kwayne88
Registered
Spent a week on Malapascua diving with TSD. Had a great time and some really good diving.
TSD has a nice operation and I will use them again when I go back. Andrea and Trevor were great, the divemasters and boat hands were very helpful. They made it really easy for a fat man to get on and off the boat. Since this is the only operation I have used there I can't offer opinions on other operations, but they worked well for me so I will be back.
The resteraunt and bar above the shop is a nice touch. Good food, nice friendly staff and cold beer. Can't ask for more than that.
Stayed a Cocobana, in a super deluxe. Large clean room with plenty of room for two people, although I was alone. Large shower which is always nice for me. Same as TSD with the comparison to other hotels.
Arrivied on the first of June, so the winds had shifted from the south west (I think thats right as I didn't have a compass) and the seas were a little rough to get to some of the distant dive spots. However, I was content with the places we could go. Saw cuddlefish, sea snakes, crocodile fish, nudi branches on every rock and coral, octopus on the nite dive, and tons of other interesting stuff. Unfortunatley my camera flooded on the first dive so no underwater photos.
Made two morning dives to Monad shoal and I guess the blood sacrifice I made to the scuba god payed off because I saw two threshers on each dive. Then on the afternoon dives saw a couple mantas on the first trip, probably eight feet across.
The second dive was kinda slow for a few min then out of the blue came the monster. I have seen a few mantas in my travels but this thing was massive. I'm not a great judge of size underwater but I checked from where it appeared the wings were and I would say it was at least 18 to 20 feet across. Its mouth looked big enough to swallow a compact car. This size was also agreed on by two more divers there.
The manta came in almost directly on top of us, paused for a second for a cleaning and then with a flip of its wings it was off. It circled around two more times and the last time I could have reached up and touched it. I didn't realise until after it had passed that I was holding my breath.
Overall I had a great trip and will be heading there again when I get a chance. I think the next time I will try to make a trip in March, as this is when I was told the best weather and viz can be found.
I will try to post a couple shots from the surface.
1. Oscars, the rest and bar above TSD
2. View out my front door at Cocobana
3 and 4. A couple of the friendly staff at Oscars.
TSD has a nice operation and I will use them again when I go back. Andrea and Trevor were great, the divemasters and boat hands were very helpful. They made it really easy for a fat man to get on and off the boat. Since this is the only operation I have used there I can't offer opinions on other operations, but they worked well for me so I will be back.
The resteraunt and bar above the shop is a nice touch. Good food, nice friendly staff and cold beer. Can't ask for more than that.
Stayed a Cocobana, in a super deluxe. Large clean room with plenty of room for two people, although I was alone. Large shower which is always nice for me. Same as TSD with the comparison to other hotels.
Arrivied on the first of June, so the winds had shifted from the south west (I think thats right as I didn't have a compass) and the seas were a little rough to get to some of the distant dive spots. However, I was content with the places we could go. Saw cuddlefish, sea snakes, crocodile fish, nudi branches on every rock and coral, octopus on the nite dive, and tons of other interesting stuff. Unfortunatley my camera flooded on the first dive so no underwater photos.
Made two morning dives to Monad shoal and I guess the blood sacrifice I made to the scuba god payed off because I saw two threshers on each dive. Then on the afternoon dives saw a couple mantas on the first trip, probably eight feet across.
The second dive was kinda slow for a few min then out of the blue came the monster. I have seen a few mantas in my travels but this thing was massive. I'm not a great judge of size underwater but I checked from where it appeared the wings were and I would say it was at least 18 to 20 feet across. Its mouth looked big enough to swallow a compact car. This size was also agreed on by two more divers there.
The manta came in almost directly on top of us, paused for a second for a cleaning and then with a flip of its wings it was off. It circled around two more times and the last time I could have reached up and touched it. I didn't realise until after it had passed that I was holding my breath.
Overall I had a great trip and will be heading there again when I get a chance. I think the next time I will try to make a trip in March, as this is when I was told the best weather and viz can be found.
I will try to post a couple shots from the surface.
1. Oscars, the rest and bar above TSD
2. View out my front door at Cocobana
3 and 4. A couple of the friendly staff at Oscars.
