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Malapascua is one of the few places on the
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Vol.3 No.2
Features
Malapascua Island
Threshers Before Breakfast, Sea Horses 'Fore Lunch
Photos & Text by: Tony Karacsonyi
The long whip-like tail, large eye, silver sheen on it's side
and the ease with which it glides through the water - little will
prepare you for your first thresher shark sighting.
Inspired by Scott Tuason's reports on threshers, I travelled
to Cebu in the Visayas Islands, of the Philippines, where I dived
with Dutch, German, and Spanish divers, all eager to catch a glimpse
of these elusive sharks, which belong to the mackerel shark family.
Malapascua is one of the few places on the globe where divers can
reliably see thresher sharks, at a place called Monad Shoal - the
top of a seamount where these sharks arrive at dawn, to be cleaned
by a collection of wrasse.
Each morning at 6am, outrigger diving boats (called bancas), journey
out to Monad Shoal, to put divers in the water soon after first light.
We settle on the seamount at a depth of about 23m (75ft), and wait
for the sharks to arrive, at one of three cleaning stations. Mantas,
mobula rays and eagle rays visit too.
Threshers are usually very shy, and it is often in the last few minutes
of the dive that the threshers can be seen. The trick is to breathe
very slowly when the sharks arrive, as the sound of bubbles can spook
the sharks. The threshers are full of surprises, so be sure to look
behind you, and upwards also. The sharks sometimes break their own
rules of shyness, passing right over the heads of divers.
Early in my trip, a pair of threshers arrived at a cleaning station
and started circling in front of us, then passed behind and kept circling
for some time, about 6m (20ft) away. My Nikon whirred and I'd
shot off 30 shots in no time.
On another dawn dive in low 7m (23ft)- visibility, we got buzzed by
a 3m (10ft)-thresher, about 3m (10ft)-away. It was a magnificent animal
with a fat belly, which Toto and I decided was either pregnant, or
had eaten an awful lot of fish the night before.
"The last minute of the shark dive is very important. This is
when we often see the threshers" says divemaster Toto. "The
first boat and the last boat, are often the ones who see the sharks,
because too many divers can scare them away". The peak diving/holiday
season at Malapascua, in summer, is not the best time to see the sharks.
The winter months, despite some rain and cloud is a better time for
shark diving. Dive Resorts at Malapascua have hosted film crews and
underwater photographers from all over the world, including Doug Perrine
and Scotty Tuason.
Adrenaline Rush
The threshers are an amazing adrenalin rush, and are Malapascua's
biggest draw but what impressed me just as much, was the richness
and biodiversity of Malapascua's soft corals.
Dik de Boer, a Dutch National, and his Filipina wife Cora, started
the first dive resort on Malapascua Island, back in 1997. They first
checked out this little island paradise, north of Cebu, in 1996, after
reading about the island in a 'Lonely Planet' travel guide.
Dik still remembers seeing the first thresher sharks with his friend
named Mikael Person, in 1997. Over the months and years, with the
help of local fishermen they also found two Japanese WW2 shipwrecks
to add to a Manila-Cebu ferry that was already known as a beautiful
wreck dive. With such a selection of wreck dives, thresher sharks
and reef dives, Dik and Cora, set up the Exotic Dive Resort, and over
the years, expanded the operation to include three large dive boats
and a nitrox facility.
On a gentle tide at North Point you can drift over dense soft coral
gardens filled with anemones, clownfish, commensal shrimps, harlequin
shrimps, white cowries (often seen on the pale soft corals), butterflyfish,
lionfish, pipefish and juvenile harlequin sweetlips.
Exploring a ledge at 18m (59ft), the overhang was adorned in soft
corals, thorny oysters, sponges and a large, greyish, frogfish - a
well known resident here. There's also a black, giant frogfish,
which divers have seen walking on it's pectoral fins.
Gato Island is like something from a Harry Potter movie. It's
a short sharp rocky island rising from what seems like the middle
of nowhere in the South China Sea. It is 50-minutes boat ride from
Malapascua. Nesting seabirds fly around the island and a colony of
flying foxes are found in trees high on it's cliffy shore. Kingfishers
flit in and out of sea caves. Gato Island is constantly bathed in
current, giving life to it's soft coral canyons and myriad of
rare and unusual nudibranchs. Nowhere have I see so many nudibranchs
of all shapes and forms.
Nudibranch egg clusters were prolific, and there are pygmy sea horses
at 25m (82ft). Whitetip reef sharks shelter in the caves, and one
cave leads right through the centre of the island. As you leave the
light at one end, it becomes dark, and as you swim onward, the blue
light of the other side comes into view. The cave has several passageways,
and secret hidey-holes, adorned in thousands of lovely daisy corals,
thorny oysters and sponges.
