Every low season Exotic Dive Shop offers free diving courses to all Exotic Staff members who are interested in learning to dive or would like to expand their diving skills. As a dive resort it only makes sense that all our staff understands what diving is about. By offering free courses we are giving local staff members the chance to experience something new and even start a new career in diving. This year we had 12 staff members sign up for the open water course and 10 sign up for the advanced course. They have all done extremely well and a few are even talking about going on to become divemaster!

Big congratulations to all our recently certified students. This month we have certified nearly 50 students from open water to divemaster with a host of specialties mixed in. It is officially low season here at Malapascua but we are busy busy busy and loving it. We have welcomed 7 new divemaster trainees this month a few of whom are going on to their instructor course in July. A tearful goodbye was said to 2 of our long term divemaster trainees and we wish them all the best in the future.  Here’s hoping the month of July is just as successful as June has been.

The diving this month has been fantastic! Lots and lots of thresher sharks have been seen at Monad, multiple sightings at one time and some extremely close encounters.  The number of sharks we are seeing is increasing a fair amount which is a good thing and shows that the protection we as divers are implementing at Monad shoal is actually working.  No more illegal fishing is a good thing, especially for the sharks. Not to be outdone the mantas are still making themselves known a couple of repeat giant mantas with some interesting markings are making regular appearances in the afternoon, and are not afraid to get close and personal with the divers. The rest of the diving around the island is also amazing. Macro life is blooming in the warm waters, lots of mandarin fish and sea horses at Lighthouse, frog fish and sea moths at house reef, cuttlefish and sea snakes at Gato Island and nudibranchs just about everywhere.

The fluvial parade was once again a sight not to be missed. Many local fishing boats, dive boats and passenger boats were decorated with balloons, streamers, plants and flowers to celebrate the islands Saint ‘Birhen de los Desemparados’. The party that followed the fluvial parade was loud, long and a lot of fun!!

MANTA MADNESS that is what this month has been all about. The giant mantas came a little late this year, but when they finally arrived it was worth the wait! These wonderful giants come to visit the cleaning stations that can be found on the top of Monad Shoal. They can range in size from a few meters up to 7. The largest manta sighting on Malapascua of late has been an amazing 6.5mts. These gentle giants like their counterpart the whale shark are filter feeders eating only plankton and fish eggs.  As long as divers remain calm, do not move around and stay still the mantas will normally circle over top and stay for quite some time. They are not afraid of divers if anything they are more curious and like to in close to see what we actually are! We have also been seeing a lot of Devil Rays this month. These rays

April 22nd, Dive for Earth day was a huge success once again. Here at Exotic, we did our yearly Bounty Beach cleanup and dive site cleanup. A good turnout and surprisingly not too much garbage to be found which was very nice! As this year marked the 40th anniversary of Dive For Earth Day we decided to go the extra mile and in the evening Exotic Divemasters Tong and Balt hosted an environmental quiz. The night was aimed at educating locals and tourists about the oceans, the animals found within them and the problems they face. It was a fun filled evening with a lot of embarrassing omissions and new knowledge acquired

The season is here, and though we may not be winning we are certainly having a lot of fun! Each year Malapascua holds a basketball tournament for all the local and foreign owned businesses. And it is a serious time of year, with weeks of practice and hours spent deliberating over the strategy and colors of this year’s uniform!!

Great month for sharks this month with an average 85% success rate! The best time to go to Monad during the month was the 6am boat! Which throws some confusion into the earliest boat is the luckiest boat argument. We have been diving Monad for many years – over 10! And in all those years we have come to the conclusion that even though time may be a factor in diving with the sharks, there is no point going too early as the cleaner wrasse are not active, the main issue is diver behavior! The divers who do not respect the cleaning stations, who sit right on the edge, go off the wall and use camera strobes or flashes are the divers who essentially scare the sharks off

We have a number of new divemaster trainees arriving in the next few weeks to join Jim and Laura who both are nearly finished their 3 and 4 month divemaster internships.

