Shark! Everybody *into* the water!
In the dive shops and watering holes of Sabang and Puerto Galera there has been one word on everybody’s lips of late: shark!
Magnificent thresher sharks are not uncommon visitors to our waters but it’s always exciting when they come to town. Sleek, graceful, harmless to humans but growing 14-20ft in length including their long whip-like tail, they are an awe-inspiring sight for any diver as they loom up out of blue water.
Even rarer, there are rumours swirling of even larger visitors – after a couple of dive trips sighted a whale shark in the blue waters out beyond the famous Canyons dive site a few days ago.
Pictured right: Lalaguna Villas PADI Staff Instructor Jamie Morton, who shot the video above and who has a knack for bumping into thresher sharks almost every time he goes out on a morning dive (pictured with recent Advanced Open Water graduate William)
Here in the dive capital of the Philippines, in the most diverse shore-based marine location on the planet, there is never any shortage of exciting things to find underwater.
We have stealthy octopuses, grumpy frogfish, chonky sea turtles, picturesque corals, and more tiny nudibranches you can shake a pointer stick at.
But from time to time some real blue water celebrities can be seen on the edges of the Puerto Galera shoreline and recently not one but two species of ocean predator have been spotted: thresher sharks, and even rarer – whale sharks!
Since LLV Divers’ own PADI IDC Staff Instructor Jamie Morton grabbed this beaut of a video clip on his new GoPro and we posted it to our facebook page, it seems everyone in town wants their own glimpse of this elusive hunter.
As you can see from the clip, the shark looms out of the blue water looking every inch the ocean predator he is.
Threshers, which can grow to 20 feet long, are not uncommon in these waters and are not harmful to humans.
Jamie – who loves to cover some serious ground underwater on his DPV (courses available here) – sees them relatively frequently when exploring the dive sites on the northwestern tip of the headland.
Even more excitingly, word has reached us that a couple of recent dive groups have spotted an even more unusual visitor to these waters – a whale shark, or possibly more than one, which has been drawn to the schools of fish and sealife which teem in the swirling waters and strong currents out beyond the Canyons, one of Puerto Galera’s most famous and exciting dive sites – (not one for the uninitiated however, we suggest only Advanced Open Water certs and above join us for those dives) .
So come for a visit and Jamie or one of our other highly-qualified PADI professionals will take you out on a morning shark-spotting dive to incredible dive sites like Kilima or Sinandigan where you’ve got the best chance (and the best dive guide) for having your own thresher or even whale shark encounter!
What are you waiting for – we’re available 24/7 by phone, Messenger, Website Live Chat, and email
Phone: +63 917 570 3415
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