Malapascua trip, June 03 to 08 2011 – some words and pics
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Malapascua trip, June 03 to 08 2011 – some words and pics
Malapascua, June 03 to 08 2011 – some words and pics
As I’ve had a few pm’s for posting past trip reports – so incase it helps anyone - Malapascua.
As normal took Cebu Pacific red eye 01:30 am flight from Taipei to Manila, then first flight to Cebu/Mactan to be there just after 07:30 – and hit the road toward Malapascua, for the first time.
Since last trip (in March 2011) Cebu Pacific have changed their baggage rules – you now book flight without any baggage allowance, and must select & pre pay for as much baggage as you think you’ll take – (A way for the airline to get another $ ?) - as we took the dive gear with us we prepaid 2 x 25 kg ~ and for once we managed to avoid higher excess baggage charges at airport.
Anyway – landed Manila, twiddled thumbs waiting for first flight to Mactan/Cebu. Pre booked (with dive resort) car waiting to take us the 3 hours or so to “Maya” for boat (arranged by dive resort) to island, getting to Malapascua about 11:30 am – so 12 hours from Taipei home to Malapascua, and bleary eyed.
Malapascua
In summary - Awful place, high rise buildings, pollution, beaches jam packed, crummy hotels, rotten food, full of traffic, noisy, overpriced, disorganized, terrible dive centre, awful instructors, no life in the ocean whatsoever – and definitely a place no one else should head to …………....
OK, in truth the island actually struck us as a jewel and is now high on our ‘will go again’ list – don’t really have a bad word to say about the place, good dive centre, varied dive sites, plenty of ocean life, good hotel & nice quiet beach. We didn’t really care that we had torrential rains a few times, as it just struck us as the type of laid back place to chill out that these days seems to be getting harder and harder to find, very glad we decided to visit.
Dive Centre
We'd planned diving with “Evolution” diving, due to their good reputation, but with hotel chosen by buddy and recommendation from a Taiwan mate, we opted to arrange dives and our trip with “Thresher Shark Divers”, Malapascua Island Diving, Philippines Cebu | Thresher Shark Divers making arrangements through Andrea that runs the centre.
On first arrival at the beach in front of “Thresher Shark Divers” centre, and seeing 20 or so divers milling around getting ready to dive, or washing gear, I thought “Oh ****, it’s too busy and we ain’t going to enjoy this one bit” – but we were wrong. It may be a busy dive centre, but it’s well organized. We were shown the set up quickly, told how to book ourselves down for dives, PADI cards checked, registered and we were ready. TSD use several boats, have several European and local DM’s, several of whom we dived with, using Air and Nitrox fills from their compressors, and no problem.
Dives
After hotel check in at Welcome to Ocean Vida Beach and Dive Resort Malapascua and lazing for the afternoon, first dive we made was to try and see Mandarin fish, and having seen how ‘busy’ the dive centre was earlier, we were pleasantly surprised to find just 4 divers and a guide for that first evening dive.I also made same dive next day with just a guide and myself, so a massive group of 2 of us, excellent and just wish I was a better photographer and Mandarins would stay still a minute or two instead of their 3 second spiraling sex sessions … Anyway, being in ‘large’ groups on ‘packed’ dive boats, No, it didn’t happen.
Over 5 days, we dived in all 12 dives at -
- Lighthouse – for Mandarins (twice at night)
- Shark Point (Monad) drop off – for Threshers – several times !
- Bantague – for plenty of Macro life (day and night)
- Manta Bowl – hoping to see Mantas (didn’t but saw a nice big Eagle Rays)
- Gato Island – for two dives, for cave swim through and hoping for white tips.
- North Wall – for reef and varied life
- Chocolate Island – last day, and well worth it.
We'd gone to Malapascua hoping to see a Thresher, and made the ‘slightly boring’ (to stay motionless a lot of time in same place) Monad shoal dive several times and not seen, so we were quite getting disappointed – BUT on our very last early morning dive, a Thresher arrived – and it was awesome, from nose to tip of tail probably 4 metres or more in length, within 2 to 3 metres of our wide eyes, cruising majestically back and forth – such a beautiful animal, sleek, shimmering, and a truly fantastic sight.
Around the Thresher / Manta viewpoint area, the corals appeared broken and dead, I was told due to some ‘dynamite’ fishing some years back (that has now been stopped) and at the viewing points (at cleaning stations) due to divers clumsy fins and kneeling ! Just recently I hear that the reliable dive centres on Malapascua had all agreed, that rope lines or barriers would be placed, and that all visiting divers told to stay in specific areas – to stop divers encroaching on the ‘cleaning stations’ that the Threshers and Manta’s want to visit. That is a great and smart move by the dive centres.
