Philippines Pursuit of Pelagics

Located on the southern tip of the Philippines' island of Luzon, Donsol is an hour flight followed by a two hour road transfer from Manila. Until the bay of Donsol became known as the 'whale shark capital of the world' it was a sleepy coastal village. Whale sharks frequent the bay in numbers from February to May, peak season being March to April when the number of whale sharks in Donsol bay is as high as anywhere in the world. The month of April is dedicated to the ‘big fish’, known locally as 'Butanding'. The Butanding Arribada Festival is held every first week of March in Donsol town. Similar to all other Philippine provinces, the Filipinos are warm and friendly, and willing to help you with just about anything.

Malapascua's beach - a beautiful white sand beach fringed with palm trees and aqua-blue sea. The island is small, quiet and has a very nice beach. About 2km by 0.5km, people enjoy walking around the island to see the local villages in 1-2 hours. There are no cars on the island and most buildings are only one floor high. The main attractions are the beaches, the snorkeling and the diving. There are very few tourists so you can enjoy this amazing country without the crowds.  It really is the undiscovered jewel of South-East Asia.

Malapascua has a great variety of dive sites, reefs and wrecks, amazing coral dives and sandy muck dives, wall dives and more. Because the diving is in different areas and with many different influences there is a great variety of marine life. Today, Malapascua remains a beautiful, sleepy island.

It is the variety the Philippines offers that is so interesting: buried gold, unexplored caves, diving holes, sunken Spanish galleons, dense jungles with rare plants and animals, primeval people, active volcanoes, and uninhabited paradise islands. The bustling capital of Manila contrasts with lonely islands fringed with superb beaches and gardens of coral.  There are towns where you will find a thriving nightlife, but you can also visit mountain tribes who still live according to their own laws and traditions. There are huge rice terraces built eons ago with the most primitive of tools; wide sugarcane fields with subterranean rivers and lakes, or shadowy palm forest groves and dense jungle.

Filipinos are mostly devout Catholics due to the Spanish influence and Muslims are a small minority. The name Malapascua means 'Bad Christmas' in Cebuano. The currency is the peso. There are several places to change money on Malapascua, one licensed money changer, but as there are no banks, they are not guaranteed to have pesos. The rate of exchange in Malapascua is poor and you may have trouble using traveler’s checks and credit cards outside the main cities. There are no ATMs in Malapascua, the nearest ATM is in Bogo, over an hour away. If you are worried about bringing a lot of cash, you can leave it in the safe. Make sure you get there with enough cash for your stay and a little longer for the probable extension. The Philippines uses USA style plugs.