Malapascua island is one of the few places on earth where Thresher sharks are seen regularly. We have been there. And have seen the sharks, but sightseeings were not the best as we were told it was not the good season (see a pattern here, Folks?). Didn’t really plan to come back, but some divers we met in Thailand told us that that locals have discovered a new spot with better sightseeing chances. And this is enough for Jugs to change the plan and Bohol was briskly replaced with the Malapascua. Pretty late in the day we sent off emails to various dive resorts and went for one of them. As luck is with the stupid simple folks we stroke lucky (well, kind of). Upon arrival we noticed that our resort is located on the whitest of white sandy beaches. Postcard material.
But honestly, it should stay there. In reality, you are talking hordes of flies (with tight connections to extremely annoying Australians variety) and sand-flies. The later, for the lucky ones who have not encountered them, are mozzies on steroids. You don’t feel the bites, but end up in agony for at least a week after. We ended up either feeding the local fauna (yes, Nives) or covering ourselves in deet to a point of internal organ failure (yes, Nives again). But on a positive side, our resort had an Irish pub! With endless beer on tap (when not diving!) at extortionate price of 1 € we managed to put sand-flies aside. To our defence, all that beer drinking was for medicinal purposes – you have to help the kidneys get rid of all that deet from the system! (At least Nives has an excuse)!
As for the diving, we have also been lucky. Very lucky, actually. This time we saw the sharks really, really well. Up close and personal would be the best way to describe it. And it was so worth it! Even the wake-up at 4:30 am as you have to be in the water just as the sun is on the horizon. Few days turned into a week and then it was time to leave. For Dauin. And meeting the friends.
More white sand and thresher sharks here.
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