Philippines malapascua thresher shark divemaster trip note brochure xtreme gap year

XTREME GAP YEAR A WORLD OF ADRENALINE TRAVEL

THRESHER SHARK DIVEMASTER & LEARN TO DIVE IN MALAPSCUA

www.xtremegapyear.co.uk

E: info@xtreme-gap.com

T:+44(0)203 286 7065

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A WORLD OF ADRENALINE TRAVEL

WELCOME TO MALAPASCUA

Whether you want to learn to dive get your basic open water or advanced PADI licenses, or go full-blown Divemaster then the Philippines is a great option tto do this.

At our base on Malapascua you can stay on a paradise island Crystal clear seas, while you study to gain an internationally recognised diving qualification.

There is plenty on offer on this beautiful island, apart from the white sandy beaches and friendly locals, it is actually the world’s best place to encounter the elusive thresher shark.

WHY XTREME GAP

We want to show you the best time possible! How can we make sure you have a good time? We have been on the trips, have sourced them ourselves and we are very proud to say we loved them and we are happy that we can give you the same experience.

Xtreme Gap was founded in 2008 by Oliver Bray and Debby Neeskens, two people with a enormous passion for travelling. Why start a travel company? Well we are so passionate about travelling that we want to show others what is out there and challenging them to travel too. Whether it is for 1 week, 12 weeks or a full year.

We strongly believe travelling opens your eyes, makes you feel proud and teaches you things you would never learn in a job or at school. Read more about Xtreme Gap and the people behind the company & research trips on our blog on the links below: Oliver and Debby and the Xtreme Gap Team

Did you know according to an independent survey of our previous customers 97.5% would recommend travelling with Xtreme Gap Year to a friend.

GETTING THERE

Get into the island requires a bit of travel and expense but it is definitely worth it. From Manila you need to take a flight to Cebu . From there there is a pickup service (this is a local payment of â‚Ź100 approximately each way) which will take you across the island for three hours in a private vehicle, to meet up with a boat which will then take you out to the island.

www.xtremegapyear.co.uk

E: info@xtreme-gap.com

T:+44(0)203 286 7065

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PICK UP The payment for the Transfers is about â‚Ź200 (return) and needs to be paid locally to the resort on arrival at malapascua. This can be done with a credit card. See more about the transfer options here. You can also make your own way to the island on public transport although this is quite a journey can take up to 8 hours. We recommend going with the private transfer option.

Pick up from a hotel: Our driver will pick you up from the hostel you are staying on the morning (if your flight arrives in the afternoon you will need to book a hotel in Cebu overnight). However if you arrive in the morning you can do the transfer direct.

Transfer time is about 3 hours on average by car and 30 minutes by boat. Expect total transfer to take around 4 hours. The transfers booked are direct transfers. If you stop on the way for anything other than toilet stops (shopping, going into Cebu City etc), you will be charged an additional P500 per hour or part thereof.

Please bring small change in dollars or pesos. If you need porters to carry luggage you will need to pay 20 pesos per bag. If it is low tide at the pier, you may need to pay a small fee for a small shuttle boat to take you from the pier to your main boat for transfer to Malapascua.

We have tried to address this problem and include it in the transfer price, but it is not possible. Current price is 20 pesos per person or per piece of luggage.

Prices may vary depending on time of day. Please ask your driver for advice on charges if you are unsure.

See here the transfer video by Debby ->

PADI OPEN WATER

The PADI open wรกter course is the entry-level, first step into the world of Diving.

It gives you everything you need in order to strap on a wetsuit scuba gear and go Diving with a buddy.

Although it limits you to a maximum depth of 18 m it is a comprehensive tried and tested qualification that teaches you how to scuba dive.

You can expect two half days learning in the pool or in shallow depths of the sea when you get to learn

about how to use the gear and the safety aspects.

This theory training is then put into practice with four dives in the ocean.

ADVANCED OPEN WATER The advanced open water course is about furthering knowledge, and building upon what you have learnt during the open water course.

You will do different speciality dives which trains you in further aspects of diving. A couple of these guys are mandatory such as navigation.

We recommend peak performance buoyancy as well but there are plenty of advanced open water options to choose from what you’re doing fun dives. Classroom time in theory is much less on this course that the open water course, as you do most of your training in the ocean during your five dives.

YOUR ACCOMMODATION

ACCOMMODATION Built in 2010 with our Divemaster interns and IDC candidates in mind, these rooms are simply furnished with a shared bathroom. We think they give our GoPro guests the best of both worlds – quality, on-site accommodation with a great-value price tag. The rooms are only a two minute walk to our dive shop, classrooms and beach.

