but they can’t police Gato until the dispute is over. In the meantime, the island is under constant siege by illegal dynamite fishermen. A large cavern runs completely
through the island forming a colourful swim-through and a quiet resting place for whitetip reef sharks and whitespotted bamboo sharks. Shimmering bullseyes and silversides swim dizzying circles in the rock’s gloomy recesses and large anemone-toting hermit crabs drag their elaborately adorned shells across the cave floor like society women showing off their fashionable hats. The shark cave is clearly the
headline act at Gato Island but the macro life on the surrounding reef slopes will keep you busy for days. Tata swims along the sand flipping over one heart urchin after another.
Each holds a different surprise. On one, two Brook’s urchin shrimps wave me in for a potential manicure. On another, Coleman shrimp do their best to blend with a purple fire urchin’s spines, and on a third a bold little zebra crab tiptoes over its prickly host in search of scraps. After a second great dive through the cavern I am completely sold on Gato Island and make a mental note to come back here before I leave.
Bad Easter An hour later, I am back on Malapascua enjoying the sunset from the comfort of the beach bar at Tepanee Beach Resort. The staff - like everyone I meet on the island - are charming and polite but refreshingly relaxed and quick to giggle among themselves at the slightest provocation. I could get
Above left:
Thresher Shark Diver’s roomy
‘banca’.Above right: Tigertail seahorse
very comfortable on this slip of land but the first Europeans here felt rather differently. The name Malapascua was coined by Spanish sailors that spent a long and lonely Christmas holed up on the island. Desperately homesick, the seamen called the Island ‘Mala Pascua’ which literally means ‘Bad Easter’. Had the aqua-lung been invented back then, the island might have been named Bella Pascua! The next morning I join the other
shark divers on a deep ledge to watch the threshers slip in and out visibility. TSD runs a dawn trip to Monad Shoal virtually every day of the year (barring earthquakes and super-typhoons). Sightings hover around the 98 percent mark; an incredible success rate when you consider that there is virtually nowhere else in the world
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