I fell in love... with Malapascua

Kristina Bair
Jan 23, 2015
4 min read

Malapascua is one of those places you may accidentally never leave. Like a black hole, but it wouldn't be a bad thing. I only spent five days on this tiny island but each day I fell more and more in love with it. A four hour bus ride from Cebu City followed by a 30 minute boat ride brought me to this quaint piece of land off the northern tip of Cebu. The first thing I noticed when I got there was the incredible amount of garbage scattered along the beach, but I learned shortly thereafter that it was the result of a typhoon that passed through in December, then another recent storm (garbage is usually sorted and recycled or collected and burned). As I walked past the barefoot kids and into the village, I saw women hand-washing clothes, young men cruising around on motorbikes, and everyone greeted me with a smile and a "hello!" or "welcome to Malapascua!"

A typical street- no cars, just motorbikes, bycicles, and bare feet

I adored my hostel- Villa Sandra. It's your typical backpackers place, a bed, shared bath, small kitchen, and social area, but somehow, this place was special. Everyone who stayed there became temporary family and the atmosphere was of comfort, belonging, and totally chilling out.

At Villa Sandra, you never ended up snorkeling, eating, or watching the sunset by yourself. The people there truly made my stay memorable.

Speaking of sunsets... (the middle one is actually a sunrise, but you get it)

Yeah... hard to leave.

The main reason I went to the little paradise was for diving, but I found that the snorkeling was just as great! Unfortunately, due to the recent storm and runoff, the visibility wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but I was still able to see some very cool stuff below the surface!

Lion Fish

Nudibranchs (pronounced NU-dee-bronx)

Sea Snake

Eel Snake

Starfish

No idea what this monstrosity is but it was cool. Some sort of jellyfish maybe? But certainly not the kind that stung me! Those were translucent pink with long tentacles.

Mermaid wannabe, bored at the 10 minute safety stop

Diving in Malapascua is best known for the Thresher Shark sightings, so that is, of course, the reason I was most excited to strap on a tank and plunge into the deep blue.

Thresher Sharks are timid, deep sea dwellers (200 meters) with sensitive eyes. They come up to 15 to 30 meters just after sunrise to the "cleaning station" where little fish nibble on whatever is stuck to them.

I went to bed early, got up at 4am, got my stuff together and walked the 10 minutes to the dive shop for a cup of coffee and a gear check before we boarded the boat at about 4:45 and headed to the dive site know as Monad Shoal. We briefed, strapped up, hit the water as the sun was coming up and headed down to about 27 meters. On the way down, the leader, who was about 3 meters ahead of me, started pointing excitedly at something in front of and below him, but all I saw was murky green.

The view from behind the rope, waiting...

I was disappointed in the visibility, only about five or six meters, but determined to spot the graceful creatures. So we continued down and stayed along the wall for about 20 minutes with no other sightings, then we were forced to begin our ascent due to heavier air consumption in deeper water (a dive to 18 meters can last about an hour). Upon surfacing, the leader said the shark he saw on our descent came and left in a flash and no one else had spotted anything. Not even my hostel mates who went with other dive shops saw anything that morning. I obviously had to try again.

The next morning we decided to do two dives instead of just one, so we did the first dive just as the previous day- we descended to the rope, waited, moved a little, waited, moved some more, waited, and just as I was beginning to lose hope, watching the minutes tick down on my dive computer, a Thresher glided directly over our heads, creating a magnificent silhouette against the bright surface. I was overcome with awe.

Complete satisfaction. I didn't care if another typhoon rolled through, I saw the shark!! Luckily, instead of a typoon, things only got better!! We surfaced and relaxed for about an hour, then prepared for dive number two, this time at the other end of the wall. Our plan was to descend and drift along the wall until we spotted something. About halfway through the dive a couple of the others started pointing, so we all stayed still and sure enough, not one, but two Threshers swam right by us, quite close!

The tail is used to prey on small fish using the "swat and stun"

I think he's kinda cute. Just look at his buggy eye!

Apres-dive

So if that wasn't enough to make my week, I spent the rest of my time snorkeling, cruising around the island, cooking, playing with the local kids, and searching for the best BBQ on the street. In the words of an Israeli girl at the hostel "I chill out all day then have time to watch the sunset. It's not fair, life is too good!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

After typhoon Yolanda devistated much of the island in November of 2013, Rapa (from Spain) found his calling. He stayed on the island to help rebuild the school and supported many families through a difficult time. Every local knows him by name and the kids call him "Rapa pao" (bald Rapa). He returns to Spain for six months each year to work in the music industry, then returns to Malapascua, which he now refers to as home.