Get in! Follow along and you will find stories, pictures and all kind of treasures hidden around Exotic. Malapascua Island has plenty to offer both above and below the water!
For months now the Blog has been dropping hint after hint to try and blag a visit to Exotic's new resort on Kerikite island. This week all the hard work paid off with the offer of an almost all expenses paid trip. An offer too good to refuse!
Exotic beach, Kerikite
Here is a shot of the scene as we arrived at Exotics private beach which fronts this idyllic location. Sensational. The faces of all the assembled journalists and photographers on board were of pure amazement and wonderment. And no wonder they're only human after all.
Exotic 2 parked above House Reef
As soon as we arrived the Blog set about making a detailed inspection of the newly completed bar and restaurant area as food and drink is never far from mind. Christopher, one of the resorts resident chefs was hard at work preparing lunch so the Blog admired the view from the restaurant into the bay which featured our ride over from Malapascu, Exotic 2. It's hard to put into words just how beautiful Kerikite island and its surroundings are. Keen for an even better view the Blog headed off to check out the accommodation.
OMG. Firstly, the sheer quality of the premium rooms was something quite special. Beautifully finished with such attention to detail and who doesn't want a four poster bed?! No expense would appear to have been spared here.
It's a four poster bed
Then a swagger out onto the balcony was met with yet another view of jaw dropping quality.
Jungle hideout
After sizing up the four poster bed the Blog was ushered out and down toward a row of newly erected wooden bungalows, one of which would become a comfortable home for the next couple of nights. One of the many striking aspects of this resort and island is the lushness of the surrounding greenery.
Sunset on Kerikite island
So, the facilities were of high quality to say the least. The Blog sat on it's balcony to watch the sun go down, ice cold beer in hand, to contemplate the following day of diving. Oh, did I mention Kerikite is also host to some of the finest scuba diving in the Philippines? We'll look into that during part 2 of our exclusive.
This week there has been lots of different things going on at Exotic, much more are still in the
planning, which I can assure you that you will find out about soon enough. At the moment we are now in what people like to call "low season" or in other names" lean/green/rain season" - Sure we had a quick rain shower the other day, but that was pretty much it, weather has been great, plus we also have great visibility and lots of shark
sightings....
For us "low season" is a great time to catch up on all our projects and ideas. Right now all our dive
shop staff are getting a first aid and oxygen refresher course. It is lots of fun and
everybody gets to have a go at Annie ( the CPR doll) with both CPR, rescue breathing and providing
oxygen. Our PADI instructor Rey, together with our PADI Course Director Becca Johansson are in charge of the training and performance requirements for the guys. For keeping the correct pace for the chest compressions they are all practicing to the tune "Staying Alive" by Bee Gees plus we also have time for
some scenario practice. Keep checking in for more Low season fun!
Rey teaching how to use a pocket mask.
.....This might actually be the best time to travel to Malapascua.... Why you ask? Just consider this; there are less divers here during low season which means plenty of space on the boats and dive sites. You will also find better deals on dives and enjoy a nice afternoon on a quiet beach. Not saying that it's not nice when its busy but if you are the kind of traveler who likes to avoid the crowds this is the time to come and see us and enjoy a nice diving or snorkeling holiday in the sun. We can never guarantee that it wont rain of course, but this has never really bothered us as we all get wet during dives anyway.
Our Diveshop secretary Judith setting up the Oxygen system
Some photos from our last training sessions. Judith is busy setting up the Oxygen Kit to aid a diver.
PADI Divemaster Ervin providing oxygen to Feman.
And we almost
forgot! - Nudi branch of the week is back again!
This week the winner is a Chromodoris Coi. The picture below was taken at Chocolate island, a dive site located 30 min away from Malapascua and was recently one of our guests said that Chocolate Island is much better for Nudibranchs spotting than Lembe in Indonesia!
If you want to enter a picture to our Blog Nudibranch Wall of Fame, please email your picture to diving@malapascua.net, together with name, date, and dive site name.
After leading last time with a feature on Hammerheads and picturing a Whale shark, the Blog was quite simply slaughtered from all quarters. So to make things right and rectify this editorial catastrophe we open with a picture of Hammerheads! Diving in the Philippines is so diverse and Malapascua diving is just the epitome of this.
