Malapascua island diving
About us
The pioneers of diving in Malapascua
Thresher Shark Divers was one of the first dive shops to open on Malapascua and our name quickly became synonymous with diving on Malapascua.
Throughout the years, our mission has remained to offer a professional, safe and fun dive experience to all our customers.
We are located on Bounty Beach, Malapascua Island, just off the north tip of Cebu in the Philippines, located near the western end of this picture-perfect white sand beach.
We like to keep things small so that your dive experience is as personalized as possible. You won’t be just one insignificant diver among many. We keep groups as small as we can, usually only 4 per group. In addition, we try to be flexible and will do our best to accommodate the dive sites you want to go to. We can often go diving even if it is just you on the boat.
We are a PADI 5 Star CDC Dive Center, the highest level of PADI dive center, and the only one on Malapascua so you know that we meet the high standards of PADI. We also teach the widest range of courses on the island, all the way up to PADI Instructor level including technical courses up to Trimix Instructor.
Numbers speak for themselves:
Why us?
FUN
You as the customer are the most important thing to us. We do everything to ensure that you will have the best time of your life on your vacation in Malapascua! We believe the diving here is amazing and we want to show you the best of what we have. We know you will have the most fun with us quite simply because everyone here – from the owners to the boat staff – love diving and love our jobs. The staff are always laughing and joking with each other and with you, which always makes the boat a fun place to be.
And the fun doesn’t end with diving. The dive shop is right on the beach, and is a relaxing place to hang out. There is always someone around for a chat, or you can grab a drink and browse through our comprehensive selection of fish ID books and dive magazines. Our bar is a great place for an après-dive beer and has a lively Happy Hour and evening crowd. Oscar’s Restaurant is open all day for meals and snacks.
EXPERIENCE
When diving somewhere as special as Malapascua you need an experienced operator and experienced dive guides. After 15+ years diving Malapascua, you cannot find better, and the TSD team know the Malapascua dive sites inside out. They will ensure you get the most out of each and every dive!
There are, quite simply, no dive shop owners or managers on Malapascua that have spent as much time on the island as Andrea and Dino at TSD. So you know you will be getting the benefit of their vast experience. Our experinced management team of 5 people ensures Thresher Shark Divers caters more for you, for the customer’s benefit, because they can see first-hand what it is you need. They have a love for the underwater world that is obvious to see. What better qualification to be your hosts and your tour guides of what they believe is truly some of the best diving in the world!
boutique diving without the price
When you dive with us, everything is easy. All you do is unpack your equipment on arrival and we will do the rest. We carry it to the boat, set it up (if you wish) and will help you into your scuba unit. Our staff will even put your fins on for you if you want!
After the dive, don’t even think about walking your kit back to the shop, the TSD team will do that all for you. Apart from the obvious safety issues associated with heavy exertion and lifting after diving, we believe that as you are on holiday, you should have the hard work done by someone else.
They will also rinse your kit at the end of the day if you wish.
Quality, professionalism and safety
TSD started in 2004 as a tiny operation with only 4 members of staff. Over the years we have continually outgrown ourselves and we are now one of the largest, most respected dive shops in the Philippines. This is supported by the PADI Awards that we continue to win every year. Our consistent reputation has been built on our high standards of customer service, our professionalism and our dedication to all things diving. But safety has always been our main priority, and our safety record is second to none on Malapascua.
We offer all the benefits of a large established dive center, but with the personal feel of a small shop environment:
- Often a choice of several dive sites in each time slot, not just a one site option, giving you maximum flexibility.
- Choice of day trips and local dives including 3 dives trips starting with the 5am shark dive, so you can be back in time to enjoy the afternoon on the beach — or to do more diving!
- “We can’t go there, we don’t have enough people,” is not something you will hear often with us!
- Usually no more than one of our boats at any one daytime dive site to avoid crowding. Staggered departure times for the shark dive to minimise divers underwater at any one time at our special thresher shark dive site.
- Groups usually limited to around 4-6 divers to keep your experience as personal as possible; boats are rarely filled to capacity to give you plenty of space.
- Extremely experienced DMs, most of whom have several thousand dives on Malapascua alone. We do not use new arrivals, students or uncertified Divemasters at TSD.
