Diving with Thresher Sharks at Malapascua Island, Philippines | My honest review, getting there, dive centre & site info
If you’re someone who’s looking for a bucketlist-worthy, unique experience - scuba diving with Thresher sharks is it.
Malapascua Island in the Philippines is one of the few places in the world where you can go diving and see Thresher sharks all year round, along with stunning coral reefs, macro and other large marine life like manta rays, devil rays and hammerhead sharks - and I think it’s one of the best dive spots in the Philippines.
You probably think I’m crazy for wanting to get that close with a shark, but this is not one of those dive in a shark cage situations, and these shy, elusive sharks are actually relatively harmless to humans.
In my know before you go guide, I’ll answer:
What are Thresher Sharks and why it’s worth travelling to see them
How to get to Malapasca Island
Where to stay on Malapascua Island
What time of year to visit
My Thresher Shark dive experience - honest review
Information on dive sites, dive centres, dive licence requirements
How much it costs to dive with thresher sharks
Final tips on visiting Malapascua (including island quirks)
What makes Thresher Sharks so special, and why it’s worth travelling to see them
If you're reading this, there’s a high chance you’ve already heard of thresher sharks - or you're looking for a unique diving experience or shark dive in the Philippines.
Firstly - diving with thresher sharks is safe. These unassuming creatures pose little threat to humans and are pretty shy, emerging from the depths of the ocean where they usually hang out just for a short period of time just after dawn.
This was truly a unique and beautiful experience - I’ve dived with sharks (bull sharks, grey nurses, white and black tip sharks) before in Fiji but seeing the shy Thresher sharks in the early morning light as they gracefully swam around above some of the most abundant corals I’ve seen made me want to squeal and do a happy dance.
(Spoiler alert: I did neither because a) the sound would scare them away and b) our guide asked us to be still).
Thresher sharks are deep sea sharks with big eyes and a very long tail that’s used to stun their prey, and often hang out in depths that are beyond recreational diving. Fortunately for us, they visit Kimud Shoal (~20 m depth) almost each day in the early morning to be picked clean by wrasse fish, who remove parasites from their bodies.
Unlike some sharks that are agressive to humans, thresher sharks are quite shy and harmless. They can grow up to 6 metres, and are one of the fastest predators in the ocean - and seeing them in real life was such a surreal experience.
I loved watching them swim around the cleaning station, and everywhere we turned we would see more - at one point I saw five in the same vicinity! Some of them were smaller around 1-2m, and the largest one I saw 4-5m, and it was such a magical experience as they looked so majestic as they glided through the water.
Before going to the Philippines, I had no idea that these sharks existed, let alone one of the best dive sites to see them was north of where I was completing my Advanced Open Water in Moalboal, Cebu - and so of course my partner & I made a detour and made the journey north to see them.
Logistics for diving with Thresher Sharks
Where is Malapascua Island & how do I get there?
Malapascua is a small island located just off the tip of Cebu in the Philippines and can be reached by bus & ferry from Cebu city.
To get here:
Fly to Mactan-Cebu International Airport
Take a Grab or taxi from the airport to the Cebu North Bus Terminal (30 mins)
Take a bus from Cebu North Bus Terminal to Maya (4 - 6 hours depending on traffic)
Alternatively, take a shared van from the Cebu Airport to Maya (similar time)
Take a local boat / ferry from Maya to Malapasua Island (30 - 60 mins depending on the current and the speed of the boat, and how long you have to wait for other passengers).
Notes:
If you’re flying from outside of the Philiippines, it’s likely you’ll fly to Manilla first before taking a domestic flight to Cebu. Cebu is served by many airlines including Philiippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific.
Tickets for the Ceres bus from Cebu City to Maya can be bought at the bus terminal (we paid PHP320 for a seat on an aircon bus).
You can also get a group van transfer from the airport or Cebu City (pre-booked or speak to a vendor when you arrive), but check when the van is leaving and that you get an actual seat.
Tickets for the ferry costs PHP200 per person, plus a Environmental Fee of PHP120 and a Passenger Fee of PHP20. Ferries run from 8am to 5pm every 30 minutes, but sometimes you’ll have to wait for other passengers to fill up the boat.
As we was coming from somewhere else on the island (Moalboal), we took a Ceres bus back to Cebu city (4 hours from Moalboal), transferred from the South bus terminal to the North bus terminal via Grab, before continuing the journey onwards.
As this was a long travel day, we spent the night at Arriyus Apartelle in Maya which is a great spot for an overnight transit stay (all the reviews say so too), and walked to the port in the morning to take the ferry across in the morning.
View of beach at low tide from Malapascua Ferry port - this area is not exactly known for their beaches.
Where to stay in Malapascua Island?
