Tips on Malapascua

[felixtan]

Hi everyone,

I'm heading down to Malapascua from Singapore in the last week of October and I need help.

I've read not-so-good reviews about diving and accommodation and water etc and if anyone has any good or bad experiences to refute or support the existing negative impressions on that place, please kindly share with me.

I've nailed down several potential dive operators and accommodation spots. For diving, I'll probably go for Exotic dive shop cum resort or Sea Explorers or Thresher Shark Divers. Anyone heard anything about these three operators? And for accommodation, I've pinpointed Exotic as well, and Cocobana beach resort. I've also decided to splurge a bit more and probably stay 3 days at Mangrove Oriental Resort or Bantigue Cove. Can anyone tell me a bit more about these places and your experiences (good and bad)?

About diving, of course there're the thresher sharks - the main attraction there. And I understand that there's a high possibility that I might wake up at 5am and just swim around without seeing anything. Is that truly the norm? Or has anyone out there have any positive experiences with the sharks? Besides the thresher sharks, what else is there to see, especially the nearby islands?

And finally, Malapascua is highly discouraged, is there anywhere else near Cebu that I may consider?

Anything would be helpful so please please help me! Thanks a million~

Kind Regards,
Felix

 

[kosmonooit]

Much has been said here on this subject here, you take your chances for sure.

But those chances are certainly worth taking if you are a nature lover: its the only or one of the only places to see the elusive thresher sharks in their natural habitat. If you are lucky of course, which I wasnt, although I have a lovely wooden carving of a thresher acquired as a pick-me-up after another dissapointing and overcrowded dive.

My advice would be don't book/commit upfront to any package or accomodation, there is lots to choose from there, including dive shops. I enjoyed the Hippocampus hotel, it was reasonable all around and ended up diving with the Scandanavian outfit next door, Sea Exploreres I think it was. You can get a taxi from Cebu airport to drive you up to the small town where you get a boat across to the island. Water, yea its very brakish but lots of bottled water for sale.

 

[jbb]

About diving, of course there're the thresher sharks - the main attraction there. And I understand that there's a high possibility that I might wake up at 5am and just swim around without seeing anything. Is that truly the norm? Or has anyone out there have any positive experiences with the sharks? Besides the thresher sharks, what else is there to see, especially the nearby islands?

And finally, Malapascua is highly discouraged, is there anywhere else near Cebu that I may consider?

Anything would be helpful so please please help me! Thanks a million~

Kind Regards,
Felix

I've been to Malapascua about 8 times now. The last couple of years the threshers have been much more numerous than in years past. I have a few videos on my flickr site - been really great the last 1.5 years. No, you won't see many schools of fish but there are lots of macro opportunities with the nudibranchs and mandarin fish.

All three of the dive shops you mention are reputatable. You could shop them when you arrive for facility, schedule, activity and personality fit. I like TSD but others have their favorites. Cocobana is a nice place to stay from 800-1500 php depending on room and beach proximity. It's close to both TSD and Sea Explorers and they tidy your room each day - nice short crawl in the morning for the shark dive. The trip up from Cebu City to Maya to catch a ferry is at about 2500 php (3-3.5 hours) one way taxi or much cheaper by bus from north Cebu (160 php?) but a longer ride. Ferry ride is 40 php and the ferry boys will try to talk you into paying for a "special trip" for 500 php which will drop more and more as they get closer to leaving and more people hop on. It is best to get to Maya before noon to avoid waiting longer for a regular ferry.

Cheap food - Ging Gings - morning breakfast - long wait for food if there are more than 6 other patrons. I order a omelet with onion and tomato, banana pancakes and two cokes for 125 php.
Middle of the road - Oscars above TSD - small rotating menu but they try to get food to you in a more timely manner. Occationally roast a pig for a big banquet.
Higher end - The Italian Restaurant - very good but more expensive maybe $20 - treat yourself once. Exotic - have been told they have good food and serve it fast. Sunsplash - can take a while if it's crowded. Flirt with the "Sirens of Sunsplash" - dessert crepes, hmmm.

Dives besides Monad Shoal I recommend;
Bantigi - macro - coral sands with mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish and nice at night too.
Gato Island - macro, nudis, and white tip reef sharks in cave occationally swimming about.
Chocolate Island - some corals and various macro and nudis.
Lighthouse - night dive for the mating mandarin fish, seahorses and maybe a blueringed octopus.

a couple of walls further out are Nunez and Calanggaman Island (very pretty depending on tide with the curl of white coral sand disappearing into the blues of the sea) - swim around during the break and you might see something like a juvenile ribbon eel (black coloring).

Good luck with your trip.

