Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Diving Malapascua 2010 w/ Evolution Divers

This is my second time visiting Malapascua. The first time was in 2006. My friends and I signed up with Thresher Shark Divers - a horrible experience! We were scheduled to do 4 diving days with them, but the service was so terrible, the accommodations so shoddy, we unanimously decided to drop our arrangements with them and seek another dive operator. So we went with Dan's Divers. It's an American owned dive shop but run by Filipinos. We decided to give them some business since they didn't have any customers. The experience with Dan's Divers turned out to be a good one. We vowed to return to Malapascua and dive with them again. Four years later, as our dive group became bigger and friendships became closer, we decided to give Malapascua another shot. Most of the divers on this expedition were Malapascua virgins. Everyone was excited to see the thresher sharks and the giant mantas.

As usual, our friend Lil who is the "older sister" of the group organized and negotiated in behalf of everyone. We paid P1,000/dive and did 14 dives. This time, we chose a newly opened dive shop called Evolution Divers. It's run by 2 partners Matt Reed and David Joyce. They run a good operation.



The reason why divers flock to Malapascua is due to the thresher sharks whom are known to inhabit Monad Shoal. It is a mystery as to why they continuously return and flock to this particular site. Scientists are now researching the reasons behind it. In addition to the thresher sharks, giant mantas and devil rays that are regularly seen in the area, Malapascua Island offers world class macro diving. We saw all that we wanted to see and a whole lot more.



Evolution Divers took us to 8 dive sites. And all 10 dives were amazing. The sites were Monad Shoal, Lapus-lapus, Bantigue Bay, Mandarin, The lighthouse, Gato Island Cave, Gato Island Snake & Seahorse Sanctuary.




























Malapascua Island may not be a beach party destination like Ibiza or Boracay, but it has a quaint and charming, laid back vibe to it. It has many restaurants that serve all kinds of cuisine and its equipped with wifi internet, good draft beers and fresh seafood. Evolution Divers' bar was a cute Irish joint that served imported beers from Ireland and other best-selling cocktails. They also serve sandwiches and other quick orders.














1 comment:

Đẹp Trai said...

I'm going to Malapascua and considering both TSD and Evolution Diving. I read from your blog you certainly had bad experience with TSD. Can you tell me more what happened?