Dive sites around Malapascua

A small island with a lot of variety

Most people come to Malapascua for one dive, the thresher sharks at Monad Shoal, and discover there is enough variety around the island to fill a week. Within a short boat ride there are seamounts, wrecks, walls, muck and macro sites, a shallow house reef for night dives, and a couple of bigger day trips for when you want to go further.

This guide describes the kinds of diving on offer rather than listing every named site. Dive shops change their rotations with the season and the current, and the people who know the sites best are the guides. Use this to decide what you want, then talk to a shop from the diving directory about where to go.

The thresher shark cleaning station

Monad Shoal is the headline act. It is a submerged plateau off the island where thresher sharks come up from deep water at dawn to be cleaned by small reef fish. The sighting rate is around 85 percent, boats leave between 5:00 and 5:30am, and you need to book the night before.

It is a still, patient dive. You settle behind a line at the edge of the plateau and wait while the sharks circle the cleaning stations. The whole experience, from the dark walk to the boat to the first silhouette emerging from the blue, is covered in detail in the thresher shark diving guide.

Wrecks

The waters around Malapascua hold wrecks that dive shops visit regularly. Some sit in depths that suit newer divers and some are deeper and better for those with an Advanced certification or wreck training. They have become artificial reefs, so even divers who are not excited by rusting metal find plenty of life on them: schooling fish, soft corals, and the small creatures that take up residence in any structure left on the seabed.

Shops will tell you which wrecks are running on a given week and what level they expect. If wreck diving is a priority, mention it when you book your dives, because wreck trips are often scheduled around tides and current.

Walls and drop-offs

Several sites near the island are wall dives, where the reef drops steeply into deeper water. These are the dives for people who like to drift along a vertical face watching for larger fish passing in the blue, with the shallows above full of reef fish and the deeper ledges home to the things that prefer shade.

Walls can carry current, which is part of their appeal and also why guides match them to divers with some experience. If you are a new diver, say so. There are gentler sloping reefs that offer much of the same scenery with less current.

Muck and macro

If you have never dived with a guide who hunts for small things, Malapascua is a good place to start. Muck diving happens over sand and rubble rather than coral, and it is where the strange creatures live: frogfish, seahorses, nudibranchs, shrimps and the small cephalopods that photographers travel the world to find.

These dives are shallow, slow and sheltered, so they work in conditions that keep the boats off exposed sites. Many divers do a thresher dive at dawn and a macro dive later in the morning for contrast. If you have a camera with a macro setting, this is where it earns its place in your bag.

Night dives

The house reef off Bounty Beach and the sheltered sites nearby are used for night dives. Many shops run them several evenings a week. Night diving on a tropical reef is a different world: hunting crustaceans, sleeping fish, and the occasional larger visitor that stays hidden during the day.

Night dives are usually shallow and short, and they are a popular Advanced course dive. If you have never done one, ask the shop whether they prefer you to do a daytime dive at the same site first.

Day trips

Two trips take you well beyond the island's reefs.

Gato Island is about 45 minutes by boat. It is a small rocky island known for its underwater caves and swim-throughs, sea snakes that rest on the rocks and hunt in the shallows, and healthy reef. It is run as a day trip with two dives, and it is the trip most visiting divers do once they have ticked off the sharks.

Kalanggaman Island is famous for its long white sandbar. It is a day trip from Malapascua and is sold primarily as island hopping and snorkelling at around ₱1,500 to 2,500 per person, though some shops combine it with diving. It is a long day on the water, so pack sun protection and plenty of water.

Both trips depend on sea conditions. In the calmer months from November to May they run regularly. From June to October, when the southwest monsoon brings rougher water, they are more likely to be postponed. Check live conditions and ask the shop the day before.

Conditions through the year

Water temperature is 26 to 30°C all year, so a thin wetsuit is enough for most people. For the still, dim thresher dive many divers go a little warmer.

Read when to go for the full seasonal picture.

What it costs

A typical dive for a certified diver costs ₱1,500 to 2,500. Day trips to Gato or Kalanggaman cost more because of the boat time, so ask the shop for a quote that includes the boat, lunch if any, and equipment. Island hopping to Kalanggaman is around ₱1,500 to 2,500 per person. There is also a one-time environmental fee of ₱100 for the island.

Shops take cash in pesos. Island ATMs are unreliable, so bring enough from Cebu. See money and ATMs and costs.

Planning a diving week

A good first visit might look like this: arrive and do a check dive on the house reef, thresher sharks the next dawn followed by a macro dive, a wreck or wall dive the following day, a night dive that evening, Gato Island as a full day, and a spare morning at the end for a second shark dive or a cancelled trip. See the itineraries for versions of this at different lengths.

If you are travelling with someone who does not dive, the island works well for them too. Read Malapascua for non-divers for how they can fill their days while you are underwater.