- 69pace -        - Camiguin -        - Panglao -        - Boracay -        - Davao -        - Luzon -       -  Philippines -

Bubble 007's Diveboat »

We made quite some trips in the Aston Martin Boat, must be British with the 007 markings on the side ;0).
Monad Shoal famous for its Tresher Sharks in the morning and Manta Rays in the afternoon. The Sharks and Mantas use it as a cleaning station where they get their skin cleaned by the small cleaner wrasses. On our first dive to the shoal which is at 22-24 meters we saw 3 different Tresher Sharks measuring up to 3 meter in length. The depth limits the bottom time to a little under 30 minutes with a total dive time of 36 - 38 minutes including safety stop.

Thresher sharks can be seen HERE  or on the bottom of the page »

Here we just landed for lunch at Calagaman Island after the morning Monad Shoal dive. Spectacular beach but the island is nearly deserted, only few native fishermen and their families live on Calangaman. After the break it was off to some wall diving on the walls just off the Island.

Dive boats and "ferries" to Cebu »

A beachfront view from our cottages, nice clear warm water and an excellent beach. Not too crowdy and not many tourist at all - we were there off season. Not so family friendly like Panglao, mainly because Malapascua can only be reached by banca boat - like the ones shown here - and because cottages are non-air con and only have electric power during night time anyway.

Malapascua is a small island, besides from the beachlife and the diving, there is not too much to do here.

Malapascuas reputation for its Manta Rays, Tresher Sharks and the occasional Hammerheads makes it a magnet to divers from all over the world specially in the Tourist season (December to February).

The Gate at Gato Island »

The worlds best 007 James Bond dive spot. Here is the east entrance to the caves that runs through the entire island. We dived through the Island from the east on the 1. dive (dive no. 112) and the west on the second dive (dive No. 113). There is 2 big caves connected with a rather wide tunnel where 3 divers easily can pass side by side. The East entrance shown here is big and the west entrance somewhat smaller and in 25 feet of water. The two large caves holds air on top and there thousands of bats resides.

We saw 3 types of sharks in the cave, 3 nurse sharks, 6 sleeping white tips (some quite big) and a black tip shark. Furthermore a single white tip swam around together with us in the cave. And the light that plays at the cave entrances together with big rocks outside makes it an absolutely spectacular view and one of my best dives ever - a truly Sean Connery dive.

Lionfish »

A close up of a Lion fish on a wall at Calagaman Island "near" Leyte. The Lion fish with is poisounus spinal fins should not be touched at any time.

Excellent wall diving, one of the walls went all the way down to 2500 feet - thats pretty deep and a bit "scary" when your hovering at 100 feet and just looks down into the big blue ocean.

Calagaman Island was reached from Malapascua within 1 hr boat ride.

Mean Motherfucker »

I am not sure this is a Muray Eel at all - it might be another species, it sure looks mean and hungry - wouldn't want to stick your hands too close.

Per took this picture with his Olympus Digital Mju Camera.