There is a ranger's house on the sheltered side of Gato Island,
with a sign saying - 'Sea Snake and Marine Life Sanctuary'.
There are many sea snakes, especially at the three to five metre (ten
to 16 foot)-depth, where the juvenile sea snakes hang out. Some of
my best sightings included a large banded sea snake at 20m (66ft),
and a big eel. Gato Island is full of surprises and every dive had
something new to offer, such as porcelain crabs and squadrons of squid.
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The threshers are an amazing adrenalin rush,
and are Malapascua's biggest draw but what impressed me just
as much, was the richness and biodiversity of Malapascua's soft
corals. |
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Japanese Wreck
The Tapilon, is believed to be a Japanese shipwreck and is located
at 29m (95ft) off Tapilon Island, hence it's name. Although
broken into three or four segments, the Tapilon is a rich and rewarding
dive with lots of black coral trees, immense shoals of small barracuda
(great wide angle scenery) and about 10 very lonely remoras. For those
looking for the elusive ghost pipefish, the Tapilon is a prime site.
An absolute highlight was diving with the colourful mandarinfish at
the Lighthouse dive site. The trick is to arrive before dark and find
a colony of mandarin fish, then wait and see what happens. As it starts
to get dark you can see the larger males chasing the females. The
pair rises up off the coral for a few seconds before discharging their
sperm and eggs into sea. It's a magical scene matched only the
amazing phosphorescence in the ocean at night.
House Reef is an artificial reef created by Dik and the locals. An
exciting array of marine animals have made home on all sorts of the
bits and pieces, which they have placed on the sandy seafloor at 12m
(39ft). It's fascinating to see how different critters are using
different types of artificial reef structures. Sea urchins have colonised
the roof and bonnets of the two jeepneys, squid are laying eggs in
the suspended bunches of tree branches, large healthy sweetlips are
hanging beneath the low bamboo structures, and an orange frogfish
lurks on the spherical wire structure.
Three fat and healthy lionfish have made home in one of the jeepneys
- they hang about as if they own it. The other jeepney has a big resident
cuttlefish. On the sandy seafloor there are razorfish, gobies, sole,
and on one of the large tube-like structures, I saw a stunning little
juvenile lionfish.
Malapascua is one of the richest places I have ever dived, for tropical
marine life, the local Filipino people are warm and welcoming, and
you can freely walk all over the island, and visit the local villages.
At sites like Gato Island and North Point - the soft coral gardens
and critters need to be seen to be believed, and you'll see
nudibranchs at Gato Island, that you may never see again. Oh, and
there's the thresher sharks of Monad Shoal. The threshers alone
make the trip worthwhile!
How to get there
Fly to Cebu. If you arrive late in the day, you will need to overnight
in Cebu. In Cebu, you will be picked up by your dive centre, and transferred
to Malapascua by minibus and boat.
What to take
Lots of film or digital memory cards, and batteries. Rechargeable
batteries can be charged overnight. It is a good idea to take antimalarial
prophylactics, although this area is said to be free of malaria. Bottled
water and soft-drinks are readily available.
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Thresher Research |
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The sea mound of Monad Shoal near Malapascua
in the Philippines is the only place in the world where thresher
sharks can be easily seen on a daily basis. The sharks come
to Monad Shoal every morning to be cleaned by wrasse. To learn
more about these reclusive creatures, a shark research study
is currently being conducted on Malapascua Island.
The study is investigating the relationship between the sharks
and the wrasse in an effort to better understand how to preserve
these magnificent creatures. Sadly, the number of sightings
have been declining over the last few years. Whether this is
through diver interaction, fishing, species migration or some
other reason is not yet known. In its first month, the study
has already provided valuable information on site management
to minimize diver impact. It is anticipated that the next two
months will provide much more.
The research team is looking for volunteers to help preserve
this treasure of Southeast Asian diving. They do not have the
manpower to investigate the site as they would like without
help. Volunteers will join researchers from the University of
Wales' School of Ocean Sciences in collecting data on
these amazing creatures. The volunteers will join seminars,
learn about research methods, and should get to see the sharks
many times. An added bonus are the mantas that frequent the
site at this time of year.
This is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in the underwater
world and in particular the preservation of sharks. The start
date is still to be determined (approx. Oct 2nd, 2005), and
only a limited number of spaces are available. You'll
need to have Advanced Open Water and Enriched Air Certification,
with 30+ dives, but training is available prior to the expedition.
More
information...
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