As a few dive op’s have boats heading to the ‘Thresher’ viewing points – at times it felt a little crowded with 20 or so divers in view, but it's the Thresher site all want to visit -and it’s the only dive site we visited around Malapscua that was ‘busy’ while we were there – if memory serves me right, we made at least 4 dives where it was just buddy, myself and guide, so it was perfect.
Lighthouse, two evenings for Mandarin fish dives – amusing fish, so colourful and fast, and just wish their ‘mating’ episodes as they rise entwined together lasted more than about 3 seconds, as not easy to get that perfect picture – but second dive with just a guide, great to see the highly active mating sessions – and ‘almost’ manage to get the right picture !
Bantague – by day was ok, but at night was excellent – unusual Nudi's, a zebra crab riding on the back of an urchin, a large frog fish carrying a brood of eggs and babies, motionless file fish, smirking box crabs, devil stingers, - I could go on, but considering the seabed is pretty empty at the site, a very good night dive for Macro and other life.
North Wall– great soft and hard corals, teeming with life, and most memorable I guess was the large Green frogfish, perfectly camouflaged on his green coral, plus some clown fish giving perfect poses, oh and the snakes, the shrimps, the whip corals, the … loads of variation, the site varying from a wall to soft coral beds full of life.
Gato Island – we timed it wrong, as our boat arrived just as two busy boats were leaving, so the White tip sharks that are resident there weren’t to be seen – but the swim through cave still made the trip worth while, and around the island the life was excellent, with a lot larger fish (Trevalis and the like) than we’d seen closer to Malapascua. Well worth the day trip
Chocolate Island – our last day, and for pure variation I think was best of the lot, we hung to the back of small group – watched a nice big turtle (loggerhead I think) casually cruising around the back of the rest of the dive group (who were all oblivious as they looked at a black frog fish). Saw a couple of squid locked in a mouth to mouth tussle or dance (pic below), wonder what they were up to ? Nudis galore, almost tame and posing sea snakes, with great variation of life amongst healthy soft and hard corals.
The TSD Dive centre we used, no problem, adequate amount of room for cleaning, storing and drying gear, decent boats, flexible DM’s, so all OK – and the bar up above the TSD dive centre a great place for beer o’clock – with good food and staff.
Only complaint - and not just at TSD – but why do dive centres charge so much extra for Nitrox ? I know it needs blending and looking after, but if using Nitrox instead of Air in Malapascua (and a few other PHP destinations) the “extra charge” is two or three times more than the "extra charge" I normally pay in ‘higher cost of living’ Taiwan. For sure boat & dive guide going rate is one thing and varies from place to place - but getting stung so much extra for Nitrox in PHP doesn’t add up !? Nitrox is safer to use, so shouldn’t all dive centres promote it’s use instead of putting people off using it all the time by charging so much extra for it
Hotel –Welcome to Ocean Vida Beach and Dive Resort Malapascua right on the beach, a little pricey but ideally located, new, plenty of hot water, spacious rooms (unusually with no TV), air con, fans, safety boxes, internet etc, no problem. Owner runs a dive centre right next door to the place, upstairs a good bar with good food, and about 5 mins so walk along the beach from the TSD Dive centre we were using.
Around Malapascua – it’s a small island, we ate / chilled mainly in TSD or hotel bars, though if wandering in through local houses, to find the one or two basic small shops we found a few little places to eat, and opposite side of island (where public ferry leaves from), ditto a few.
So – a good place to go or not ? The 3 hour + transfer from Mactan makes it a long journey, but Yes, a very good place to go for a quiet holiday. We had 5 days to dive, saw plenty, ate well, lazed around a bit and were sorry to finally have to depart – especially as the rains decided to come down and the crossing back was rough and wet !
Malapascua is one of those places that I'd like to visit sooner rather than later.
Originally Posted by Wantonmien
In summary - Awful place, high rise buildings, pollution, beaches jam packed, crummy hotels, rotten food, full of traffic, noisy, overpriced, disorganized, terrible dive centre, awful instructors, no life in the ocean whatsoever – and definitely a place no one else should head to …………....
A dive friend in Taiwan knew TSD owner and I'd asked them about dive prices, and where to stay. TSD gave me a few hotel options including Ocean Vida, which my buddy made the choice of - and we got TSD to book us a room there.
The Manager of Ocean Explorers dive centre (which looked organised and a good set up) I think owns Ocean Vida - so if diving with OE - could probably have got better room rates in hotel than we paid, though all rooms were fully booked when we were there, as looking around I think it is maybe best hotel on the island ?
Cheers, and safe diving.
PS- the busy beach pic above was taken from the restaurant directly above OE shop - that's their sea front.
