Gato Island
Sleeping white-tip sharks, pygmy seahorses and a marine reserve full of small critters.
- Depth
- 10 - 25 m
- Level
- Advanced
- Specialty
- Sharks & Macro
Malapascua Island dive sites
Monad Shoal Tiger Shark Dive
The shoal that put Malapascua on the map, and our dive for a chance at tiger sharks.
- Shark Encounters
- Depth
- 20 - 35 m
- Level
- Advanced
- Specialty
- Tiger Sharks
Overview
Monad Shoal is a deep undersea plateau about 8 km from Malapascua, protected as a marine reserve since 2002. It is where Malapascua's thresher sharks were first dived, before most of them moved to Kimud Shoal.
On our 3 Shark Dives trip it is the third dive: two dives at Kimud for threshers, then one at Monad for the opportunity to encounter tiger sharks. Tiger sharks are seen here from time to time, not on every dive, and nothing is guaranteed.
Monad is deeper than Kimud, with walls and slopes that drop past 30 m, so it is dived by Advanced Open Water divers and above. Depth figures vary between published sources; your guide sets the depth limit at the briefing.
Marine Life
Dive Site Details
- Depth
- 20 - 35 m
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Best time to dive
- Early morning, as part of the 3 Shark Dives trip.
- Marine life
- Tiger sharks (occasional), thresher sharks (less often than at Kimud), reef sharks and pelagics.
- Conditions
- Deep open-water shoal, with current at times. Plan for a deeper, shorter bottom time than Kimud.
- Type
- Offshore shoal / drop-off
The shoal that put Malapascua on the map, now the place to look for tiger sharks.
Diver Notes & Tips
- Advanced Open Water or higher is required.
- Tiger sharks are occasional visitors. Treat a sighting as a bonus, not a promise.
- Keep your depth and air in check: the shoal is deeper than most of the island's reef dives.
Dive Monad Shoal
Packages that visit this site.
Related Dive Sites
Kimud Shoal
Malapascua's thresher shark site, with a cleaning station only 12 to 15 m down.
- Depth
- 12 - 25 m
- Level
- Advanced
- Specialty
- Thresher Sharks
Lighthouse
A shallow muck and macro site, best known for mandarin fish at dusk.
- Depth
- 3 - 10 m
- Level
- All Levels
- Specialty
- Mandarin Fish