When you arrive at the ferry port on Malapascua Island, you’ll notice there’s lots of dive resorts, beach resorts and accommodation options a short walk away around the south end of the island - the main area to stay in.
If you’re planning on doing a dive course here, there are some dive resorts that offer free accommodation when you complete a dive course with them, such as The Little Mermaid Dive Resort which is beachfront and a SSI Dive Centre. You can see their price list here: Little Mermaid Dive Resort Courses Prices
As we were only planning to do thresher shark dives and our nitrox course, we stayed with Blue Corals Beach Resort in a Superior Bungalow (with A/C) as it was right by the beach and a short walk from the dive shops.
The rooms had what we needed and the staff were accomodating by letting us have our included breakfast on our diving day after we returned around 1pm. This costs us PHP2,800 for 2 nights through the Booking.com Genuis Loyalty Programme.
View of sun loungers on the beach outside Blue Corals Beach Resort. There were also some comfy hammocks where we took an afternoon nap.
What time of year do I go for the best chances of spotting thresher sharks?
The great news is that Thresher sharks are spotted here pretty much every day, all year around.
They come in the early morning and hang around the cleaning station for a while before disappearing back into the depths - and as a result most boats will leave around 5am and drive towards Kimud Shoal as the sun is coming up.
However you may want to avoid travelling in the Philippines during typhoon season (July to October) as typhoons could disrupt your travel plans.
Review of my experience diving with thresher sharks at Malapascua, Philippines
My honest take? This whole experience was 110% worth it.
This was not initially on my diving bucketlist, but after spending a good 60 minutes hanging out with the shy thresher sharks and being treated to a stunning sunrise during boat ride over to Kimud Shoal, I think it’s worthy of being added to any diver and/or shark lover’s bucketlist.
My first thought when I entered the water at Kimud Shoal was how great the visibility (vis) was - I could see the coral reef (~20m depth) from the surface which is incredible.
As we swam down towards the coral reef, I was in awe - I love seeing abundant and colourful coral reefs and this ticked all those boxes, and within a few minutes of reaching the reef bed we spotted our first thresher shark of the day!
As we were one of the first boats there that day, it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves for the first part of our dive - and to be honest, sometimes I didn’t know where to look because there were thresher sharks all around (once I counted 5).
I love that this felt like they were in their natural habitat (they weren’t being fed) and even as more divers entered the site, everyone was respectful of space and the creatures by not getting too close. I also noticed some groups going over the drop-off to observe thresher sharks coming up from the depths to the cleaning station.
Seeing these spectacular creatures in real life in the early sunlight felt so surreal, and I found myself wanting to etch the memory into my brain so I could relive it over and over again and see the Thresher sharks through my own eyes instead of through a Go Pro (which is great so you can jog your memory, but doesn’t quite capture the beauty and the feeling of being there underwater, watching the sunlight bounce off their silver skin as they swim).
Despite all the travel time (1.5 days from Moalboal with a night in Maya), this experience was incredibly worthwhile and will stay as one of the top dives I’ve ever done.
I would recommend staying another day or two to take advantage of dive packages and visiting some other dive sites like Gato Island, or just lounging by the beach and catching up on sleep.
What dive sites are there? What else can I see?
Kimud Shoal & Monad Shoal
To see the elusive Thresher sharks, the dive boats will take you to their cleaning station, Kimud Shoal, which is a sunken island at 20-30m depth with beautiful coral reefs.
They will then make a stop at the nearby old cleaning station, Monad Shoal, which also offers Tiger and reef shark sightings. Unfortunately, we had poor visibility the day we went to Monad Shoal, and didn’t get to see any Tiger sharks.
When you’re not looking for thresher sharks, there is also incredible biodiversity in the coral reefs, and potential sightings of manta rays and hammerhead sharks.
Our boat left at 5am for 2 dives at Kimud Shoal and 1 dive at Monad Shoal, before returning at 1pm. Those who weren’t doing all three dives (like us) hung out on deck and soaked in the sun.
Fish swimming around a coral tree at Monad Shoal. Unluckily we didn’t see any tiger sharks here and the vis wasn’t great (our guide said it was as good as Kimud Shoal the day before).
Gato Island
We were also recommended Gato Island as a must-see dive site, which is a marine sanctuary that features an amazing swim-through experience, caves and resident white-tip reef shark sightings and a wide variety of macro life.
We didn’t have time to join a Gato Island day trip (3 dives, leaving at 7am returning at 5pm) as we only had one full day in Malapascua - but if we ever came back would definitely want to check it out!
Aside from these, there are lots of other dive sites including reef night dive option.
Which dive centre should I go with?
Honestly, there are so many to choose from.
As you walk down the streets, you’ll notice that everything on this island is all about sharks and see an abundance of dive shops offering dive courses, thresher shark dives and boat dive excursions.
