Diving in Malapascua
Diving Malapascua, Philippines: dawn thresher sharks at Monad Shoal, reef sharks at Gato Island, and real depths, temperatures and visibility from dives logged on Currents.
Dive sites
A marine reserve about 45 minutes out by banca, known for whitetip reef sharks sheltering under its boulders and for banded sea snakes. A favourite second dive after Monad.
“Found a reef shark! It’s a whitetip i guess?”
An offshore shoal that tends to give the best visibility of the area, and a known spot for schooling scalloped hammerheads at the right time of year.
“I saw 3 thresher sharks!!! However there’s a bunch of fire corals at the bottom so I gotta be careful.”
A shallow reef dived both by day and at night; the night dive is a classic for mandarinfish and other small critters.
“Not much to see, just macros. Some corals are dead.”
A sunken plateau that works as a cleaning station for pelagic thresher sharks, which rise from deep water at first light. The reason most divers come; the dive is run before dawn, so the boats leave in the dark.
A gentle reef that rounds out a day of easy diving.
“Found a couple of coral plantations. Visibility is great.”
One of the calmer reef sites, good for relaxed profiles.
“Not much to see other than macros (nudibranch, etc).”
Photos and reviews from dives logged here by the Currents community.
Malapascua is a small island off the northern tip of Cebu, best known as one of the most reliable places in the world to dive with pelagic thresher sharks. The figures on this page are drawn from dives that Currents divers have logged and shared here.
When to dive and conditions
Diving at Malapascua is warm and generally calm, with little current. Visibility tends to be fair on the shallow reefs and opens up out at the deeper shoals, and there is night diving to be had as well. The depths, temperatures and dive times in the panel above come straight from the logged dives, so they reflect what divers actually recorded rather than a brochure.
Getting there
Malapascua is reached from Cebu City by road to the port of Maya, then a short banca crossing to the island. Dive operators on the island run daily boat trips and courses; prices vary by operator and season.