My 2-Day Advanced Adventure Diver Experience With SK Divers Center at Malapascua, Philippines

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“Emmanuel, after your safety stop, slowly slowly go to the surface,” Reuven said, or Ruvi, as they call him. “Other divers take 1 minute per meter after safety stop to reach the surface.”, he added.

I have a sloppy mind, but I got a hold of his reminder about ascending slowly.

This was after he saw me ascend faster than expected to the surface after doing my safety stop.

Months before that moment, I was at the marketplace of dive shops and dive instructors online to look for someone who can take me on my Advanced Open Water (AOW) course. The search was over when I settled down with SK Divers Center on the suggestion of my sister, who also got her AOW with them at Mactan, Cebu. That was over a year ago.

Now, they moved to Philippine’s home of Thresher Sharks- Malapascua.

An island in the northernmost part of Cebu, Malapascua, with only 2.5 kilometers long and a kilometer wide, mostly thrives for its diving industry. A regular sighting of different sharks makes it an attractive diving destination for both recreational and technical divers.

The most famous shark they have are the beautiful thresher sharks.

It would be a better idea to do my AOW in Malapascua and see thresher sharks, isn’t it?

Day 0 – Meet the Dive Instructor

Arriving in Malapascua feels different from it was 19 years ago when I first step foot on the island. There was nothing resembling today to whatever I had recalled in my mind.

If I hadn’t hooked up with scuba diving, I would probably never looked back on this place.

Before, boats (or locally called as “Bangka”) can run aground anywhere onshore to drop passengers and tourists. Now, there is a port that boats can use.

I checked in at Blue Corals Resort and settled down for a bit. I check Google Maps on where I can find SK Divers Center and found that it’s on the other side of the island; somewhere in the lesser populated area.

So, I hired a motorbike for Php50 to take me to the shop.

I arrived and met my would-be dive instructor for my course, Ruvi. The shop was basically a house, and he welcomed me into their living room.

He explains that he’s somewhat new on the island and he’s instructing for quite a while, way back in his early years in Israel.

My Advanced Adventure Diver course, as SDI officially names their AOW, will start tomorrow. Scuba Diving International (SDI) is the partner agency of the SK Divers Center.

For now, it’s paper works and a peek at what I will learn later on.

Ruvi talks about compass and dive computer, some important points before we jump into the water. His phone was close to him, with the Google Translate app open, ready to convert Hebrew to English if he got lost in translation.

Make no mistake, he tries his best to cover whatever’s under the sun. Ruvi will not move on to his next topic until you get to understand what he’s instructing you.

My meet with Ruvi is pretty brief. After signing up and some preview lessons, I walked back to my hotel that took me half an hour stroll and took pictures along the way.

Day 1 – Deep, Navigation and Night Dive

1st Dive – Deep Diver

As Ruvi instructed, our call time will be at 4:30 AM for our first dive. This is also where I’d meet my course mates- Shai and Adam and coming along is Ben.

I met Adam yesterday for a quick moment. Just as I head back, he walked in to inquire about the course. Fortunately, there’s a schedule for it and he came along.

We head out to Kimud at around 4:45 AM. It was still dark when we started our trip.

It took us about an hour to reach Kimud Shoal. You’ll know you’re near when you see the sun rises at the horizon.

You can also hear other boats nearby.

As I look from side to side, other dive boats are heading to Kimud as well.

At the distance, I can see them preparing their gears and so is our divemaster Cholan. There were no spoken instructions. You just know it’s time to gear up.

As we’re nearing the shoal, it felt like a race against other dive boats. As I have learned, seeing a thresher here is like on a hunt.

In our case, we moored on the right buoy at the right time. Right at our jump point, no less than 5 minutes, the thresher was there.

We’re some lucky bunch of divers. When other groups were still looking for it, the shark was just right there on our descent. However, we only have the chance to sight it for half a minute as it senses our presence, then fled off.

Moving on, we continue diving around the shoal and had our second encounter. The shark was swimming around for quite some time. It was enchanting to see this beautiful creature that I thought I was just there for 5 minutes. I look at my dive computer and found out that we’re about 12 minutes at 28-meter depth.

As we had enough with the encounter and before we ran out of air, we slowly ascend and head back to the jump point and do our safety stop.

2nd Dive – Navigation

We head to Monad Shoal, just a few minutes away from Kimud. If my memory serves me right, divemaster Cholan, during our brief, talks about how the shoal is as big as Malapascua itself.

