the rainy season. I am guessing that around now probably qualifies as the start of the rainy season.

 

[vladimir]

I am guessing that around now probably qualifies as the start of the rainy season.

The southwest monsoon starts in April or May, runs through about October, and brings wetter weather and rougher water to Phuket. November to February is peak season--a little bit cooler, a little bit dryer, and a lot calmer seas, I think. I have been diving during low season and it's really not that bad--but we did catch the tail end of a typhoon during a May liveaboard, which was pretty nasty. The liveaboard operator gave us 50% off coupons for a subsequent trip, to compensate us for the ride home, I think, when the boat had a pronounced list to port as it took on water. I don't know if typhoons are seasonal.

 

[mrrworld]

I've dove both and Malapascua was definitely more memorable. Of course, the threshers are there but the other dive sites around Gato Island and closer to Malapascua are quite good, interesting, and varied. I've always thought Phuket was a little overrated, to be honest.

Phuket is easier to get too as you are in for a rather long drive (3 hours I think, maybe longer) from the Cebu airport to Malapascua. Malapascua is more remote so more laid back but definitely less to do, less options for restaurants, etc. 7-9 days there could get old in a hurry. I don't know about rates but I think accomodations and diving would be cheaper in Malapascua but you would get better accomodations in Phuket.

Hope this helps.

Michael

 

[Quero]

Never been to either (yet...), but I would just chime in that Phuket has a reputation of poor(er) vis during the rainy season. I am guessing that around now probably qualifies as the start of the rainy season.

Actually, visibility for Phuket is seasonal, but not in terms of rain/no rain. The rainy season runs from May to November, so we are just getting to the dry season now, and in fact it has arrived! What affects vis here is the slow growth of plankton over the dry season so that by late April the vis has degraded somewhat. Of course the tradeoff is the arrival of the big plankton eaters (manta rays, mainly) in the second half of the dry season. We don't have much tilled agriculture (but rather long-term plantings like rubber trees and coconut groves), and our islands are granite, so we also don't have a runoff problem.

The southwest monsoon starts in April or May, runs through about October, and brings wetter weather and rougher water to Phuket. November to February is peak season--a little bit cooler, a little bit dryer, and a lot calmer seas, I think. I have been diving during low season and it's really not that bad--but we did catch the tail end of a typhoon during a May liveaboard, which was pretty nasty. The liveaboard operator gave us 50% off coupons for a subsequent trip, to compensate us for the ride home, I think, when the boat had a pronounced list to port as it took on water. I don't know if typhoons are seasonal.

I remember that cyclone you caught in May 2008--it was called Nargis, and it was a Cat 4 storm. Must have been a wild ride! I was in Bonaire at the time worried about my customers here! At any rate, I can assure everybody that cyclones are a very rare occurrence in the Andaman Sea. We do get the occasional water spout, though, spawned by thunderstorms.