For more information about our Exotic IDC and divemaster packages and internship programs email Zoe or Tim at info@malapascua.net

As always the thresher sharks have been out in abundance this year. With an average sighting rate of 79% this is very good start to 2010. The hammerheads have also been quite playful with a few close encounters and sudden changes in direction that even kept our local divemasters on edge – just ask Tong about his experience in the blue! The macro life is amazing as you would expect for the spring months. Flamboyant cuttle fish, mandarin fish, pegasus sea moths, ornate ghost pipe fish, nudibranch, flat worms, pipe fish, frog fish, pygmy’s need we go on!! Here’s hoping the diving stays this good for the coming months.

The launch of Exotic monthly newsletter has so far had a good reaction from all our customers. Keeping within the family feel we have aimed the newsletter at keeping all our customers up to date with Exotic staff news including baby news, wedding news, staff leaving and new staff arriving. All resort news such as expansions, new boats, new instructors, changes in menus, rooms etc are also featured, along with lots more interesting industry news and of course diving news. To receive our monthly newsletter just click the link and follow the easy steps. We hope you enjoy it!

Our Facebook fan page is also becoming very successful. We have reached nearly 600 fans in the few short months we have been active, it is such a nice way to keep all our customers up to date with the daily sightings and dive excursions. Not to mention a fantastic way to show off all those wonderful photos that our customers take while diving with us. We appreciate the comments and interaction that occurs on our fan page and would like for anyone who has suggestions or ideas to let us know.

Don’t forget you can also follow our daily dives on our twitter page. An easy way to let you know what we saw on our last dive!

The expansion is still going on!  The compressor and generator room has moved to the very back of the resort so no more noise! This large building which is getting bigger by the day, houses the 5 compressors and nitrox station along with the 3 large generators. It is also going to house all the resort staff!

The new menu is now fully functioning and is amazing! A wide variety of local, Asian and European food is now available and if you can believe the menu is actually bigger than the last one – so many wonderful dishes to choose from and all displayed beautifully and taste fantastic

Exotic IDC held in February was a huge success. Silvia, Xavi, Kit and Sarah all passed with flying colors. Kit then headed back home to England to resume life as a lawyer! While Silvia, Xavi and Sarah returned to Exotic for some hands on teaching experience. Sadly they have now all left to pursue they own diving careers in different parts of the world, they will all be missed by both divers and staff. We wish each one luck in the future and hope they enjoy life as PADI dive Instructors.

We have a number of new divemaster trainees arriving in the next few weeks to join Jim and Laura who both are nearly finished their 3 and 4 month divemaster internships.

For more information about our Exotic IDC and divemaster packages and internship programs email Zoe or Tim at info@malapascua.net

  We are happy to announce that we have once again won the Environmental Achievement Award, for the third year running. Project AWARE Foundation honors dive operators around the world who display commitment and excellence in their efforts to protect underwater environments within business operations and their community.
“The Environmental Achievement Award is about rewarding vision, excellence and pursuit of conservation. More importantly, this award ensures the enjoyment of underwater environments for future generations," said Henrik Nimb, Project AWARE Foundation Director, Asia Pacific.  
We pride ourselves on our commitment to the local environment, our education initiatives with the local schools and our continuing support of local refuse and recycling projects. Our aim for 2010 is to work harder at our environmental projects, educate more divers about the fragile marine ecosystems and get more island residents involved with local projects.

  2010 has started out to be a very busy year. We have certified many divers from open water to divemaster in the last month and have an instructor course happening right now with 4 candidates, who will all be sitting their instructor exam in Cebu on February 8th and 9th. We wish them luck although we know they will all do great! Exotic Resort is expanding once more. More rooms are being constructed, individual bungalows with both fan and air con. We have also finished erecting new divemaster and instructor accommodation, specifically designed for those on a budget.  The largest construction job at the moment is the new compressor/generator room which is a huge complex being built at the very rear of the resort. This new structure will house the 3 large gen-sets that Exotic has to supply power, along with all the new compressors and nitrox filling station that has been imported brand new from Holland.