Dive Center
In 2015, we completed the extension on our new custom-built premises; a large, spacious facility, with plenty of space in the equipment room, a large rinse area, two air-conditioned classrooms and a retail area.
Located upstairs, nestling amongst the palm trees is the two floors of Oscar’s Restaurant.
As pretty much the highest you can get on the island, and the only building with 3 levels, the 360 degree view is incredible.
Our biggest boat, “Amy”, is a Philippine style banka. We built it with divers in mind, and are proud to say, it is one of the fastest, biggest and most comfortable dive boats on the island. We will get you to the dive sites as quickly as possible, so you can spend more time in the water! Maximum capacity is 25 divers, but we usually keep numbers to half that.
“Esther” is slightly smaller than Amy with max capacity of 20 divers. Great for groups to have their own private boat. Our smallest banka, “Rosie,” takes up to 15 divers. Rosie may also be your first contact with Thresher Shark Divers as it is often the boat that will do your pickup on arrival.
And we have a new “speedboat”, Seven Seas, a 27ft custom-built fibreglass dive boat with outboard, the first of its kind on Malapascua. Getting you to sites twice as fast!
We also have three flat-bottomed boats, our fleet of “Jims” – King James, Big Jim and Little Jim, for small groups, classes and close dive sites. “Baby J” is our canoe, but perhaps a little too small to dive from!
Resorts
Because we do not own a resort, we will not bind you into a room that might not suit you.
Tell us your needs and we will suggest the perfect resort from the wide range of room types we offer to suit every need and budget.
We have several resorts we use regularly because of their high quality and service standards. But if you prefer something different, we are more than happy to help you find your perfect accommodation for your perfect vacation.
There are some great restaurants on Malapascua and we will show you the best the island has to offer in terms of food, one of the best of which is Oscar’s, the rooftop pub and restaurant located above Thresher Shark Divers, and its baby brother on the beach, The Wilde Bar.
Tata, Rissa-May, Marvin, Wilbert, and Mark are our Filipino dive guides. They are all PADI certified Divemasters, Rissa is an PADI Instructor, and most of them trained through TSD. They have been diving Malapascua’s fantastic dive sites for a long time and have completed over thirty thousand dives on Malapascua between them!!!
They know all the dive sites inside out and can show you many things you have probably never seen before. If there is something you want to see, just ask. With their laser eyes, they can spot things you would never have seen! They are particularly adept at managing the special needs of photographers. Previous divers, including some professional photographers, have called them the best dive guides they have ever had!
If you are looking for something special, just ask, and they will do their very best to find!
We have a multi-lingual instructor team from all around the world. Our PADI diving instructors have been though a rigorous training program and each has many years of teaching experience with hundreds of students.
We take great pride in teaching students of any level. Diving lessons are almost always one-on-one, and there will usually be an assistant as well. So you will get individual attention and diving instruction will go at your own pace.
You can be assured that with us, you will have only the best: top quality service, unrivalled professionalism and a safe and most of all fun diving vacation from start to finish!
Our Boat Crew
Senen, Jerry and Dodong are our boat captains. The crew consists of Ondo, Edgar, and Gino as well as a regular crew of part time staff to help out wherever they are needed.
Together they make a great team, they are very friendly and competent and will help you however they can.
Our Shop Staff
The dive shop is run by our team of foreign Instructor/Managers, but the shop is really run by Cathy and Jess. The ladies oversee our office team who will attend to all your needs in the dive shop.
And not to forget the unsung heroes of any dive shop, the back-end crew, who look after our equipment, fill your tanks, and not to forget our dedicated equipment maintenance and repair guru.
Oscar's Restaurant
Oscar’s is located about the dive shop, nestling in the palm trees overlooking the sea and on the beach.
The guys and gals in the bar and restaurant will ensure you have an enjoyable time throughout the day.
Chef Rolan and his crew will wow you with their culinary creations.
Covid update: The restaurants was closed for covid ad is as yet not scheduled for reopening.
Our four legged helpers
Last but definitely not least are by far our most popular members of staff.
Any animal lovers will be sure to fall in love with them.
Update: Sally and Oliver have both sadly left us now, but we love these photos so much we don’t want to remove them yet. The dive shop always has at least one or two furry friends around 😊