Thresher Sharks of Kimud Shoal

[Dan]

Spent a few days in Malapascua, Philippines, in December 2022 with Evolution and January 2023 with Infiniti to see these incredible Thresher sharks. The footages are my best close encounters of 12 dives (8 with Evolution and 4 with Infiniti) to see these sharks at their cleaning station in Kimud Shoal.

 

[Johnoly]

I've seen alot of sharks but Thresher has always been on my bucket list. That huge tail is just so cool.
Glad you had a great trip!!

 

[Jaaron82]

Awesome this has been on my bucket list for a long time. Such interesting sharks. Great video

 

[scubadada]

Fantastic video @Dan

I've only seen one Thresher, that was in the Red Sea in 2016, a spectacular sight.

 

[Dan]

I've seen alot of sharks but Thresher has always been on my bucket list. That huge tail is just so cool.
Glad you had a great trip!!

Speaking of that huge tail fin, I saw one of Animal Wire video on how the Thresher shark uses its tail fin for.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for your kind words @Jaaron82 @scubadada

I had good guides (Vinz, Josh, Lanch) to keep me from chasing the fish. Sometime they grabbed my fin LOL.

These sharks are very skittish, much like the hammerheads. We had to stay low (~ 1m above the coral bottoms), holding our breaths, no sudden moves, and no light whatsoever, when they are hovering above us to get cleaned.

My first fascination about it is after watching one of Behind The Mask video called “Angel Of The Deep”, below. And much to my surprise when I was in Infiniti, guess who was my guide….Lanch, the co-star of that video.

 

[d^2b]

@Dan I'm very curious about the liveaboards. I hope you find time to give a few details here, if not a full trip report.

EDIT: Oh duh, I see Evolution is actually a resort. Still interested, but there seems to be a bit more information about .ph resorts.

 

[Dan]

@Dan I'm very curious about the liveaboards. I hope you find time to give a few details here, if not a full trip report.

EDIT: Oh duh, I see Evolution is actually a resort. Still interested, but there seems to be a bit more information about .ph resorts.

Sorry for not describing more about the hosts (Evolution & Infiniti) as I plan to write trip reports separately on my 3 trips in Philippines, Malapascua with Evolution (19-24 December), South Cebu with Infiniti (24-30 December), and North Cebu with Infiniti (31 December - 6 January). Yes, Evolution is a resort in Malapascua, Evolution Diving Resort in Malapascua, Cebu, Philippines and Infiniti is a liveaboard, Philippines Liveaboard

 

[Dan]

I need to put those trip reports in a queue as I made too many dive trips and not enough time to write them in 2022 (12 trips). Some of them were rescheduled from 2020 & 2021 due to Covid-19. I still have 2 more rescheduled trips to clear up in April 2023 & February 2024. LOL.