After the dive plan, we’re going to apply what Ruvi taught as at the surface about computer and navigation while still hunting for a thresher shark.

Like Kimud, we also had a stroke of luck as we encounter the thresher shark right away. We only see the thresher once on this dive, and the rest of it was constantly looking at my compass.

After our second dive, we head back to Malapascua. It was already around 12:30 PM.

I return to my hotel to rest. Ruvi told us to be back at the shop at 4:30 PM for our night dive.

3rd Dive – Night Dive

Our 3rd dive is night dive, one of the main requisites to finish the course.

I, Adam and Shai gathered at the shop for our pre-dive class. Ruvi taught us some important lessons and reminders on what to do during a night dive; proper hand signals, torch handling, and special hand signals that you normally don’t use on a day dive.

After settling down from our night dive, Ruvi invited us for a dinner at the newest restaurant on the island, Villa Potenciana.

Day 2 – Computer Dive and Marine Environment

1st Dive – Computer Dive

We started our day at 8:30 AM.

We are doing a boat dive that’s heading to Gato Island.

“Gato” is “cat” in Spanish. It’s called “Isla de Gato” during Spanish occupation as it appears to be a curled cat at a distance.

Today, we’re hoping to see some white- or black-tip shark. Whatever’s the color tip of its fin, it doesn’t matter. To see sharks today is all I want. They often find these sharks underneath huge rocks chilling like a villain.

And then it happened.

Another lucky day today, as we have found 2 juvenile white tip sharks just as I have described above- underneath a rock formation and chilling. They don’t even mind we were there and didn’t flee from their shed either.

After that, we left them and dive around. We saw several creatures of interest- sea snakes, lionfish, and soft corals.

Sea creatures and sharks aside, our dive today is all about computer dive.

This time, we have to learn the bells and whistles of our computers. I had never been so attentive to my dive computer until this dive.

Before, all I know is to stop when my computer displays “stop”. It helps me also to know where my depth is. I’m reliant on my dive guide on what to do next and where to head. I have little understanding further than that. It’s like driving a car but don’t understand what’s a speedometer is. All you know is that you’re driving the car.

But that changed after Ruvi teach me.

Now, I know what those numbers on display are. I also had a better understanding of what a No Deco Limit (NDL) is and how to use a compass.

2nd Dive – Marine Environment

Still anchored here at Gato Island, waiting to have a sufficient surface time interval for our 2nd dive.

To kill some surface interval, Ruvi showed us a small book about the marine environment and later, I realized that it’s part of our course. He talked about why it’s important to be a responsible scuba diver and preserve the conditions of the reefs we’re diving in.

He continues to talk about interesting symbiotic relationships between different sea creatures. It basically means how two creatures can benefit from one another through a friendly relationship. This time, he made a Goby fish and an Alpheid shrimp as an example.

I have realized that humans are a crowd of complicated creatures. One day, you’ll be friends with another person. The next time, you might not be warm with each other anymore.

But not with these sea creatures. They’re wired to help each other. The ecosystem dictates that both can never be arch-nemesis.

Right after some interesting marine environment lessons, we do our 2nd dive.

The plan was to dive into a tunnel in which this island is famous for, but due to rough sea and strong current, divemaster Cholan decided not to push through. It could be an exciting adventure, but safety first.

We do our 2nd dive just around the shoal where we drop anchor, looking around to see interesting sightings and sharks.

Course Complete!

“We’re now Advanced Divers.” Adam said, beaming with a smile, after we settled in on the boat from our 2nd dive today.

I have not realized that. For 5 seconds, it didn’t occur to me I’m already one level higher of a diver than I was before. Not until Adam have said that.

I almost forgot that I was on a course. All I thought was that it’s all… fun! It didn’t feel like a course, a lesson, or a training- it’s more of a fun adventure.

Malapascua is an ideal place to do your Advanced Open Water. You get certified, plus; you get to see the famous Thresher Shark, coveted by divers to see with their own two eyes.

With a plethora of options on where to get certified on the island, I recommend SK Divers Center for your course. The reviews will speak for itself.

With my pressing schedule and appointments, it’s a shame to leave the island immediately, right after the course. I wish I could hang out more with my newfound friends.

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After, Ruvi gave me a hug, like a father to a son, and bid farewell.

Anyway, I left Malapascua knowing I was a better diver than before.

I will return to Malapascua and be diving again at the SK Divers Center, and so should you.