Malapascua Island is situated just north of Cebu Island in the Philippines. It is really tiny but famous for its specific scuba diving opportunities. I managed to spend almost a week in that beautiful place.

What is it like?

Getting to Malapascua is easy from Cebu city. Bus trip 4-5 hours followed by a quick boat ride across to the island. Almost all of the touristic activity is focused on the main beach. Tens of dive shops with restaurants. Walking around the island took me only a couple of hours. Besides the main beach front, there are mostly local small villages and communities. There are many beaches around the island but the best one for is the one on the north side. Not a lot of people, a wide sandbar and nice swimming.

Scuba diving and thresher sharks

Malapascua is famous for its opportunity to see thresher sharks in their natural habitat. The sharks come to eat early morning next to a reef ca 30 m deep. Many divers around the world come to Malapascua just for that exact reason. I decided not to go for that dive though because my last dives for approximately 6 years ago and I was lacking skills/confidence to go that deep. Besides the thresher sharks, there are still many beautiful diving locations. I managed to have three dives in total. First one at Lapu Lapu dive site and two others at Gato Island.

Sunrise & sunset

I really enjoy getting up early for a sunrise. In Malapascua just head to the east coast for that. There is a beach/sandbar almost for the whole east side so it is easy to find a nice place. People usually head to the west to Logon beach for enjoying dinner and a rest after a long day of diving. To get a better feeling of the island check out my video 30 days in Philippines. Malapascua Gallery.