So my first morning in Malapascua, I wasn’t able to see too much when I arrived as was dark, but this morning I’m pleasantly surprised. The location of the Exotic Resort is perfect, right on the beach and has a number of boats. The staff are quick to help and assist and I’m finally booked to do my 15 dives plus the PADI Thresher Shark Speciality where I will learn about the sharks in more detail.
The diving here was very good, it had recently been hit with some bad weather so the conditions were choppy and the visibility not too good, but this did not take away from the diving. Lacking in fish but not in critters! In my first dive we spotted numerous sea horses and cuttle fish. The night dives here were amazing, every 15 seconds the dive guide keen to point out another photo opportunity. I have to say that night dive ranks very high for me.
4am, yes 4am and it’s time to get ready for my long awaited thresher shark dive! Camera prepped the night before and I’m rating to go! 430am at dive school and a quick check of the Nitrox and off we go to Monad Shoal. This is apparently the only place you can dive with these amazing sharks on a regular basis as this has become an important cleaning station for them. Down we go, I’m so excited to hopefully see one of these sharks as it’s been a dream of mine for over 10 years, the visibility not great and the use of strobes rightly prohibited as to not scare the sharks makes it tough to get a good picture. I always said the photo that enters my memory is the most important and the camera only secondary. After about 15 minutes out of the murky green water here she comes, slowly and gradually gliding through the water using that beautiful long tail..... I have finally dived with thresher sharks :-)
I managed to get up every morning to have an encounter with these beautiful fish, the sunrise was truly amazing too!
As humans we need to be careful of our seas and although I truly loved seeing these creatures I was shocked to find nearly 10 boats on that dive site with many inexperienced divers who without training and knowledge damage much of the viewing area. I’m my personal opinion it should be a privilege to dive with creatures like this and not a right and if you are not properly skilled then think about what negative effect you can have on the reef.
Thanks to Chen, Troy and all the dive masters and boat boys for a great time, Exotic Dive Resort were the first pioneers to find these sharks and set up a dive facility on Malapascua, I hope Troy and Chen achieve there vision going forward for the dive facility.No thanks to the crazy van driver who took me back to airport! Never again!
Palau.... here I come :-)
