Malapascua Trip Report Sept/Oct

[kwayne88]

Thanks for the post and photos. I am planning on going to Malapascua in June 09.

Do you know if they have O2 for deco if I wanted to stay down a little longer than the typical recreational dive?

And as I am single, you have piqued my interest with the "sirens" comment.

 

[jbb]

Thanks for the post and photos. I am planning on going to Malapascua in June 09.

Do you know if they have O2 for deco if I wanted to stay down a little longer than the typical recreational dive?

And as I am single, you have piqued my interest with the "sirens" comment.

Yes, I believe TSD has O2 and Helium too - I think Exotic must as well for deco dives but you must arrange the dives ahead of time with TSD as Treavor and Andrea may be the only ones certified for deco dives. I don't think it would be worth using O2 just for recreational depths as you would need someone certified with you and most dives are restricted to about 60 minutes max. Are you sure you didn't mean Nitrox? Yes, TSD has nitrox available which is especially recommended for thresher shark dive.

I attached a photos of a couple of the "sirens".

 

[kwayne88]

Thanks for the reply and the photo.

I have read of a couple wrecks that are in the 140 ft range. Could do on air but don't like being narked at all. I am full trimix cert so thats not a problem. The BC I use can be configured for side mount and two tanks for more bottom time at depths.

Wouldn't need any deco for recreational dives. Only let myself get into deco when I have the right equip and have planned the dive that way.

From most of the reports seems there will be enough recreational diving to keep me busy for a while.

I will probably use TSD for all my diving there.

Thks for the info.

 

[jigo]

Yes, I believe TSD has O2 and Helium too - I think Exotic must as well for deco dives but you must arrange the dives ahead of time with TSD as Treavor and Andrea may be the only ones certified for deco dives. I don't think it would be worth using O2 just for recreational depths as you would need someone certified with you and most dives are restricted to about 60 minutes max. Are you sure you didn't mean Nitrox? Yes, TSD has nitrox available which is especially recommended for thresher shark dive.

I attached a photos of a couple of the "sirens".

what do you mean dives are restricted to 60 minutes? they dont allow you to stay down for more than 60 mins even if you still have lots of air and were diving at shallow depths?

 

[jbb]

what do you mean dives are restricted to 60 minutes? they dont allow you to stay down for more than 60 mins even if you still have lots of air and were diving at shallow depths?

Most places I dive with in the Philippines usually target a 50-60 minute dive for all guided dives. It's not a hard rule, I have had some 70 minute dives but usually when we get close to 60 minutes the guide will give the thumbs up signal unless there is something real cool to look at. Not sure why specifically but they have to think of all of the customer divers and some people will have enough air to go past that time and others will not depending on the average depth of the dive. They also have to keep some sort of schedule the rest of the day. Maybe some dive shop owners could comment on the practice.

 

[bill22]

Most places I dive with in the Philippines usually target a 50-60 minute dive for all guided dives. It's not a hard rule, I have had some 70 minute dives but usually when we get close to 60 minutes the guide will give the thumbs up signal unless there is something real cool to look at......

That has been my experience also, the exception being Club Ocellaris. When I was there, I was told right up front that there would not be any restrictions put on me because "most photographers don't like it". I came up when my air supply said I needed to come up. I had one dive there that was 97 minutes

When I was in PG last time I came back from 2 dives with a 1000 psi (50 and 53 minutes respectively), 2 dives with 1250 psi (48 and 60 minutes respectively). No long dives with TSD or Nelson's either.

Great shots by the way I'm sure I'll make it back to Malapascua some day

 

[lemonthyme]

thanks for the report

anyone knows whether I could dive at Monad Shoal without being Nitrox certified?

 

[World Wide Diver]

Yes of couse you can on air. Depth is 18m to 22m, so nitrox is ideal. If not nitrox certified, you can dive on nitrox an 'intro to nitrox' with an instructor.

Highly recommend that you consider nitrox for Monad because your bottom time is substantially extended.

That said, we dived air there and had great diving due to our guide.

Our average dive time on air was around 35/45 mins including the ascent (a small amount of deco - 3 to 5 mins). 35 mins - no deco.

It depends on your experience, air consumption and how comfortable you are with doing a small amount of deco on air.

Bear in mind that we dive using Suunto computers - the most conservative algorithms. Dive the same profile using Uwatec, etc and you get more time.

 

[rab1412000]

hi guys

im headed to malapascua in a week. im diving with cebu divelink. has any of you ever dove with them?
also hows the current in monad shoal? im planning on taking my camera with strobe down there. i know its not a line descent so would i have any difficulty operating my camera ?


thanks in advance

 

[CODMAN]

Rab, from what I know Stobes are not permitted on the Monad shoal dive since it scares off the Threshers and makes many many other divers angry. Find out about this beforehand and avoid any problems.

Cheers!

hi guys

im headed to malapascua in a week. im diving with cebu divelink. has any of you ever dove with them?
also hows the current in monad shoal? im planning on taking my camera with strobe down there. i know its not a line descent so would i have any difficulty operating my camera ?


thanks in advance