Monad Shoal, also known as Shark Point, has now become a World famous dive site. It is the best place in the world and in the Philippines to see the rare and timid Thresher Sharks! This is actually the place that made diving in Malapascua Island famous, with a sunken coral plateau about 20m deep!
Here you have the chance of spotting Thresher Sharks which use Monad Shoal as a cleaning station. These sharks normally live in deep water but come here early in the morning to the cleaning station. It is important to stay as quiet as possible when diving there as the Thresher Sharks are very shy creatures. Sightings are not guaranteed but if you dive there for a few days, you have quite high chances to encounter them several times!
If there are no Thresher Sharks in sight, you could also keep your eyes out for the the superb Manta Rays gliding around the reef. Or you could always keep your eyes out for Monad Shoal. It is also a great location for Underwater Macro Photography and for critter lovers! Pygmy Seahorses, various species of Nudibranchs, Mantis Shrimps and so much more!
The conditions are generally pretty good with 10m to 15m visibility, however with a maximum depth of 24m and occasionally quite strong currents, Padi Open Water Advanced divers will fully enjoy this wonderful dive!
It takes about 30min by boat to reach Monad Shoal from Malapascua Island. This is a dawn dive around 6am!
You can dive Monad Shoal all year long. Access: from the Shore. See the map of Monad Shoal on the right for the exact location.
Fishes you may spot while diving Monad Shoal
- Batfish
- Cuttlefish
- Lion Fish
- Manta Ray
- Mantis Schrimp
- Moray Eel
- Nudibranch
- Octopus
- Pufferfish
- Pygmy Seahorse
- Scorpion Fish
- Stonefish
- Thresher Shark
Photos
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Yellow Seahorse in Lembeh StraitPhoto by Agnes Tjandranegara
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Blue Nudibranch in Lembeh StraitPhoto by Rich Guest
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Huge Hammerhead Shark patrolling the reef in French PolynesiaPhoto by Yann Hubert
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Flying Ray Manta in Bali!Photo by Jihye Lee
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Lion Fish swimming in crystal clear waterPhoto by Agnes Tjandranegara
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OctopusPhoto by Agnes Tjandranegara
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Yellow Moray EelPhoto by Yann Hubert
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White Black NudibranchPhoto by Jihye Lee
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Purple Yellow NudibranchPhoto by Rich Guest
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Black Orange Nudibranch On Yellow ReefPhoto by Jihye Lee
Diving Reviews for this region
Malapascua Island
The best place on Earth to see the very rare Thresher Shark! Good chances also to spot Manta Rays and world class macro diving. Very Beautiful pristine Island.
5 dives on Monad shoal and sightings of Thhreshers every time. Please dive resectfully, hitting the sea bed with force causes a plum of sediment to rise, invariably this scares the sharks away. Our best dive was to about 31 metres where we had at least a dozen sightings during our 30 minutes bottom time.
did 3 dives and saw thrasher sharks on all three – they even got very close one day