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Oh, the Philippines. It has got to be my favorite countriy in all of Asia along with Indonesia. Filipinos are friendly, the country relatively light on tourists still, and the diving viz and coral life is amazing. Did I mention that the beaches, from Boracay to Palawan to Malapascua and Cebu, are all blinding white and make heavy use of those palms that take you straight to Tropical Paradise. AND the roasted chicken is something made of legends. Maybe the ONLY thing I would improve on the Phils is the surf doesn't compare to Indo. What is surprising about the Phils (and parts of Myanmar still) is that you can actually hear the dynamite fishing going on underwater sometimes, a little sad yes but surprisingly the places I've dove, I actually can't see the difference in the coral life.
Malapascua has several great sites of all sorts to choose from, but the thresher shark dive at Monad Shoal is Malapascua’s big Kahuna - the 5AM dive for the famed sharks, an unmistakable shark species with a very long and pronounced caudal tail which they use to stun their prey. Swim swim swim, flick! Sucka, you're mine!
So I got
lucky - both my dives to Monad I saw at least two separate threshers pretty close up each time, around 3 meters perhaps. These were about 3 meters long including the tails, and these sharks are absolutely amazing. Their sides shimmer in the light and if you catch them just right, you can see the entire length of their body glistening at you. Throw in the devil rays nonchalantly gliding by in huge droves, an hour down there just taking it all in on Nitrox... yeah, I'd say that's a pretty nice dive.
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Jimmy
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Your pictures are amazing Amy!