  Amazing diving has been had these last few months! The return of hammerheads earlier than usual is boding will for the high season, not to mention the continuous appearance of the giant mantas. In recent years the mantas were only seen on Monad between the months of December and March, for some reason this year they have decided not to leave which is great for us! The Thresher sharks of course have been out in force with an average successful sighting of 78% - not bad considering! Although we are famous for the threshers there are many other wonderful things to be seen on the surrounding coral reefs of Malapascua. The mating mandarin fish never let us down, resident cuttle fish, snake eels, and Pegasus sea moths can be seen at house reef; harlequin shrimps, frog fish and pipe fish hide amongst a number of dive sites and if you have never seen a sea horse then this is the place for you.

  2009 has been a great year for students. Exotic has once again proved to be the top dive shop on Malapascua certifying even more students so far this year than in previous years.  We are proud of our high teaching standards, guaranteed small classes and experienced friendly instructors. So from all the staff at Exotic a huge congratulation to all our 2009 students, from the open water to advanced; nitrox to thresher specialties and to all those hard working rescue divers who amaze us constantly with their abilities to rescue Brad and Angelina!!!

  Our final IDC for 2008 has just ended and what a success. Officially the most relaxed course in history, Jonathan our Course Director sure knows how to chill out the candidates. We have a number of IDC’s scheduled for 2009, the first starting January 20th which is nearly full.  We have limited spaces on all our IDC’s as we feel the smaller the course the better the instruction!  We are also proud to be able to offer IDC’s in different languages new for 2009.  Email for more information about our upcoming IDC’s and the packages that we offer, or check out our IDC page on the website. This has also been a great year for divemaster candidates. Our new internship packages are proving to be a huge success with many candidates opting for the pick’n’mix type course – where you literally pick the courses you would like to include and we create a customized package just for you. Brand new divemaster accommodation and our in house discounts are also proving to be very popular.  Again email us for more details about our DM packages or check out our DM page on the website.

  We are happy to welcome a plethora of new staff to Exotic. We are very proud of the level of service that we provide both at Exotic Resort and at Exotic Dive, and are determined to only improve on this service within the coming New Year. To help with our plans we have employed a number of new staff members.  The dive shop has employed 4 new boat crews to assist our divers and 2 new local divemasters in preparation for the upcoming high season.  The resort now has a new restaurant manager with lots of experience throughout Asia including working in 5 star establishments in Dubai. There are 2 new chefs to add to our already experienced kitchen staff, the new chefs specialize in Chinese, Spanish and Italian cuisine so for our repeat customers expect exciting new dishes on our extensive menu.  To further compliment the restaurant we have 4 new food servers to offer a friendly smile and fantastic service.  The resort has also employed a new maintenance supervisor and computer technician to ensure that Exotic continues to run smoothly with no mystery glitches.

  Once again Exotic is expanding! Due to the constant demand of our customers Exotic is preparing 5 new beach front rooms for 2010.  The new rooms will be stand alone fan bungalows with side facing views of the ocean and built to the high standards of Exotic.  We are also in the process of building a new compressor room at the very rear of the resort. The new room will be large enough to house the brand new compressor and nitrox station.

  Once again Exotic were out in force for the annual international clean up day.  This year we had a great turn out from local villagers and school children also. Bounty Beach and all neighboring villages of Exotic Resort were cleaned thoroughly by all involved. Each year we arrange the clean up and hope to also educate the locals about why it is important to keep the island and the surrounding reefs systems clean.This year we decided to add a little spice to the mix and hosted an environmental quiz night, which was a resounding success. Local high school children, Exotic staff members and a number of our international guests formed together to make quiz teams and had a great time trying to answer some rather difficult questions on the environment. The main purpose of the quiz was to educate everyone involved about the plight of the oceans and why we need to start protecting them. As quiz night was so much fun, we have decided to make this a regular occurrence at Exotic.

  We also organized an essay writing competition for the local high school. The question posed was ‘Why do we need to protect our reefs?’  We were very happy with the quality and quantity of essays we received from the school, the winner was a local 14year old girl named Danica M Samson. Her essay is displayed on our facebook site on the discussions page; please let us know what you think.