MEALS The resort’s Sea View bar and restaurant serves fruit shakes, draft beer, and exotic special cocktails. The international restaurant has an extensive range of dishes from salads to sandwiches, from Filipino to international cuisines. The breakfast menu, which is popular among guests, serves homemade pancakes and freshly-baked croissants. It also has a coffee corner, which offers freshly brewed coffee acclaimed to be the best in the island. During the peak season, the resort serves weekly buffets.

Please no meals are not included

ABOUT THE DIVE SCHOOL

Founded in 1997, our partners Island Dive Resort is the island’s first dive shop and its only complete dive resort. It is also the only resort with a five star distinction from the National Geographic Instructor Development Center (IDC).

Your programme‌ Rescue course On the PADI Rescue diver course, you are trained how to look out for the danger singes of distressed divers.

The rescue diver course also teaches you how to rescue distressed divers, search for missing divers using specific search patterns. Should the worst situation become a reality, on the rescue diver course, you are taught how to safely recover an unconscious diver from the sea bed, and administer first aid both in and out of the water, this includes giving mouth to mouth resuscitation in the water. The rescue diver course is a pre requisite for the Padi Divemaster course.

Divemaster internship You will be assisting a qualified Divemaster and or Instructor on guiding dives. Everyday you will be diving (if you wish) and learn more about the dive sites, different fish and diving skills. There are usually different departure times for dives daily. There is also the occasional night dive as well.

The morning diving is very early, usually a double dive leaving at 5am, this is necessary in order to catch the Threshers as they come up to the cleaning station in the early morning.

You can choose to dive as little or as much as you like, just bear in mind you will need to complete a minimum number to pass your Divemaster course as set out in the PADI Divemaster qualification requirements.

How Many dives can I make?

As many as you can! Our view is that to become a dive professional you need the necessary confidence, knowledge, skills and experience which can only be obtained by DIVING! As part of your internship you will work alongside our Instructors and dive staff to assist with training divers, guiding certified divers and so on. The more you dive, the better value your course, as all your dives are included in the price!

Rental dive equipment is included for the duration of your internship but does not include the use of a computer, which we recommend you invest in.

Medical You will need to have a current medical certificate completed by a doctor to confirm that you are fit to dive. As there is no resident doctor on the island I would recommend that you obtain this before you come. We can send you the appropriate form in your chosen language for you and your doctor to complete. It must be completed no more than 12 months prior to the end of your Divemaster internship .

Also check with your doctor what vaccinations you need. .There's no diseases here or anything like that but for injusries some shots can be helpfull. Be bring a small first Aid kit and sun screen with high factor with you.

There's a lot of basic things you can buy on the island, but bring you own medication if needed.

SOME DIVE SITES

You have a great variety of dive destinations to choose from. From the big thresher sharks and mantas, to the small stuff like pygmy seahorses and nudibrachs, from the impressive wall dives of Calanggaman to the gentle slopes of Bugtong Bato, everyone will have their own favourite site.

Below a discription of some of the divesites MONAD SHOAL. - Distance 45 minutes; minimum certification level – advanced The top of the shoal ranges from 20 meters to 27 meters, with a sheer drop-off down to 45 meters, and a second drop-off exceeding recreational dive depths. There is a good opportunity to see the famous thresher sharks year round at this site. Thresher sharks are regular visitors at the cleaning stations found on top of the reef. Depending on the season you may also encounter giant manta rays and smaller devil rays. The ideal depth to encounter life is between 22 meters to 27 meters, making Monad Shoal a perfect site for enriched air dives.

LIGHTHOUSE REEF. - Distance 15minutes; minimum certification – open water The perfect sunset dive, this site is almost a sure bet to see the colorful Mandarin Fish perform their mating dance. The most prolific time of the month is around the full moon, but the activity can been seen virtually every night. Blue Ringed Octopus and sea horses of every size can be found on the surrounding reef. Situated directly across from the island’s lighthouse this sloping coral garden is a perfect shallow dive to end the day.

ORTH ROCK. - Distance 20minutes; minimum certification – advanced Situated off the northern tip of Malapascua this dive site offers a little of everything. Subject to strong currents a luscious soft coral garden thrives here, creating an ideal home for an array of different marine life. A small coral encrusted wall starts at 16 meters and drops down to 24 meters creating shelter for many varieties of nudibranchs, flatworms and lionfish. A great dive for the budding photographer.

