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Third Shark Dive.
So we had our last day in Malapascua today, we really enjoyed our time on the small island and meeting probably the friendliest people we have ever met before, we definitely won't forget the fun experience we have had here.
The day started very early again, we met the diving group at 4:30am and were in the sea by 5:30am.
There were a few more of us diving this morning. We stuck with Pilimer again as he did so well finding that great spot for watching the sharks last time. The visibility wasn't as good as on the last dive, but we could still see at least ten meters in front of us and this time the sharks came so close we thought we could reach out and touch them!
As soon as we reached the bottom we saw a shark, it glided straight past us not even bothered by our presence at all. Then we swam to the slope! I said to myself please don't stop here again! We didn't, Pilimer took us to another flat area where there weren't many divers.
As we swam to a raised ledge where others were, me and Chris who were at the back of the line looked behind us and could see two big sharks nearby! I signalled to Chris we need to go that way towards them but he said we must stay with the others. It was a bit weird waiting at the ledge knowing those sharks were back behind us. Nothing happend for a couple of minutes so I tapped Pilimer on the shoulder and pointed back towards where we saw the two big sharks. He didn't hesitate and took us back there.
As soon as we were there the same two sharks came towards us. Pilimer signalled to us to get low and sit still. I wondered to myself if we had to stay still and low so not to scare the sharks but then I thought maybe it was so we didn't provoke them!
I managed to wedge my fins into the sand but had to hold onto Chris's hand so he could stop me bobbing all over the place. I looked to Chris's right and noticed he was also holding onto the other girl in the group. She was probably having the same problem as me or maybe Chris couldn't tell which girl I was lol.
Just then one of the sharks came swimming head on towards us, I could see its mouth open, it was so close to us, perhaps one and a half meters away. I wasn't scared, I was in ore of it, I wanted it to come even closer. I gave Chris's hand a couple of squeezes with excitement, we could see clearly how smooth and shiny it's body was, the eyes were so black and the size of golf balls and it's impressive tail was as long as its body. This was the best moment of the dive for me and I won't forget it, we both would have stayed down there for hours if we could.
We think we saw nine sharks in total, they were appearing from every angle. It was funny watching some other divers swimming a few meters away from me, they had no idea there was a shark swimming along just above them.
On our way up just as we were about to start our three minute safety stop the other girl with us started floating towards the surface before it was safe to! If Chris hadn't of realised in time and pulled her down quickly she could have injured herself by getting decompression sickness (that means expanded air bubbles in her blood for those who don't know what it means).
When we got back to the resort we had a very small breakfast. The whole island slowly started to run out of food supplies because of the Easter holiday. So we had a bowl of rice and a teeny square of ham each and Chris had a mango and chocolate pancake!!
We packed our bags and checked out, said our goodbyes to the staff then walked through the village towards the beach. Every person we walked past said goodbye to us and wished us well, they're all so friendly!
The boat back to the mainland was very busy. We knew we would have to rush for a seat on a bus if we wanted to get to Cebu quickly. Then just as we arrived into the port it began to rain heavy. We grabbed our bags and ran to the bus which looked like it was about to leave. We managed to get the last two seats! It was a small local bus with no air con, all the windows were closed because of the rain, so it was very hot and sweaty until the rain stopped and people opened the windows again.
It was a very bumpy drive back to Cebu bus station, I had to link arms with Chris as he slept just so he didn't fall into the aisle or onto a person sitting in the aisle! I kept nodding off but with every bump my head swung back and hit the seat or window. I could hear the passengers sitting behind me laughing lol, probably because I slept with my mouth open.
When we got to the bus station we looked at getting a taxi to Oslob but they wanted to charge too much, so we got a Jeep Jeep to the south bus terminal and only just caught the bus at 6pm going to Oslob. It was already reversing out!
The bus was almost empty so it was nice to spread out. We bought pork scratchings off of a guy selling them on the coach. Chris finished off the remaining half bottle of rum straight! It took three hours to get to Oslob so it was 9pm when we arrived.
It was dark outside and there didn't appear to be anything open or around!
We thought the bus would have dropped us at a bus station in the middle of a town but it looked like we were on one long road instead, mountains one side and we think the sea was on the other side. We noticed some posters with whale sharks on them so we must have been in the right place. We walked further down the road and saw a couple of young people. They told us there were no hotels nearby but there was a house we could stay in. So we followed one of them to a house across the road and met the family living there. They offered us their spare room which they rent out to tourists. At first they wanted P1200 but we managed to get it for P1000. Our room has bunk beds, air con and its clean. We are so tired from diving early in the morning and travelling today so we said good night and went straight to sleep. Tomorrow we will find out about the whale sharks.
Charlotte & Chris
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