So there we I was 5:00 am on the boat half asleep, thinking about how comfy my bed was... good thing our boat operator brought coffee on the boat. It was just what I needed to get me started. (hmm sounds like a commercial)

 

Any way we arrived at Monad Shoal which was aboat a 40 min boat ride from Malapascua.. Everyone started gearing up and by this time I was already full on and excited.. our boat hooked on one of the mooring buoys on the site and in just a matter of seconds we were in the water... with my trusted A80 Powershot in hand I patiently watched our DM for any signs of excitement, 20 mins passed by still no thresher... well tough luck for us.. we ended our dive just hanging around waiting for our safety stop to finished. But I didn't get totally disappointed that day, infact the second dive turned out to be memorable for me, because for the very first time I saw what I've been wanting to see since I started underwater photoghraphy, a Pygmy Sea Horse. It took a few seconds before my eyes adjusted then there they were two tiny sea horses no bigger that my finger nail, and one was pregnant. We transfered to another sea fan with a different color and there they were again matching the sea fans colors. After satisfying myelf staking photos we move around  Gato island and there I saw several varieties of sea Horses, yellow, black white, plus the thrill of going through the caverns with sharks swimming in and out. Later that day we dove the reef near the light house, It was about to get dark but just perfect for us to see another first for me, the mandarin fish. A small colorful and illusive fish that only comes out right before dark.

 

Malapascua is definitely one of the places I would love to visit again ..