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CORALREPUBLIC Malapascua,
2013
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Trip
dates: |
3 – 30 April 2013 |
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Boat
/ resort: |
Ocean Vida Resort, Malapascua. Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. |
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Dive
centre: |
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Photo-friendly?: |
As usual, excellent |
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Number
of dives: |
48 over 28 days of diving. This was a true Zen vacation |
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Diving
conditions: |
The best I have ever experienced in Malapascua and for that
matter, anywhere else. Absolutely flat seas, incredible visibility and warm
water at 27-28°C under a dazzling bright sun and blue skies, every single day
of the month spent there. Amazing. |
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Comments: |
Sixth visit to Malapascua. Having had a so-so end of the year
and tired as hell, I decided I needed a serious break. So where else to go? I
was ready to be there on my own till Paul joined me for the last 10 days of
the holiday. I spread the word that I had a double room to share for 20 days
before he arrived if anybody was interested, and lo! I got two takers! First
my friend and colleague Véronique, then my BF
Carmen for another 10. Paul and I did a stopover in Singapore on our trip
back home and stayed (again) at the Marina Bay Sands. We went to see the
Botanical Gardens in Marina Bay, did some (minor) shopping and enjoyed a most
memorable dinner at Hide Yamamoto. There is not much I have not said already in previous entries
about Malapascua. But this trip was special because I stayed for so long, so
I had a real chance to experience day-to-day life in the island, along with
the time to truly relax, without feeling the urge to do four dives a day,
like in week-long holidays when you want to dive as much as possible. I could
wander, read, sleep siestas, get lots of massages, and meet and chat with
loads of people, both locals and transient. The fantastic R&R I got has
served me well, since I have had no Summer holidays this year. Very sad news was waiting on arrival, about Sven and Fabienne,
the owners and managers of Ocean Vida. Their son Yanis
had passed away after a short but very serious illness in February. Sven and
Fabienne had left their friend Soren in charge of the resort while returning
to Europe to bury their firstborn, so we did not have the possibility of
expressing personally our deep condolences and best wishes. I hope they will
have received them from the friends they left in the Island. Everybody was
grieving for the little blond boy, the youngest Banka captain in Malapascua,
a lovely little guy, full of joy. We wish his parents all the strength and
courage to overcome this terrible loss. And I hope they will be able to come
back to Malapascua and be happy again very soon surrounded by the many
friends there that love and care for them. We went to Monad Shoal most days. I had never seen such clear
water in the site. We saw thresher sharks every day we dove there save one, and this despite the increasing number of divers on
the site. The cleaning stations with the best chances of sightings are today
in the north part of the Shoal, quite a bit deeper than the old ones, at
about 30 – 28 m. Sea Explorers found them and placed anchored lines for
divers to position themselves and hold on to, but all dive shops go there.
There is room for a good amount of divers, since the lines are quite long.
Still, you often see groups placed outside the stations and people sitting on
corals. The ½ hour interval that had been agreed between dive shops to dive
Monad is, apparently, no longer applied. I think this is now a bit too deep a
dive for novice divers, but we saw them there often, holding to their DM
hands and kicking sand up, spoiling the visibility for a while till the silt
settled. And yet, each of those dives was exceptionally good, with up to
three sharks making the rounds at the same time on several occasions. I did a
lot of video there with my GoPro H2 and got really
nice footage despite the early hours and the depth (read on for links to
videos). One day, Paul and I went with Martin (our friend and Divemaster) to Monad for two dives before lunchtime. We
were the only divers on the site and although it was too late for thresher
sightings, we wanted to go deeper and see the walls and the old stations.
Diving there with just two other people was really magic. We saw plenty reef sharks
and discovered deep walls covered in sea fans and bursting with life of all
sorts. This is a side of Monad that one does not get a lot of chances to see.
Being a regular visitor really pays sometimes! As to the other dive sites, I have to say there are good things
and less good things. One thing I don’t like is the way that the dusk dive in
Lighthouse is conducted today. They have formed a pile of coral rubble to set
the scene for the Mandarin fish mating. There is only room for about six
divers around the tiny pile, and although there are lots of Mandarins there
(they seem attracted to the rubble pile) they get to be flashed from all
sides, so they tend not to mate, actually, And if they do, there is no way of
getting a picture of them without another photographer in the frame. Before,
groups of two or three divers would scatter along the staghorn coral bommies and everyone would get a chance to see and shoot
the mating unobstructed. Now everybody is bunched up in much too small a
space. It feels crowded and invasive. But I got there what is possibly my
favourite photograph of the trip: two pastel nudis
hugging cutely. On the good news front, Deep Rock continues to be a cracking
site, even if the current there was pretty strong most dives (but we did not
mind, on the contrary), Evo Reef is just a flat sea
prairie, but full of small stuff to see. Gato’s
soft corals were extraordinarily beautiful, and the whitetip
reef sharks are still there in high numbers. The day trips to Calangaman were also fantastic, and we got to dive the
Dona Marilyn wreck for the first time, courtesy of really flat seas which
made the long crossing a nice ride. This trip is a two-tank, with the second
dive in Gato Island, but they still keep full day Gato outings. One day, we stayed there for a night dive
and it was really an outstanding night dive indeed. The entire group were
telling afterwards the Sea Explorers crew to offer night dives on Gato regularly, and I think it is really worth it,
especially since Lighthouse is so crowded and chaotic now. In sum, Malapascua still rules! You always hope that the
conditions will be good during the week of holidays you have to spend in
whichever destination you go to. You want calm seas, warm and clear water,
sunny days to enjoy topside, relax, easy and beautiful diving. I had the
chance of enjoying this every single day of the whole month spent in
Malapascua. For once, luck was on our side all the way. I think it will
always bring a smile to my face when I will remember this. I might not be so
lucky in the future again, but I had a real deal this time. If you want to
have a look at happy faces and views of the Island life, see the topside
stills gallery here. And now, to video. Click here to see the one I edited for Carmen (with my iPad, on a dry day)
and here for the Thresher Sharks movie. We are still working on a more
varied video with images of other marine life, so come back soon to check! In closing, I need to thank all the friends in Sea Explorers
Malapascua, especially my dear friend Martin Pascobello,
and Soren and all the staff of Ocean Vida, for the vacation of a lifetime! |
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