 

[felixtan]

Thank you so much for that... I've heard good things about Sea Explorers too... I appreciate your advice~

 

[felixtan]

Thanks for your in-depth advice... I think you're right - I should take my time and visit the resorts and dive shops and not commit to one that easily. I appreciate your help~

 

[Rogersea]

I stayed at Mangrove Oriental for a couple of nights two years ago... It was OK.. For the $$$ it should have been on the level of a Dos Palmas but it was not.. After a couple of nights we left and went to the COCOBANA and felt we were getting our $'s worth..

I dont know anything about the Bantigue Cove...

We also had some distant relatives (by marriage) on the island so we spent some time with them and enjoyed ourselves. I think the Thresher shark dive was OK and pretty reliable, the other dives on the Island are also ok...

The other locations close to Cebu City are of course MoalBoal(2 1/2 Hour Taxi or longer Bus), Bohol/Alona (4hoursFast Ferry and Trike ride). Dumagette/APO ....

I sure others more expert than I am can give you additional info..

Cheers

 

[AndyT]

Thanks for the great advice Jason. I will be in Malapascua from Oct 22 - 27, staying at Hippocampus with Sea Explorers. This will be very useful info indeed.

 

[rab1412000]

i was just in malapascua sept 22 to 25
i always dive with divelink cebu when im there. they are another great, and cheaper, option you should check out.
i stayed in cocobana's fan room for 800php but i found the place had too many mosquitos.
i would suggest checking out tepanee resort, which is a rustic beachside resort with great ambiance, furniture and design ran by an italian couple. a little pricey though at 2500 php but well worth it imho.
regarding the dives, we went to malapascua this time to see the mantas aside from the threshers. in four dives to monad shoal ( where you also find the threshers) we saw two large mantas, one 4 meters and another at least 4.5 mts. you usually catch them at 8am or past 11am- not the times that you would normally see threshers. im not sure if they are still around by late october, best to ask your dive operator. the local dm's also mentioned that research teams have had several sightings of tiger sharks prowling the shoal as seen on their u/w video cameras which they leave there for several hours.
i would also recommend you do at least two dives in gato island, preferably in the afternoon to catch some whitetip action (hunting). gato also has nice coral formation and has a great mix of macro and larger creatures like turtles, sea snakes, schools of squids, bigmouth makarel, etc. there is also a cave where sharks sleep and also where you find a few spider crabs. be forewarned however that gato island was hit by a typhoon a few months ago and coral and animal life were not as abundant compared to the other times i was there - but still v good though.
also do the night dive in lighthouse if your fond of macro.
there is also a wreck nearby called dona marilyn but i haven dove this yet.
there is also another shoal called quimod shoal and they say it is freqented by hammers during the months of nov-jan, so i dont know if there will be anything there during oct.
prima from divelink can arrange everything for you from car transfer, to boat transfer, to accomodations, to the dives.
pm if you wanna get their contacts.

at the right time, with the right guides and with a little patience and luck, malapascua is one of the best diving in the philippines.

good luck and have fun in malapascua.

 

[felixtan]

i was just in malapascua sept 22 to 25
i always dive with divelink cebu when im there. they are another great, and cheaper, option you should check out.
i stayed in cocobana's fan room for 800php but i found the place had too many mosquitos.
i would suggest checking out tepanee resort, which is a rustic beachside resort with great ambiance, furniture and design ran by an italian couple. a little pricey though at 2500 php but well worth it imho.
regarding the dives, we went to malapascua this time to see the mantas aside from the threshers. in four dives to monad shoal ( where you also find the threshers) we saw two large mantas, one 4 meters and another at least 4.5 mts. you usually catch them at 8am or past 11am- not the times that you would normally see threshers. im not sure if they are still around by late october, best to ask your dive operator. the local dm's also mentioned that research teams have had several sightings of tiger sharks prowling the shoal as seen on their u/w video cameras which they leave there for several hours.
i would also recommend you do at least two dives in gato island, preferably in the afternoon to catch some whitetip action (hunting). gato also has nice coral formation and has a great mix of macro and larger creatures like turtles, sea snakes, schools of squids, bigmouth makarel, etc. there is also a cave where sharks sleep and also where you find a few spider crabs. be forewarned however that gato island was hit by a typhoon a few months ago and coral and animal life were not as abundant compared to the other times i was there - but still v good though.
also do the night dive in lighthouse if your fond of macro.
there is also a wreck nearby called dona marilyn but i haven dove this yet.
there is also another shoal called quimod shoal and they say it is freqented by hammers during the months of nov-jan, so i dont know if there will be anything there during oct.
prima from divelink can arrange everything for you from car transfer, to boat transfer, to accomodations, to the dives.
pm if you wanna get their contacts.

at the right time, with the right guides and with a little patience and luck, malapascua is one of the best diving in the philippines.

good luck and have fun in malapascua.

Thank you so so much for that. It's really good advice. Thanks again...

 

[xariatay]

I love Malapascua. Hope u have great fun there too!