Philippines- 6

Malpascua

Malapascua is an island off the north of Cebu. It is where we intended on diving with the Thresher sharks that Carla told us about while we where staying with her in Apo Island. Bonus, the island is beautiful and we stayed in another homestay, Bebot's who is Carla's aunt. 

We spent the first day relaxing and enjoying the hammocks and exploring the village. Then, day 2 was all about getting out to see the sharks! It was an early morning dive, we set out by 6am and were in the water by 6h30. At this time, the sharks are likely to be found at the cleaning stations slowly cruising while the wrass fish are busy cleaning them up. It's the best chance to see them up close! After a 1 hour dive and then a 1 hour surface time, we were back in for a second dive.

The sharks where there as if we had an appointment with them! They are quite impressive and different than other sharks we have seen. They are relatively large, more or less 7 meters long and weighing unto 340kg. They have a shiny silver color (as opposed to the dark and mat color we normally expect of shark skin) and their eyes are huge!!! Plus their tail is really long almost half the size of the shark's body. They use their tail to wack their victims as they hunt their prey. 
We saw several and that we got to see really well, one of which swam up to about 1 or 2 meters from us as we starred into it's big eye!! It was mesmerizing!!!
The pictures below are not one's that I have taken but I wanted you to see what these beautiful creatures look like. It is exactly what we saw :)

On day 3, we also went out for 2 dives. Beautiful sites, lots of corals, nudibranchs, turtles, Murray eels and on the second dive, we saw 4 or 5 big white tip sharks just laying on the sandy bottom. Quite impressive as well :)

We had such a lovely time here with Bebot and Carla, felt like a second home. We also took a nice boat excursion around the island, snorkelled a bit and just enjoyed the views. On afternoon, we came across a group of Japanese fasting on sea urchins on the beach. They we quick to offer us some to taste... they where still moving they where so fresh! They are eaten raw... not my thing but Alex really enjoyed :)

We spent the last evening, siting in the ocean, watching the sun go down on this piece of paradise. So grateful!