malapascua island and moalboal

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My week in Cebu was packed full of diving. I spent half the time at Malapascua Island off the north tip and Moalboal in the south.

Malapascua is a great place. Especially the week that I was there. Since it is low season, the island was almost to myself. It is covered with pristine white sand beaches and very friendly locals. It is the beginning of the rainy season, but I got lucky and it was sunny during my stay there. The major reason for me going was to scuba dive. There's a spot there where Thresher Sharks make regular shows. I was able to see one, but with poor visibility, I wasn't able to get a photo. I did the next best thing and took one of the thresher shark painting that was on the dive shop's wall. It looked just like the one I saw. The other dive spots were great too. Good macro, but due to overfishing and the use of dynamite, much of the coral is dead along with the larger fish. On every dive, we would hear blasts under the water. Sad, but still worth going.

From there, I headed to Moalboal. It's a dive community set up on the southwest coast. They've done a good job at ending dynamite fishing in the area, so the corals have grown back beautifully. Great variety and colors. There's still too many fisherman, so the larger fish are not present. I was welcomed right way by my friend JR (Jun), who I met when I was there last December. He did a great job as being my "private" dive guide and we were able to find some very cool creatures. One of my favorite was an electric shell that was hiding under a ledge that would shoot out sparks. Because of that, I didn't get too close, so no close-ups. The visibility was great during my stay along with sunny weather. I just wish I had more time to spend there.

Off to Palawan.

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Comments

[josworld]

Wow !
Great photos!....Enjoy in Palawan...cheers !

[Leslie]

Mandarin fish by far my favorite

[Michelle]

Great photos. I plan to go there too. What camera did you use?