Malapascua Diving

Malapascua, Philippines has a great diversity of habitats (soft sediments, corals, sea grass, etc.).  Also, Malapascua has more coastlines per unit than any other tropical area on earth.  Additionally, the Philippines has long been recognized as the world’s center of marine biodiversity.  Five of the seven sea turtle species known to exist in the world today occur in Philippine waters.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D810 in an Ikelite housing using the Ikelite DS161 strobes and BigBlue video lights implementing Ultralight Camera Solutions arms & clamps.

Our first destination in the Philippines was the Ticao Island Resort.  Our guide here was Jan Esteban.  He was a tremendous addition to our journey.  He helped in finding all these amazing small creatures.  The Resort there is right on the beach with a fabulous view of the distant volcano.

Diving Malapascua

Our second location was Thresher Shark Divers on Malapascua Island, a first-class dive operation.  In addition, Wilbert Arriesgado was our expert dive guide during the week.  He has a keen eye for finding microscopic creatures.  He is fantastic!

Situated near the epicentre of marine life origin on the planet, Malapascua has an incredible diversity of life.  Therefore some of the creatures that Malapascua is best known for are: Thresher sharks, large rays, whitetip sharks and pygmy seahorses.  Additionally divers can find cuttlefish and nudibranchs.  Divers also find smashing mantis shrimp, pipefish and mandarin fish.    Also, Malapascua has the Denise Pygmy Seahorse!  Divers do not often see the Thresher Shark as it is nocturnal and spends most of its time in deep water.  But they are found on the small island of Malapascua.  Thresher sharks appear in the early morning hours.