Awesome, can't wait to head back again this November
And yes, I just don't get why Nitrox is rather pricey in Southeast Asia! Unless you're lucky and score the threshers within the first 20 min, otherwise, I've always almost encountered the threshers towards the end of my dive, when there're fewer divers around (the non-nitrox divers having had to leave first).
Interested to know what the prices were for nitrox and what you consider reasonable/common in Asia or anywhere else.
If you consider the costs of setting up a system and operating it on Malapascua, shipping over the O2 etc, it quite possibly has higher costs than a multitude of other locations.
I guess I just see the total costs after holidays and wonder how I manage to spend as much, with the boats, permits, night dives, day trips and so on, but for sure Nitrox costs do seem to vary a lot from place to place in Phippines - ok maybe comparing apples with bananas but some figures I've been quoted or paid in last 2 years in Taiwan (where I dive most) and Philippines (last 6 dive holidays) as below -
These include prices from little islands offshore Taiwan that take 1hour + to get to, and though I can get cheaper than below, I will only get from reputable dive centres - so picking up tanks from a good dive centre, and using on a boat or off the shore -
Taiwan - 5 dive centres I've recently used - Typical Cost of Air - Equiv in Peso ranges from 220 to 295 Peso
Typical Cost of 32 or 36 % Nitrox - Equiv in Peso from 440 to 585 Peso
So I pay (equiv in Peso) between 220 to 290 Peso extra per dive if diving with Nitrox instead of Air.
Philippines - last 7 dive centres I've used. 2 dive centre - No extra charge
1 dive centre - Peso 150 extra for Nitrox
1 dive cebtre - Peso 250 extra for Nitrox
2 dive centre - Peso 350 extra for Nitrox
1 dive centre - Peso 500 extra for Nitrox
I've no idea of the cost of a cylinder of O2, but for sure where Nitrox 'extra' costs are on the high side - it stops me using it all the time, which in reality means I take less dives, so the dive centres might be making a couple of $ more from 'extra' Nitrox costs - but I would think are losing more $ on the few extra boat or shore dives I (and buddy) would have taken.
Apples and Bananas - 1 bottle of Heineken in Taiwan costs equiv of about 150 ~ 250 Peso !!
I guess I just see the total costs after holidays and wonder how I manage to spend as much, with the boats, permits, night dives, day trips and so on, but for sure Nitrox costs do seem to vary a lot from place to place in Phippines - ok maybe comparing apples with bananas but some figures I've been quoted or paid in last 2 years in Taiwan (where I dive most) and Philippines (last 6 dive holidays) as below -
These include prices from little islands offshore Taiwan that take 1hour + to get to, and though I can get cheaper than below, I will only get from reputable dive centres - so picking up tanks from a good dive centre, and using on a boat or off the shore -
Taiwan - 5 dive centres I've recently used - Typical Cost of Air - Equiv in Peso ranges from 220 to 295 Peso
Typical Cost of 32 or 36 % Nitrox - Equiv in Peso from 440 to 585 Peso
So I pay (equiv in Peso) between 220 to 290 Peso extra per dive if diving with Nitrox instead of Air.
Philippines - last 7 dive centres I've used. 2 dive centre - No extra charge
1 dive centre - Peso 150 extra for Nitrox
1 dive cebtre - Peso 250 extra for Nitrox
2 dive centre - Peso 350 extra for Nitrox
1 dive centre - Peso 500 extra for Nitrox
I've no idea of the cost of a cylinder of O2, but for sure where Nitrox 'extra' costs are on the high side - it stops me using it all the time, which in reality means I take less dives, so the dive centres might be making a couple of $ more from 'extra' Nitrox costs - but I would think are losing more $ on the few extra boat or shore dives I (and buddy) would have taken.
Apples and Bananas - 1 bottle of Heineken in Taiwan costs equiv of about 150 ~ 250 Peso !!
Cheers
Thanks for the info....interesting way of looking at it. I believe most divers don't consider how many dives they do base don nitrox use or not....so overall it doesn't make sense to use it as a loss leader in a small dive shop where margins are already tight. But I think your point is valid, and there should be discounts for volume use and things like that.
I'm happy to see that we fall in the mid range at P225 per tank :-)
Where do you dive in Taiwan, I thought there really wasn't much boat diving?
Rags II(based in PG) charges US$35.00 for one storage tank(40L?) of O2 on board.
P500 per nitrox dive is robbery.
Is it so expensive to set up a nitrox system or just plain greedy?
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– but the swim through cave still made the trip worth while, and around the island the life was excellent, with a lot larger fish (Trevalis and the like) than we’d seen closer to Malapascua. Well worth the day trip
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Originally Posted by Wantonmien
than we paid, though all rooms were fully booked when we were there, as looking around I think it is maybe best hotel on the island ? 