Not only is it Hammerhead season but it's also time for Malapascua's annual basketball tournament. Every year Exotic enters two teams and here we see the resorts junior under 21 side, in green, going down to a hard fought extra time defeat. It was a highly competitive game and despite the loss we're confident the lads can progress to the later stages. The senior side would appear to have less ambition of glory judging by the amount of training time being spent in the bar as opposed to the gym. The Blog concludes that it's the taking part that counts!
And finally, we finish with very rare video footage. No, it's not a recording of the Blog getting a round of drinks in but a recording from Malapascus's most famous diving location, Monad Shoal. Last week Exotic received a visit from a representative from one of our much valued agents, Ultimate Diving. Hats off to Mr. David Churchman for recording this magical moment a Thresher Shark decided to leap from the water above Exotic's very own cleaning station. Occasionally seen leaping by our guests who are not yet in the water, we know of no other instance where this phenomenon has been recorded from under the water. You can't top this so until next week....
When asked to assist on a PADI Rescue course a few days ago, the Blog was as usual overcome by excitement. After turning up and being confronted by people standing on wash basins waving their arms around, the Blog was slightly scared and confused. However, there was no need to be. It was just Master Instructor Joa Lofstrom conducting dry practice of rescue excersise 2, diver falling into a wash basin from height..... only joking, the panicked diver exercise which would later be acted out in the water.
Rescue breathing
Later in the day saw our two budding Rescue divers, Patrick and Manfred practising their mouth to mouth rescue breathing skills. Assistants, Kathy and Scott played their unresponsive diver roles admirably as the lads repeated this complex skill until it was virtually perfect. The PADI Rescue diver course is a fun and challenging couple of days and doing it somewhere as perfect as the Philippines and Malapascua certainly adds to the experience.
It's all innocent
Malapascua can at times have a romantic feel about it but don't be fooled, it's not what it look like! This was only Patrick practising the removal of an unresponive diver from the water and onto the boat. Again please note Kathy's sublime acting as she manages to keep a straight face throughout despite much provocation.
Baywatch
At the beginning, this Blog was intended to be about Patrick and Manfred visiting Malapascu to undertake their PADI Rescue course. But it seems to have turned into the Kathy show. Anyway, move over Hasselhof, here's Manfred practising the fireman's carry using Oscar nominated you know who. In truth, she'd been dropped and knocked about so much by this point I'm not sure if she was acting or not. The bottom line is, come to Exotic and do your PADI Rescue course.
Stop the press! It's that Hammerhead time of year again and despite there being many sightings over the last couple of weeks the Blog has decided to feature this picture which was taken by one of our guests, Dirk. After being treated to several encounters with Hammerheads at Kemod Shoal, this giant cruised by while they were doing their safety stop. Diving Malapascua is the gift that keeps on giving and make no mistake about that.
one, two, three, four.....
Our Divemasters at Exotic are second to none in all respects ranging from their ability to find the cool stuff that people want to see, through to their attention to all things safety related. So periodically they attend days where they review their First Aid skills. The Blog poked it's nose into an Emergency First Response refresher session being held with two of our
no words needed
Divemasters Ted and JR. Above we see Ted perfecting his CPR skills while to the right we see what happens if you place two grown men in a classroom with a box of bandages! It's important to make things fun and keeping Ted quiet for a few minutes was an added bonus.
And finally, Nudibranch of the week comes roaring back to the Blog this week and with some style too. Picking up the trophy this week is Dutch rescue diver Melissa. Both she and her mother, Gerda, successfully completed the rescue course at Exotic last week and here they are all smiles after twisting the Blogs arm behind it's back to make this post. :) A well deserved appearance.
I think we’d all agree there aren’t many things to beat
watching someone distracted by their phone walking into a palm tree. However,
the beginning of a new PADI Instructor Development Course at Exotic last week did just that.
Yes the March IDC is in full flow so the Blog is proud to
introduce in no particular order…….. Scott, Cathy and Neil. These guys met
while training to be Divemasters in Mexico. After turning up at Exotic far
later than planned on their arrival day the Blog was mightily amused to learn
they’d left the wrong port and ended up at the wrong island before heading back
to the Cebu mainland to do it properly.Since then things have been progressing far more smoothly and the Blog was delighted to be granted exclusive access to the course for a few days.