  July saw the introduction of the first speed boat to Malapascua. Exotic can proudly announce that once again we have the fastest boat on the island and the only customized speed boat for divers.  An official marine patrol boat that was designed and built in New Zealand with speed and comfort in mind is our new addition to the Exotic Fleet. With a V8 Jet engine this boat will get divers to Monad Shoal in under 15minutes, Gato Island in less than 20 and Dona Marilyn wreck in under an hour.  A great new asset that Edgar is now the proud captain of. Dik and Cora, Exotic owners sailed the speed boat from Manila in an epic 4 day journey in rough seas.

  We have finally joined the Facebook and Twitter explosion. New daily updates, news about diving and staff, special offers and upcoming events are all posted on a regular basis on our new sites. Please join our groups and write to us about what you think of Exotic, the resort, the diving, the staff and of course post as many photos as you wish. If you have any suggestions or group topics that you would like to discuss on Facebook please email us with your ideas.

  June 30th was the official award ceremony at Exotic.  Jimmy Cristrup, PADI Regional Manager came up from Cebu to officially hand over our award for Diver Retention.  Exotic is ranked in the top 10 dive shops in the Philippines and is number 1 on Malapascua for certifications, both Jimmy and all Exotic dive staff are proud of this achievement. Tim the manager of Exotic Dive said “We aim to offer the best courses available. Guaranteeing small classes with highly experienced instructors and above all we aim to have as much fun as possible on every course we teach. Exotic has an outstanding reputation for high quality and good service and this is reflected in the fact that we have been granted this award. We are all very proud and aim to excel even further in the coming year.”

  The new signs for Exotic have finally arrived. No more confusion over the name of the resort as Dik’s bronze design is now firmly in place.  A new giant sign board for Maya has been placed in prime position with stunning new photos and information, including the advertising for draft beer and wi-fi internet the only place on the island where these two things are available.

Ban Plastic Bags

  As an environmentally conscious dive resort we are constantly monitoring the media and try to keep our hands on the pulse as to what is the new environmental initiative of the moment. This year we have seen the explosion of governments and lobbyists all pushing the sanctity of our oceans and the need to help maintain and keep them as healthy and clean as possible for the benefit of future generations.  A recent survey by Project AWARE, discovered that one of the biggest pollutants of our time is the plastic bag; an item that the average person takes for granted and uses on a daily basis. A lot of plastic bags end up in waterways and the ocean, having a devastating effect on marine life. At Exotic we also have been a culprit of the plastic bag, using them for daily laundry, but no longer. In an attempt to help minimise our impact on the environment we have now banned the use of plastic bags at our resort, opting instead for re-usable canvas bags. 

  In April 2009, PADI Asia Pacific announced the winners of a number of awards to better recognise the achievemnets of those PADI dive centres and resorts who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of diving.    All PADI dive centres and resorts in Asia were considered for nomination by a specially convened selection panel, who selected three finalists for each of the regional awards.  A panel of judges then considered all of the finalists in each category before making their final decision.

  We are very proud to announce that not only did we win the Diver Retention Award, but we were also nominated as a finalist in the Outstanding Business Award.  These awards furhter enhance our work ethic of aiming to offer the best diving, best education and best service that we can give to our customers.

  A great start to 2009, our instructors have been working hard to offer the best courses available on Malapascua. We pride ourselves on excellent tuition and small classes.  We would like to offer our congratulations to all the recently certified divers though Exotic. Those who decided to take the plunge and complete the PADI open water course, those who have gone that extra step and become a PADI advanced diver and those who have taken it to another level and joined the ranks of specialists, rescue and of course the professional divemasters.  We hope to see you all again for your next level!

  We are also very proud to annouce that Paul one of our very own divemasters and Tim our dive shop manager have both successfully completed thier advanced nitrox, advanced recreational trimix and normoxic trimix courses.  They both cant wait to get back on the Pioneer with customers.

  2009, has so far been an excellent year. The thresher shark sightings have been excellent with a 74% success rate, many of the sightings have been multiple sightings and we are seeing more and more thresher sharks breaching, for those fortunate enough to witness this it is a sight you will never forget.  This year also saw the return of the hammerheads during the Easter season. Those lucky enough to visit at that time had the delight of diving with schools of up to 100 scalloped hammerheads at Kemod Shoal, we even had sightings of the soliatry great hammerhead an impressive if somewhat daunting shark to encounter.  The manta season is still in full swing with giant mantas – up to 6mts - frequently visiting the cleaning stations at Monad Shoal.

