I left my hostel in Puerto Princesa around 6 o'clock in the morning to catch two flights to Manila and Cebu. From Cebu Airport, I made way to Cebu North Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Maya Port. The journey took about 5 hours. It was 9PM when I reached Maya Port. I walked down the street to find a bed to sleep. I easily managed to find one at Kekoy Lodging House for 400 peso.
10/03/2016
I woke up as early as 7 o'clock in the morning as I was stoked to visit Malapascua Island. I went to the Maya Port to see the availability of the outrigger boat to Malapascua. Unfortunately, it did not go according to my plan. There were only two tourists including me. Hence, the waiting time was high for the outrigger boat to be loaded with passengers. While waiting, I was ambushed by locals offering boat services. I stood firmly to my decision and waited for about 2.5 hours for the outrigger boat to be loaded. I paid 150 peso for the ride.
I reached the island around 11 o'clock in the morning. Prior to my arrival, I already contacted Santi. My sister recommended me to dive with Santi when she knew I was heading to Malapascua Island. I then contacted Santi through Facebook Messenger. Santi is a dive instructor at Little Mermaid Dive Resort. I went looking for her once I reached the island.
11/03/2016
I was on the outrigger boat as early as 5:30AM for deep diving, looking for thresher shark in Monad Shoal. It was truly amazing to jump off the boat in the middle of the ocean at 6:15AM. This was my first encounter with thresher shark. It was a great experience to see the thresher shark swimming 5 meters away from me. I went as deep as 30 meters for about 37 minutes. My group and I had a chance to be accompanied by two spotted eagle rays while doing a safety stop. It was fascinating to see them swimming and passing by us freely.
My second dive was at Gato Tunnel. I was in the water at approximately 10.42AM. I went inside the tunnel where my divemaster, Santi looked for the whitetip sharks. She managed to find us a good spot to watch the whitetip sharks swimming around. Other than that, I also saw tiger tail seahorse, pgymy seahorse and white-eyed moray eel. The dive lasted for 72 minutes and we went as deep as 22 meters.
I would like to highlight that Santi is such a good divemaster. She separated me with the high air consumption divers. What she did was extraordinary. She sent the divers in my group to do the safety stop first and let me dove a lil bit longer. As a low air consumption diver, not many dive centers really care about air consumption. I always feel bad for having a low air consumption when I could not fully utilise my tank everytime I go diving but I still need to pay the full amount. I was glad when Santi showed me her appreciation towards my low air consumption. Thank you so much, Santi! Look for her if you are planning to dive in Malapascua Island.
My third dive was at Gato Island also but not sure which side of Gato. I saw scorpion fish, cuttlefish, frogfish, long-jawed mackerel and persian carpet flatworm. The dive lasted for 57 minutes. We went as deep as 22 meters.
I paid 5,050 peso for three dives including the marine tax, monad fee and fuel surcharge.
12/03/2016
I did not sign up for any diving today. So, I took the opportunity to relax and walk around the island.
13/03/2016
I took 7:20AM outrigger boat to Maya Port and got a free private ride from Maya to Cebu South Bus terminal. The three Swiss guys I met from the dive center asked me to join them since I was alone. They were kind enough to share the cost of private transfer among them and offered me a free ride. Though they were heading to Cebu Port, they requested the driver to send me to the South Bus Terminal. I was blessed to receive such kindness while travelling.
To be honest, Malapascua is such a gem. I would love to re-visit and spend my day with diving with my loved ones. One day diving was definitely not enough when they have plenty of dive sites. Til then, Malapascua!
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