NUNEZ SHOAL. - Distance 1½ to 2 hours – minimum certification – advanced

Situated adjacent to Calanggaman Island, this wall dive offers a little bit of everything. Hard corals and barrel sponges cover the gently sloping top of the reef creating an ideal environment for sea stars, frogfish, nudibranches and reef fish to hide within. The walls drop down to a plateau in 40mts, with a further drop to well below recreational limits.

These are just a few of our dive sites. There are many more offering a wide variety of macro life, stunning walls, soft corals, giant sea fans, table corals and large pelagics.

Our dive shop staff will help you choose the dive sites that best suit your skills

www.xtremegapyear.co.uk

E: info@xtreme-gap.com

T:+44(0)203 286 7065

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ABOUT MALAPASCUA

Malapascau dining. Malapascua has some excellent restaurants. Many are Western owned and run and they have set a high standard for the island. The food is of excellent quality, and is generally a mix of Filipino and European dishes. German, English and Italian cuisines rank high in the ratings. There are also some excellent curries and even Mexican food! And if you are a meat or fish lover, the Philippines is really the place for you.

There are also cheaper options for meals, There are some locally run restaurants that offer great value for money.

Also it is great fun walking over the island! In just a few minutes you walk to the other side of the island and you can see how the locals live just walking a few minutes from the resort inland. The people are super friendly and everyone speaks English in the Philippines, so it is easy to communicate.

To get an idea of what you will come across walking on this beautiful and friendly island have a look on the next pages.

The Weather in Malapascua. We are very fortunate with the weather on Malapascua. The Philippines has two seasons: "rainy season" (July-November) and "dry season" (December to June). Luckily, this doesn't mean that it always rains in rainy season - in fact we can go for months in rainy season with very little rain. As Malapascua is away from the mountains, we experience much less rainfall that Cebu City. We are rarely affected by typhoons, which tend to pass near to Luzon in the north of the Philippines.

Diving and the weather. We lose very few days diving out of every year. There is almost always a protected area on the island that we can dive. It is very difficult for us to say how the weather will be at a certain time of year and of course the weather is hard to predict far in advance. The few storms we have are spread out fairly evenly through rainy season with a few more in November and December. This can change from year to year.

Internet access. We have wi�fi at the dive shop, it is the fastest connection on the island.

We like to keep you busy on your time on Malapascua, so we regularly have regularly scheduled events.

Spending Money. There is not much to spend your money on, so you will need very little for living expenses.

Food and drink is the main expense. Malapascua is very small, and everything is within walking distance.

It is possible to cut down considerably on the costs of meals by once or twice a day getting food from the nearby village and eating things like noodles which are cheap and easy to make - hot water is always available.

ABOUT MALAPASCUA

ABOUT MALAPASCUA

Malapascua is a basic island with no mainland electric, water or telephone lines. We consider ourselves lucky to have so far avoided the large corporate investors offering everything. . Recently we have acquired reliable 24 hour island electric which most resorts subscribe to. The island can be noisy at night with cockerels and karaoke.

Bring earplugs if this might be a problem.

Local events on Malapascua Fiestas:. There are many fiestas throughout the year with beauty pageants, discos, booths, food and drink.

Westerners are always welcome.

Basketball is the national obsession and games are played at courts all over the island. You may even be here at the right time to cheer on the Thresher Shark Divers team.

Cockfighting comes second after basketball, and you will see the proud birds (and prouder owners) all over the island. For the less squeamish among you, you can find a fight most Sundays. You will be welcome to watch, especially if you want to place a bet!

As for sightseeing, the island is so small, the main attractions are the beaches, the snorkeling and the diving.

Many people enjoy walking around the island to see the local villages, and the local children will clamor for you to take their photos. There is a lighthouse open to the public, and the cemetery is worth a visit. It has a certain interest, despite the skulls and bones that can sometimes be seen!

What to bring BRING YOUR DIVING CERTIFICATION CARDS!!!

You will be allowed to dive within the limits of your certification and/or proven experience. You may be required to do a check out dive as your first dive. This is at the discretion of the dive shop manager and for your own safety and that of your buddies.

Toiletries. Many basic personal items like toiletries and mosquito repellent are available on the island or in the city and are probably much cheaper here. Women should bring sanitary items.

Clothing - again, don't bring too much. You will need swimsuits, flip flops, a few t-shirts and shorts. It is very informal here, so don't feel you need to bring evening clothes unless you want to.