  The macro life is as always outstanding.  Blue ringed octopus, ornate ghost pipe fish, harlequin shrimp and a wide variety of frog fish can be seen on a regular basis at a number of different dive sites. The mating mandarin fish and resident sea horses of lighthouse reef can be seen every evening and house reef is now home to a number of pegasus sea moths, plurobranches and clown frog fish.

  In 2008 Exotic conducted Malapascua’s first ever IDC program.  During the course of 2009 we have additional IDC’s scheduled.  Exotic has always been the forerunner of dive education on Malapascua, and our IDC’s are further testament to our commitment to professional, quality dive education.  As one of the top ten certifying dive centers in the Philippines we have the experience to provide one of the most comprehensive professional level courses in the country.  Check out our Go Pro section to see our updated IDC schedule for the rest of 2009.

  January 2009 has been an eventful month for Exotic. We have once again been awarded the Project Aware Environmental Achievement Award for the second consecutive year. We are only one of two dive shops in the whole of the Philippines to receive this accolade which is only given out to dive shops that show exemplary efforts to conserve aquatic environments through education, advocacy and action. We are very proud to receive this award and will endeavor to continue with our environmental initiatives for the rest of 2009. If you have questions regarding our efforts, future plans or the award itself please email and we will be happy to respond.

  PADI have had the pleasure of informing us that for 2008 we are the official number one training facility on Malapascua and are listed in the top ten dive training facilities in the Philippines. We are extremely happy with this news as it reinforces our belief that hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence is worthwhile and proven successful.  Throughout 2009 we aim to continue offering the best service, high standards of PADI dive training, local diving and dedication to customer service that has led to such high recognition. 

  As always we are trying to ensure 100% customer satisfaction at all times.  In preparation for the upcoming high season we are adding yet another dive boat to our ever increasing fleet.  A 35 foot flat boat will join our other 2 flat boats and 4 traditional Philippine Bankas, giving us the largest fleet on the island.  It will further enable us to have a dedicated training boat and help with ferrying of passengers and equipment to the larger boats. 

  Thank you to all guests and staff members who participated in our annual Christmas party.  Once again the evening was a success with some very entertaining games, singing, dancing and of course a wonderful Lechon Buffet for all to enjoy.

  We are proud to announce in 2007 that Exotic Dive Resort was one of the recipients of the Global Dive Operators Environmental Achievement Award.  Each year Project Aware honors worldwide dive operators who display commitment and excellence in their efforts to protect underwater environments within business operations and their community.  Project Aware foundation chairman Dr Drew Richardson recognizes the importance of the scuba diving community taking its part on protection of global ecosystems.  Exotic was granted one of the few awards distributed throughout Asia Pacific for our commitment to operating in an environmentally responsible manner and demonstrating an outstanding commitment to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.

“The Environment Achievement Award is about rewarding vision, excellence and pursuit of conservation. More importantly, this award ensures the enjoyment of underwater environments for future generations.”  Dr Drew Richardson

  In 2007 the dive staff at Exotic Dive Resort successfully wrote a comprehensive
Thresher Shark Specialty course that was accepted by PADI.  As the local shark experts we thought it only prudent to write our own course based on these wonderful creatures. The course introduces divers to the mysterious world of thresher sharks, why they are here, their anatomy, biology, different sub-species and the dangers they face. The course further covers cleaning stations how to locate and identity them and the importance they play in a healthy tropical reef.  As part of the course all data gathered by participants will be submitted to Project Aware to contribute to their on going worldwide shark survey.   The course is proving to be one of the favorites amongst our divers. If you are interested in becoming a thresher specialist please contact us for more information.

  Over the last few years Exotic resort has increased in size to incorporate 16 new rooms and another dive boat.  We are now happy to announce that our 5* PADI dive shop is also undergoing renovation in preparation for the upcoming high season.  The rinsing and customer equipment areas are expanding in size to be able to cope with our increase in divers. We are also introducing a new camera corner, which will include rinse area and storage area.