Diving on Malapascua

As an avid diver, I had heard about the legendary thresher sharks of Malapascua and wanted to see them for myself. Malapascua is the only place in the world that the beautiful and rarely seen thresher shark can be seen on a daily basis, so I took the plunge and came for two days, hoping that would be enough time to get lucky.

I still vividly remember my very first dive on Malapascua as one of the best dives of my life.  I rose at 5am, blearily admiring the fantastic sunrise and sipping the cup of coffee pushed into my hands by the boat crew. This is one of the earliest dives anywhere, but just after sunrise, the sharks are attracted from their usual home in deep water to the “cleaning stations” of Monad Shoal. Cleaning stations are like a carwash for fish: small fish called cleaner wrasse will pick the dead skin and parasites off the bodies of bigger fish. It is a necessary service, and one to which the sharks subscribe, luckily for us.

As I set out on the 20 minute boat trip to Monad Shoal, I crossed my fingers, toes and everything else I could think of, hoping desperately to see these sharks about which I had heard so much. As we got closer and closer to the dive site, the adrenalin built up, pumped even harder by the tantalizing possibility of seeing manta rays at the same time. Threshers and mantas on one dive! I did not dare hope.

As the sun was rising we started our descent to a flat bottom at 22 meters. We swam around for a few minutes, and then, out of the darkness, “Yes!!!” the unique silhouette of the thresher appeared, its huge scythe-like tail swishing gracefully behind.  It swam closer and closer, and soon it was within a few meters. Its silver body glistened in the early morning light, and its distinctive tail, almost half its body length, followed lazily behind. The shark circled several times and then swam off into the blue.  Wow!

We moved along the drop-off a little further and encountered another of these magnificent creatures. We stopped and watched for 5 minutes as it circled in front of us. Then, I heard someone hollering underwater. People only holler when there is something really special.  My head snapped to the side and what did I see but a six meter manta ray headed straight in my direction! My breath caught as my heart melted at the sight of this gentle giant. My first manta ray. What a perfect end to a perfect dive.

That dive was ten years ago and I still haven’t left Malapascua. The diving got me hook, line and sinker!  And the sharks… well the shark sightings have just kept getting better. We usually see between 6 and 10 sharks, often 2-3 at once. Numbers have even been known to get up in the 20’s, but by then, we have long lost count!   In this day and age with decreasing shark numbers everywhere, it is heartening to hear stories on increasing numbers.

Malapascua is truly a unique spot, and if you like sharks you will love Malapascua!