Thresher Shark Day!
5 am sunrise.
First a little bit about THRESHER SHARKS.
They are named after its scythe-shaped tail, which is about half the length of its body. Thresher sharks' tails allow them to stun their prey before feeding on them.
The Kimud Shoal dive site is one of Malapascua’s spots for frequent Thresher shark sightings. It is a sunken island, the top is around 12 meters deep, the sides dropping off to depths of 200 meters.
Thresher sharks are more active in the early morning when they come to this coastal seamount, which is about an hour boat ride from Malapascua to be cleaned by cleaner wrasses, fish that feed on the parasites on the sharks. They call this a cleaning station, I think it's like a daily spa routine. Because this is a morning routine we have to wake up at 4 am and head out on the boat at 5 am so we can get two early morning dives in.
There are two larger groups of divers in our boat, plus me Norm and Ellie a lovely young lady from Switzerland as a small third group.
We descend to around 65 feet and the ocean bottom is again full of vibrant sea life. We move at a slow pace along the shoal's edge. There are other divers from other boats already there, but it doesn't seem too busy.
After a short time, our dive master gets my attention and gives the signal for shark (Holding his palm upright over his head like a shark's fin), and points out over the deep water.
There it is, a small black dot coming our way. It continues to increase in size and changes from black to dark grey to light grey as it comes closer. It turns sideways and there it is, the profile of a Thresher Shark. So cool. It lingers for a bit and then it's no longer in sight.
We carry on, excited to have seen our first Shark. We continue along the edge with a beautiful reef system to my left side, and then nothing but deep dark water below and to my right. Our maximum depth is around 74 feet as I switch between looking at all the cool little things on the ocean floor and looking out for sharks.
Soon we see another one coming in for a cleaning. It keeps circling getting closer with each passing. This one is even closer and I can see it's big, very round black eyes.
Time has passed quickly. The deeper you go, the less time you can spend underwater. Our dive was 42 minutes long with two sightings.
We have coffee and snacks on board the boat before our second dive. This time as we begin our descent there is already a shark right below us. As I descended, I watched it and the now many other divers. There are quite a few divers here now, and we see a couple more sharks, but they keep their distance.
I believe our dive master has confidence in our abilities from our first dive and leads the three of us away from the crowd. Am I glad he did.
Thresher sharks are curious but they don't like the feel of bubbles and will leave if they do feel them. We were told that if a shark swims over you hold your breath so you don't make bubbles and scare them away. Which is contradictory to a cardinal rule of scuba diving, don't hold your breath.
Away from the crowd, a shark starts to approach in our direction. Only this time it's amazing. This shark comes so much closer that it shimmers. It's not a dull grey it's beautiful shiny and silver, with the most amazing big round black eyes that look like they are piercing right through as the shark looks curiously at you. I never thought I would use the words stunning and shark in the same sentence, but thresher sharks are stunning!
The next thing I know there is a second shark who has come in for a closer look. They swim around a bit and then one comes right towards me. We are advised to stay below them, so I stay close to the bottom, careful not to hit the fragile ecosystem below me.
As I see the shark coming I don't want to scare it away, I want to see it up close, so I slow down my breathing to reduce my bubbles. I can't believe it but it continues towards me. As it gracefully swims over me I tip my head back and lay back to watch it pass over, while holding my breath and loving every second of this experience.
It lingers for a bit and then carries on.
I feel giddy. This dive was beyond my expectations. The only problem with it was that the battery on the GoPro I rented died a while ago,l.🫣
Back on the boat, some people were disappointed by only seeing a couple of sharks, and not up close, reinforcing how lucky the three of us were to have had a fantastic dive master who offered us an amazing experience.
