Keep your friends close, but keep your anemones closer.
Here at Devocean Divers Malapascua, we LOVE Sharks! Especially the graceful Thresher sharks of Malapascua. We are lucky to see them come out to greet us every dawn at the nearby underwater plateau, Monad Shoal. Our PADI Instructors and Divemasters have made quite a few dives during their careers and they love the ocean and its inhabitants so much they made it their office! But, these fearless dive pros also have their small underwater phobias. In this blog, we meet Devocean Divers Instructor Eleanor and find out what she fears most underwater. Read on to find out more….
Eleanor is from China and she teaches our Chinese students so that they can learn in their native language. She also has amazing English so she also teaches to divers from everywhere in the world.
She goes out diving with Thresher sharks almost every other day, at sunrise. And she has no problem coming eye to eye with these magnificent creatures. As the sharks slowly patrol the reefs, they allow cleaner fish also known as Damselfish to nibble at their streamlined bodies, removing parasites, dead skin and even cleaning wounds. The sharks are not shy as they parade their elegant tails in front of the awestruck divers and at times they even swim through the air bubbles from the scuba divers. We love sharks! Sharks are our friends! …
After the spectacle, the divers make their way back to the dive boat. But on the way back, while gliding over the underwater plateau, Eleanor could come eye to eye with her phobia!
Is it a blue-ringed octopus? We see those a lot in Malapascua too. Mostly we meet these special creatures during night dives. Magnificent creatures! but once they start pulsing their blue rings it’s better you keep some distance. Blue-ringed octopus, as small as they are, are considered the second most poisonous creatures in the world. No, Eleanor is not impressed by this deadly reputation of the octopus. 
Seeing the little critter actually makes her smile and feel excited. Coming back from a dive with super happy students who saw a “BRO” is a massive reward for any instructor. Most divers have never seen a blue-ringed octopus until they come scuba diving in Malapascua so you can imagine how thrilled they are to be able to put that in their diving logbooks. Blue-ringed octopus… check!
One of the most common fish in the sea and famous also with many non-divers is a small fish that lives in an anemone. It’s fearless! As small as it is, it won’t even consider swimming away from something 100 times its size. This fearless fish, known to most as Nemo, but really it’s called a Clownfish.. this is what Eleanor fears the most! Are you kidding me? No, we are not!
Once during a PADI open water course in Malapascua, Eleanor wanted to show her student, a 
Nemo. Of course the student had never seen these fish in their natural habitat before. The Clownfish wasn’t very welcoming when it came out to greet the visitors. It swam high over the anemone, eye to eye with the divers, and then it attacked! The little clownfish actually bit Eleanor on the wrist! That pinch completely shocked Eleanor – and it even drew blood! So now, after this incident, Eleanor is very cautious of approaching these little creatures! Eleanor says, “We are still just visitors in the underwater realm and should respect the life underneath the sea. No matter how big or small or cute”. Even despite this biting incident Eleanor still thinks clownfish or Nemo’s are still the cutest fish in the ocean! Check our divesites and ask your instructor where you have the most chance to see these little cool fish!
If you ever come diving in the Philippines and want to take your next PADI Course or join us for Diving in Malapsacua it is an amazing experience – not only do we have resident thresher sharks, we have an abundance of critters too including frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, ghost pipefish and, of course, Nemo!!! Until then, stay out of bubbles and keep clear of the anemones.
Not yet a diver? Why not learn to dive in Malapascua? Our friendly and professional team of PADI Instructors will introduce you to our underwater world and you’ll become a certified diver!
For more information or to make a reservation, fill in our online contact form or email us at malapascua@devoceandivers.com and we’ll get right back to you.
We look forward to scuba diving in Malapascua with you soon!