Electronics - you may want a laptop etc for personal use. The electric supply is 220V, with US style 2 pin plugs.

Communications- As Malapascua is a small undeveloped island, communications are not always easy, and not necessarily cheap, but it is getting better month by month. SIM cards are easily available and very cheap. Inexpensive cell phones are P2,000.

Internet: We wifi access if you have your own laptop or mobile device. You can also connect directly through enabled phones using a local SIM card.

THRESHER SHARKS

Malapascua is the only place in the world where you can dive with the magnificent thresher sharks every day, so come and see these amazing creatures in action! Thresher

shark Video

About Thresher Sharks

The thresher shark, or Alopias pelagicus is a type of mackerel shark or Lamniformes. In German it is known as Der Gemeine Fuchshai, or fox shark. The threshers grow up to a length of 5-6 meters, about half of which is the huge scythe-like tail for which it is named.

Thresher sharks normally live in deep water and are nocturnal (night creatures), so are not often seen by divers. Although they are seen occasionally in other locations around the world, we know of nowhere else they can be seen so regularly. They have very small, sharp teeth and very big eyes to see in the dark. They eat squid and schooling fish such as herring and mackerel and it is thought that they use their tails to "corral" the fish into denser schools. The tail may also be used to stun the fish. They will sometimes "breach" and can jump completely out of the water. Sadly, like most other shark species, the number of thresher sharks in the world is declining due to over fishing for their fins and meat. Monad Shoal has recently been made a marine park to help protect these creatures.

THRESHER SHARKS

Why are they here? Monad Shoal near Malapascua is a sunken island at 18-24m whose sides drop off to 230m. The thresher sharks live and hunt in this deep water for most of the day, but in the early morning, before it gets too light, they come up to the Shoal, attracted by its cleaning stations. Here they have a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with the small fish called cleaning wrasse which eat dead skin and bacteria from the shark's body, its gills, and even inside its mouth. Because the cleaning benefits these huge animals, the sharks would never think of eating the wrasse as an early morning snack. The cleaning stations are like a carwash for fish!

What time do we dive? The Thresher Shark Divers team has tried to find the best time to dive with thresher sharks by extensive trial and error and a lot of experimentation. Our divemasters and instructors collect daily information on shark sightings and we record these details. So far, we have found that the best time to dive with the sharks is anywhere between sunrise and 9am. During this time period you have a good chance of seeing a shark, but as with most diving there is also an element of luck.

There are all kinds of superstitions as to what will help you see a shark. One of these is that the first boat at the dive site will get the best sightings. We have found this to be false. To minimize diver impact on the site and to maximize every diver's chance of seeing a shark, the Dive Shop Association of Malapascua has recently decided on a protocol for diving with the sharks that will be followed by everyone. Each dive shop has a daily schedule and the time we dive changes each day - either 5.30am, 6am or 6.30am. This means there are less divers on the site at any one time. Since its inception in April 2008 shark sightings have increased dramatically for everyone.

When is the best month? We see thresher sharks year round. It is rare to have a day when no sharks have been sighted at Monad at all although it is not always the case that every dive groups sees them on the same dive. Thresher sightings vary each year, so it hard to predict the best month. Traditionally the best months are July-October and the January-February are not so good, but for the 2007-2008 season this has been reversed. During 2008-2009 there were no seasonal patterns. Sightings since November 2007 have been the best in several years so now is a great time to come.

Diving with Thresher Sharks on Malapascua The sharks are not dangerous to humans and will swim over

the side of the shoal if startled. Threshers like to circle, sometimes in twos and threes, so if we see a shark as it is swimming away, it is likely the shark(s) will soon come back into view. On our dives, we move slowly, and if we see a shark, we stop and wait. If we stay still and make no sudden movements, sometimes the sharks can come so close you could almost touch them. We never swim after the sharks or use camera strobes as this will scare them away.

Sharks are not the only ones to benefit from the cleaning stations. The wrasse also attract other pelagics.

Manta rays and devil rays are often seen. Schools of devil rays have been more prolific this year than ever before. Occasionally, other species of shark will be seen such as hammerhead sharks and whitetip sharks.

January-April is especially good for hammerheads. The shoal is home to a huge diversity of species: it is a great dive by itself - batfish, flutemouths, barracuda, tuna, mantis shrimp, pipefish, scorpionfish, freeswimming lionfish, moorish idols, schooling bannerfish, unicornfish, squid, octopus and various moray eels.

You will often see these fish being cleaned as well and because they stay so still and are so preoccupied it is a great chance to observe them close up.