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A great dive experience, Malapascua, The Philipines

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PADI Pros facing their fears in Malapascua island

 

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!

Malapascua island exploring by a PADI scuba instructor

devocean-padi-goproAs one of the PADI scuba diving instructors of team Devocean Divers Malapascua I have been asked to regularly write a blog focusing on my life as an instructor on the paradise island, Malapascua.  Yes it’s hard work as a PADI instructor but you have to love it! Our office has sun, sea and good times.

When we are not busy or just need a day to recharge we usually spend it relaxing and recharging…zzzz. But sometimes we have to make the effort right? Get out there to discover those parts of the island we usually don’t see. So after a few busy weeks on the job with Devocean, teaching PADI courses and getting those post-course thresher shark dives in with many of my students.  Finally I managed to land a few days off!

Time off is great, even though my gills tend to get a bit sticky. I did welcome the opportunity to explore Malapascua island. To head out and see those hidden beaches and villages I hadn’t seen before. My friend and I headed off and decided to try and reach the northern beaches of Malapascua Island. After breakfast we headed off on ‘the main road’ but before we knew it we had wandered off that road and where wandering down smaller roads. Yes we got lost an loved it! The small paths lead us to some incredible pretty beaches and amazing cliffs with stunning views and plenty of great photo opportunities.

devocean-divers-malapascua-churchWhen we set off we passed through the village of Malapascua, the locals call it ‘the barrio’. It’s located on the west side of the island and lot’s of people live here. Of course as with every village in the Philippines there is a basketball court and a church.  A few friendly locals came out to greet us and helped us finding the way through the maze of small roads and paths. It was the first time I had actually walked around in this area and I really enjoyed it a lot. The locals are so friendly and love to talk to foreigners.

When we continued further north we saw the light house of Malapascua. I have seen it many times before from the sea when we dive ‘lighthouse reef’. This time we walked up the hill it stands on and once there we where exhausted but the amazing view compensated the hot effort.

Remember this if you decide to go wandering yourself: bring sunscreen, a cap hat and plenty of water! and try to head of early and look for a shady area to relax during the hottest hours of the day. Have a siesta, just as the locals do.

devocean divers habal habalWhen we finally arrived in the north we passed through a small village. We decided to quickly move on as the heat had gotten to us and we desperately needed to cool off.  Once we reached the sea it took us very little time to jump in and cool off.  Hanging out in the water we soon noticed a small bar/restaurant, Perfect of course!  The chicken adobo was good and the chicken was from the village;  real organic chicken. After lunch and a casual cocktail it was getting that time to head back.  We figured we deserved to hitch a motorbike ride back home. This popular local way of getting around is called ‘Habal-habal’, it’s cheap and we had a nice smooth ride back. Using a habal2x to get around is something I also highly recommend …but do max. 2 passengers and a driver, just to be safe.

Totally loved the day! … adevocean divers padi-hang-loosend will definitely will do something similar when I have the time again. But for now I am ready to teach you how to scuba dive or upgrade your diving knowledge. Who knows you might decide to become a PADI instructor like me and get to wander the world and have the privilege to teach people all about the coolest hobby ever and show them the wonders of the underwater world.

Thanks for reading my blog and see you on Malapascua soon!

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