CCR Wreck Diving and Deep Trimix Diving in Malapascua

For most of us scuba means a relaxing holiday pastime, generally done with friends and family in a tropical beachside location. Malapascua is one such location with a white sand beach, clear water, and some fantastic diving opportunities.

At evolution we are happy to take new divers for their first ever breaths underwater, and we specialise in excellent training for all diving levels from beginners to the most advanced technical and rebreather divers.

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting 2 experienced divers who didn’t need any training, they just wanted to see the wide selection of divesites they had heard about in Malapascua.

Dave Tipping is paramedic from Melbourne Australia with advanced trimix certification on rebreathers, and instructor level training also up to technical level. Based in Indonesia Will Goodman is an instructor at all levels on rebreathers, and also the holder of the world record for the deepest rebreather scuba dive, having travelled to over 290m(more than 950ft), and safely returned. Will also used to hold the record for the longest dive ever at 48hrs, which has since been broken by someone even more persistent than him.

Starting off with some of our most popular sites Dave and Will visited North Point, Monad Shoal and Gato Island. They enjoyed mingling with the colourful fish and corals and enjoying the regular Malapascua that most of our divers see, of cours eincluding the wonderful thresher sharks up close.

Then the guys decided it was time to use their skills to explore a bit further and they ventured out to the Japanese wreck of the Mogami Maru in 50m with Matt, and another tech CCR diver Rob Roy from Canada. Logging a 45minute bottom time the team incurred around 45minutes of deco obligation, and chuckled amongst themselves as they enjoyed the floating deco time.

After 2 dives on the Mogami Maru the guys moved on to an 80m wall dive as preparation for the final 2 dives of the trip. The wall at Monad always provides interesting sights and other than a few thresher sharks the team was able to check out 2 of the small caves nestled into the wall at 80m and at 65m.

The next day, after some serious mixing of gases and dive planning, Dave, Will, and Matt set out to dive the wreck of the Pioneer Cebu ferry. This wreck is lying on the seabed in 110m and has only been dived 4 times previously, all dives done by the evolution team.

Will and Dave didn’t really know what to expect, but as they were greeted by a school of jacks at 90m on the way down their “woots” of excitement were clear signs that they were having a good time.

Whilst exploring the wreck 2 sharks were spotted on the bottom, probably bamboo sharks or nurse sharks. The team also found a pile of plates, and was able to pick out the compass binnacle and the telegraph amongst the debris. As the wreck is so rarely visited it is teeming with fish life and armies of shrimps, and even in the dim light you can clearly see the parts of the wreck which have become home to the many species of marine life.

After a healthy bottom time of 20mins the team started their ascent and gradually ticked off deco stops over the next 2hours as they edged toward the surface. Even with the water temperature coming up to 26 degrees near the surface Matt and Dave were feeling the chill, and grunted that Will must be pretty loopy to manage 10hrs of deco after an even deeper and more strenuous dive.

All ended well and once back on the boat the guys were already discussing the next days dive. It was decided that another 110m dive would be fun, but on the wall at Monad in a previously undived location. So more gas mixing, and more dive planning and the next day the team carried out a very fun multilevel dive to 110m, spending time at 80m, 50m and 20m on the way up. Yet again they saw thresher sharks and lots of schooling fish, and being able to finish their deco on the reef almost all the way up allowed them to again play a few games and enjoy each others company!

So Will and Dave left as happy chaps, having seen everything from Malapascua’s shallow reefs to its deepest wreck. And we’re pretty sure they’ll be back for more soon.

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