2009 has been a fantastic diving year so far in Malapascua. As well as plenty of thresher sharks and manta rays we have seen some other amazing things:
• A pod of pilot whales with babies swimming past Calangaman Island
• Hammerheads at Kimud Shoal sometimes coming close
• Oceanic Whitetip spotted at Kimud
• Whale Shark 300 meters offshore at Lighthouse in only 10 meters of water
• Ornate ghost pipefish everywhere
• Bombs and bones uncovered on the WWII Tapilon Wreck
We have started diving several new sites and discovered several more with further exploration to come:
• Bugtong Bato, an underwater mound close to Malapascua with beautiful corals, frogfish, pygmy seahorses, harlequin shrimp and a school of 50 batfish
• Deep rock with its frogfish and pygmies
• Overhanging Gardens – soft corals, an array of marine life, rock formations, swim throughs and lots to see, similar to Gato
• Special Branch – another great muck dive with several new species nudibranchs, some of them up to 20 cm long

About Andrea Agarwal

Andrea Agarwal is a PADI Master Instructor and the founder of Thresher Shark Divers on Malapascua Island, Philippines. Originally from the UK, she moved to the Philippines in 2003 and built what is now one of the largest and most respected dive operations in the country. TSD is a PADI 5-Star Career Development Center (CDC) and the only PADI TecRec facility on Malapascua. Andrea has spent over 20 years diving Malapascua's waters and has been instrumental in developing its reputation as the world's best destination for daily thresher shark encounters.