Malapascua – sharks and more sharks

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When my alarm sets off I jump out of bed. My head’s not ready to be up… but I’m excited to go diving again. I sit down in the restaurant and the sweet girl there immediately makes me some tea … I wonder when they ever sleep but then I remember that the light was out at 20:30 last night. I realise that this is the first time I don’t need to pack my stuff in the morning since I’m spending 2 nights at the same place… quite nice!

Because it’s still a reasonable time at home I call my boyfriend… but he’s really swake and even though I’m a morning person, 4 am just feels like the middle of the night and my head’s not really producing coherent sentences.

The divemaster shows up and we head for the boat… He urges me to bring my tea. We head for a small boat that will bring us to the big one since it’s low tide. So I’m in the dark on a boat with 7 young Philipino men… I think it’s striking that again there are no westerners. On the big boat they tell me that there wil be more divers… and after 5 minutes the boat fills up with Japanese… Again! I find out that there’s a Japanese holiday, this is the reason there are so many Japanese around.

The boat leaves and heads for open sea. Apparently at this divesite there;s an underwater island the side of Malapascua. When we arrive the sun has risen and we put our gear on and jump into the water. My DM is a realy nice guy and we dive with just the two of us. It’s a deep dive so the most conservative dive computer will tell us when we need to head back. It’s going to be a short dive since we don’t want to reach our no deco limit… but in the water my divewatch keeps beeping, but won’t go into dive mode. Therefore it doesn’t tell me at what dept I am or what time I have left… I signal my buddy and start swimming just a little above him to be on the safe side. Then we sit down and watch the big blue.

Suddenly there’s a big shadow which turns out to be a Tresher shark. Every morning the come to this divesite … for them it’s a cleaning station where little fish eay parasites and other stuff off of their skin. I’m so excited, they’re so gracefull! T one point we even see two at the same time, but I didn’t het a picture, which is too bad.

We return to the boat and back to the island where a nice breakfast waits for me…I quickly change and enjoy my toast, butter, eggs and tea. It’s not around 8 and I will have to leave at 9 for the 2^nd dive at Gato Island. This will be with a different DM and boat… but I’m sure I will enjoy it!

Again the boat is filled with Japanese. I know they are going to do 2 dives at the divesite, but I just booked one.. I’m sure if I want to do 2 dives that they’ll find a way. It’s a long boattrip to get to the island And I enjoy seeing the fish fly away as out boat cuts through the very calm water.

Underwater the divesite isn’t really that special and I realise that I have been spoiled with my previous dives! The big attraction on this dive is a place there the wite tip sharks sleep. We get there and there are 4 (!) sharks chilling closely together. It’s quite awesome to see… and no, they don’t scare my in the smallest bit.

Back on the boat I’m exhausted, everyone is speaking Japanese or Philipino… and I lay down and let my eyes rest… When  I open them the group has left for the 2^nd dive and I enjoy the quiet. I read my book and can’t wait to get in the shower!

Just before we get back on the island it starts to rain.. a little, but enough to be annoying. I take a shower and get changed.. time for some food. I’ve decided to treat myself to some of the western food they have.. So I have friend chicken (Philipino style) and some fries. There are 3 girls sitting at the next table and the yappear to be dutch. They are doing their internship near cebu (socials work, working with child victims of the sex industry) and we get talking. There’s also a group of Italian men they have met and we settle on the beach while drinking cocktails… not a bad way to watch the sun go down!

We all jump into the sea and after that head back to our hotels to take a shower. I’m getting hungry again so I think I might go out and get some more food!

Tomorrow will be a day of transit again… and at the end of the day… or should I say middle of the night… my friend will arrive!  I’m so looking forward to the next 2 weeks of travelling together, it’s going to be a blast.