We were recommended Devocean Divers, a 5 star PADI IDC dive center, by our Advanced Open Water Dive Instructor as a reasonably priced, mid-tier option with staff that would take care of us - and that was a good enough recommendation that we didn’t consider any other dive centres.
We had a great day out on the water with Devocean in one of their Bangka (traditional Filippino boats with an outrigger) dive boats - it was spacious and comfortable, with about 10-20 divers and instructors on board. The staff were professional and gave us a detailed dive briefing before we geared up to jump into the water.
What I did love about my experience with Devocean Divers is that we were once of the first boats at Kimud Shoal, which meant it was relatively quiet when we got in the water, and we weren’t competing with lots of groups for space.
This was a totally different story at the end of our dive! I noticed that there were a lot more people getting in the water, and it didn’t feel as peaceful as the start of the dive.
I had a lovely time chatting with other divers and the staff when we were having our surface interval breaks, and since we started so early (5am) I was super grateful that they provided free water, coffee & tea as well as a light breakfast/morning tea (bread, eggs, bananas) on board.
I also noticed that our accomodation Blue Corals Beach Resort also offered fun dives and packages that you could book through reception so I think this is a common service, and since Malapascua is centred around thresher shark dives you’ll find no shortage of options if one place is booked out.
How much does it cost to dive with thresher sharks in Malapascua?
Your total cost will vary depending on how many dives you do, how much equipment you need to rent, and whether you want to do your dives at Malapascua as part of a course.
Most dive shops are priced similarly, and will offer cheaper prices per dive as part of multi-dive packages.
I paid 12,900 pesos (~AU$220) for my PADI Nitrox enriched air course and 2 nitrox dives (inclusive of equipment rental, dive guide and boat ride) with Devocean Divers Malapascua.
However to give you an idea of how much it would cost for a fun dive at Kimud Shoal (Thresher sharks):
First 10 dives PHP 1,470 per dive (includes tank, weights, dive guide, boat ride and coffee, tea, water and light snacks on the boat)
Equipment rental PHP 330 per dive
Dive computer rental PHP 350 per dive
Marine Park fee PHP 300 daily
Kimud Shoal/Monad Shoal marine protection fee PHP 150
Fuel Surcharge to Kimud Shoal PHP 500
Total cost for a fun dive: PHP 3,100 or approx AU$85
You could also look to do a course here, which costs about 19,900 pesos for PADI Open Water (includes 4 dives) or 15,900 pesos for PADI Advanced Open Water (includes 5 dives).
Dive sites around Malapascua Island and an army of nitrox tanks.
Are there any diving requirements?
To dive with Thresher sharks at Kimud Shoal, you’ll need at least an Open Water Diver certification (up to 18 metres).
For maximum enjoyment (and insurance purposes), it’s better if you’re at least Advanced Open Water certified, as the dive site is around 20m depth and there’s more to explore around the drop offs.
If you’re not Advanced Open Water certified, you can also complete it over 2 days at one of the many dive schools in Malapascua and have the Thresher shark dive included - which is what someone on our boat was doing!
When we booked with Devocean Divers Malapascua, they advised that they expected good diving skills and required proven experience of at least 20 dives.
I also saw a lot of dive shops recommending Nitrox for the Thresher shark dives. As we wanted to complete our Nitrox course and Devocean offered it with 2 dives for 12,900 pesos, we used nitrox tanks on the shark dives - but if you have good air consumption I don’t think it is necessary if you’re not planning to do deep dives (>20m depth).
For reference, our bottom time with nitrox was 60 minutes with a max depth of 19m, and I think the benefits of nitrox at deeper depths (extended no decompression limits) weren’t noticed here.
Our bbq dinner from Avrill’s.
Final tips for visiting Malapascua Island
Sleep early as most of the dive boats leave early in the morning for a half day or full day excursion (leave 5am, return 1pm or 5pm).
Plan to stay for enough days to make the most of the dive boat trips, and make sure you leave enough time for your preflight surface interval.
Water temperatures are 25-26°C in December through to February and a toasty 27-30°C the rest of the year.
Air temperatures are warm and humid as well, so I would suggest getting a room with A/C if you’re not good with the heat.
There are ATMs on the island, however when we were there some of them were not working, and in a place like the Philippines, cash is king. We stopped at a HSBC ATM in Cebu as they have higher withdrawal limits (40k pesos). Another good option are ATMs at 7-Elevens, which have a 20k withdrawal limit. Regular bank ATMs have a 10k limit.
Power outages are common! We experience a short, 2 hour one whilst we were having dinner one night in the market square, and the solar powered fairy lights were great mood lighting.
We had really good grilled and bbq seafood at Avrill’s - check them out.
There are no cars on the island. You’ll find that locals and tourists alike walk the sandy paths or ride scooters.
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