10. Malapascua: Advance Divers Shark Dive & Optional Transfer
With their big eyes and long tails, thresher sharks are some of the planet’s most attractive sharks — and Malapascua Island is the only place where you can see them every day. Choose this shark dive to watch these spectacular creatures at Monad or Kimud Shoal. There has never been a better time to come for thresher sharks. Sightings have been amazing, the best in our 20 years here! Thresher sharks have always historically been seen at nearby Monad Shoal and in recent years in great numbers almost every day. But recently they are not as reliable at Monad, we think it may be because there are now tigers sharks and bull sharks at Monad which we do occasionally see! It seems the thresher sharks have "moved' to Kimud Shoal, a site similar to Monad, but shallower and further away. So we often schedule our shark dives here, P500 fuel surcharge applies. And they are almost always incredible sightings! Kimud used to be known for hammerhead sharks, and they are still around, but only very occasionally spotted. We do still dive Monad and there we do a "swimming" dive in an area away from most of the other divers. Most divers stay in one particular spot kneeling, waiting for sharks to come along. We generally swim around various cleaning stations, looking for them. We have spectacular, often close-up sightings almost every day, in a much more private setting. It is also more interesting as you're moving and have the chance to see many other creatures like seahorses, frogfish and ghost pipefish as well as other pelagics like rays and other sharks! Threshers always used to be most common at dawn, but we are now getting sightings throughout the morning. So we usually offer double shark dives, and our new three-shark-dive trips are proving very popular. We also offer 3-dive day trips for sharks followed by a double dive at Gato, our best-known dive site other than the sharks. We finalise the exact schedule for the shark dive a day in advance, so we cannot tell you for any particular day in the future what schedule will be diving. So just be aware if you're coming for a short time that there are several options for this dive. We may also offer more than one option on some days. it will usually be a 2 or 3 dive trip, maybe including some other sites. Both Monad Shoal and Kimud are more challenging dive sites. It's possible to go if you are an Open Water diver, but for your safety and comfort, you need to do it with an Instructor for an extra fee. After meeting at the dive centre, hop on a spacious banca boat out to the dive site. Once there, dive to depths of between 16–30 meters (52.5–98.4 feet) at Monad, or to 12 meters at Kimud. An experienced PADI Divemaster will take you to spot thresher sharks. Enjoy the chance to also see other exotic marine life, such as whitetip reef sharks, grey sharks, devil rays, blue-ringed octopus, ornate ghost pipefish, frogfish, and a huge variety of nudibranchs and shrimps. You will return to the dive shop after the dive(s). Please note that diving equipment is an add-on.