We mentioned earlier how our trio got slightly lost enroute to Malapascua so the Blog couldn't hold back a smile as the candidates learned how to teach compass use first on dry land and then under the water. Nobody got lost which was a result.
But what made them choose Exotic and Malapascua for their IDC? Apparently, Malapascua because of the world class diving and Exotic because of the longer than average course and all the extras, such as free accomodation which we include.
The Blog is always curious as to where people are from and what people did for work before they chose to became dive instructors. Well Scott is from Australia and used to lay wooden floors for a living. Cathy was into internet marketing back in her native Austria and Neil was a driving instructor in England.
Playing with lift bags is always fun although here for the first time the candidates were learning to teach how to use one safely. But still fun!! And how clear is that water....
Anyway, it was great to join them on their PADI IDC and share in some of the action. The Instructor Examination is next week so the Blog will be back with an update on how they all got on......
There's no doubt that diving Philippines is an amazing experience and no visit is complete without diving the idyllic island of Malapascua. This week we begin a series of features designed to showcase some of the very best of Malapascua diving as well as introduce some of our PADI Divemasters here at Exotic Resort. Every few weeks the Blog will dedicate itself to this project and this week we begin with Monad Shoal which has to be Malapascua's most famous spot for diving and is home to our famous Thresher sharks.
Wilmar delivers the briefing with his eyes shut. Pro.
It's early in the morning, 0430 in fact as The Blog sets its bleary eyes on our Divemaster Wilmar, who pours me a well needed complimentary cup of coffee and places it in my feeble hands. Wilmar started his career at Exotic as a member of boat crew before progressing to captain and then three years ago he became a Divemaster. As a life long Malapascuan and father of only two he considers himself lucky considering so many of the islands people have more than enough children to field their own football team. Anyway, his cheery face is a welcome at this hour as he introduces me to my French buddies, Pierre and Monique before delivering our dive briefing. Apparently, it will take only thirty minutes to reach Monad Shoal on our boat which is Exotic 2. Our max depth will be twenty three metres as that is where the cleaning stations are located and our dive will last around fourty minutes. Sounds good to me.
Charge!
Dolter secures the buoy line
After reaching Monad we wait a few minutes for the light to pick up before entering the water in an orderly fashion. We descend down Exotics very own buoy line to about thirteen metres
No-one loves me
from where we follow Wilmar down a gradual slope until we reach a rope which stretches between two concrete blocks at twenty three metres. This is the point of no return and prevents divers from trespassing onto the protected cleaning station which is located just beyond. I instantly notice a lovely nudibranch but my buddy doesn't share my enthusiasm so I don't even bother pointing out the beautiful leaf scorpion fish also close by. Pierre is after shark action as we all are.
A close encounter
Meanwhile, Wilmar stares into the distance like a sentry on duty. He points beyond the rope and after a second I notice something approaching. Sure enough it's a thresher sh-sh-sh-shark!!! OMG! Apparently, as Wilmar told me earlier, the sharks normally live at great depth and have sensitive eyes which are able to tolerate the early morning sunlight only. The fish which pick parasites from the sharks skin
wake up at this time providing a small and early window of opportunity for both to interact. After a few minutes the shark moves on so Wilmar decides to move us across to a different part of the site.
Then it all kicks off! Truly amazing. Not one but two sharks circle in front of us as well as a small eagle ray. It's quite a mesmerising sight watching these graceful creatures up close and a privilege that they appear totally unbothered by our presence and are prepared to share their space with us. Here's my video! Understandably, there's no shortage of smiles on the trip back to Exotic. Quite simply an amazing start to the day and it's easy to see how diving Malapascua has become such a fixture on the diving circuit. Upon our return, the breakfast buffet just tops it all off and it's still only 8am!!
Yes the March IDC is in full flow so the Blog is proud to
introduce in no particular order…….. Scott, Cathy and Neil. These guys met
while training to be Divemasters in Mexico. After turning up at Exotic far
later than planned on their arrival day the Blog was mightily amused to learn
they’d left the wrong port and ended up at the wrong island before heading back
to the Cebu mainland to do it properly.Since then things have been progressing far more smoothly and the Blog was delighted to be granted exclusive access to the course for a few days.
We mentioned earlier how our trio got slightly lost enroute to Malapascua so the Blog couldn't hold back a smile as the candidates learned how to teach compass use first on dry land and then under the water. Nobody got lost which was a result.
