About Revisions Monad Shoal Malapascua, Visayas, Philippines Max Depth: 71-80ft/22-24m Average Viz: 41-50ft/12-15m Entry Type: Boat Bottom Composition: Sand/Rock Aquatic Life: Plenty To See 8/16/2009 9:16 PM

The spot for the famous sharks. Under waterplateau at 24 meters, best is to sit and wait at the edge where it plunges into the deep. The big fish will pass by. Not every dive, but the’re there.

Location: 11°18’37"N; 124°11’27"E (Malapascua Island, Ceb


This is the dive which has put Malapascua Island on the diving map, so to speak. Monad Shoal is a rather uninspiring seamount which rises out of the depths and has a flattish top at around 20 - 24 metres. There is little in the way of coral on the top of the 1.5 km long seamount and it can be swept by strong current. So what’s all the fuss about? Why travel thousands of miles to dive here? Well, in a word, or two if you want to be precise - thresher sharks!! Monad Shoal provides something that to my knowledge is pretty rare indeed - the chance for a recreational diver, with a minimal dive qualification, to dive with a deep water shark species in just 20 metres of water. If I were an underwater seamount I can think of less impressive claims!! The common thresher shark (alopias vulpinus) and pelagic thresher shark (alopias pelagicus) are truly deep water sharks living in depths as deep as 350 metres, so to see them in less than 20 metres of water would certainly seem to be a rarity. It’s not entirely clear why these creatures frequent Monad Shoal and its surrounding area in the Philippines, but I can tell you first hand that they do. The most viable reason I’ve heard since arriving here is that they use the seamount as a cleaning station for wrasse to remove parasites from their skin and clean their gills and mouths. Whatever the reason, they are certainly here.