Excellent dive guides and boat staff... really enjoyed that. A new executive chef Marco has a range of experience and produced some excellent food - well done. The challenge for him is the dismally slow kitchen on a rather ordinary menu.

The dive centre and hotel have a semi detached relationship and in particular in relation to accounting. It would seem to the centres advantage.

The senior management seem detached from the day to day guest experience. This is reflected in the generally tired amenities and rooms and wifi. All very 1970s not 2019! Resting on laurels is evidenced in a Trip Adviser certificate of excellence that is at least 10 years out of date in the reception.

Join their diving team and stay elsewhere in more up to date facilitates.

A few months ago I returned home from a stunning experience staying at Exotic Island Dive & Beach Resort. I had never dived before and came to take my Open Water Diver (OWD) certificate and dive a few times before our 10-day stay ended. By the end, I had racked up 9 hours and 13 minutes bottom time through 12 dives, and was a breathtaking experience richer.

The short version: I had an absolutely fantastic diving instructor (Rey/Renalos), all staff and divemasters were super friendly and focused on giving us a good experience, the rooms were great to sleep in after an active day of diving, and the restaurant kept us well-fed throughout the days. All in all a very professional and friendly place that I’d love to come back to.

For details, you can read my longer review below:

- Context -

I was slightly apprehensive about learning how to dive. My mom had convinced me, but I also work a very busy, overstimulating job day-to-day, so going on vacation to learn something completely new (read: more stimulation) left me a little worried. Well, I shouldn’t have been. It was fantastic!

- Diving training (Open Water Diver (OWD) certificate) -

I had an absolutely fantastic diving instructor called Rey. A great teacher. I felt safe every step of the way, even when things went a little wrong, as it sometimes does when you learn new things. Aside from doing his job professionally, communicating clearly and ensuring my understanding, he also seemed to truly enjoy teaching and diving, which was infectious.

Taking the OWD certification took me 4 days: One day for the theory walkthrough (approx. 3-4 hours’ video) and a multiple choice exam (granted you have read the book before, otherwise count at least 5 days, or read a copy before you go on vacation if you can get a hold of it), one day for skill training on shallow waters (equivalent to the pool dives), and two days (4 dives in total) for diving to deeper waters, exploring, and training skills at lower depth. You’ll be busy from 9:00-16:00 on those days, with approx. 2 hours lunch break in the middle.

Warning to other diving beginners: taking the OWD certification can be daunting, and the skill training on the second day can leave you a bit overwhelmed. This is because you train all the emergency procedures on your first dive into the water. I just want to say: hang in there. It’s important to learn what to do in case of emergencies, so it’s important to keep going until you learn (which the instructor will insist on, no skipping steps!). Once you learn, you will feel more confident and you will be safer underwater, and it really does become more and more fun from there when you start exploring the underwater world, and spend less time “losing your regulator”, or training what to do in case you run out of air.

Tip: If you don’t feel confident on a certain skill, or if you’re in doubt, or if you’re worried (whether it’s rational or not), say so! It’s the only way the instructor can help you.

- Diving -

All the divemasters I had (Rey, Kat, Wil, Michael, Tito) were super friendly and helpful, and took good care of us underwater (they keep an eye on everyone) while scouting for things to see. Although it was low season, the diveshop and divermasters took just as much care of us as they would normally, to ensure we had a good experience. Meaning: we still had two dives a day, at different locations decided by the staff (unless we requested a specific site), even though we weren’t a “full” team, and they took every dive seriously to ensure we saw as much as possible while taking the day’s currents and waves into account.

In terms of dive sites, the Monad Shoal is a must-do to see the famous Thresher Sharks. Otherwise you’ll definitely see loads of nudibranchs (colourful sea slugs - Google them!), pufferfish, cuttlefish, a myriad of tropical colourful fish, so many Nemos (clown fish) that you’ll lose count, forests of soft pink-and-purple corals, spikey lion fish, fat sea cucumbers, and possibly some pygmy seahorses and white-tipped sharks. Just to mention a few.

- Restaurant -

The restaurant had quite a few items on the menu card, which always leaves me a bit suspicious, but the kitchen actually managed to cook up most of what we requested (there were a few exceptions on things that were seasonal/not in stock), and it tasted well. The menu had both local, Asian, and Western cuisines, and the breakfast was a decent buffet.

- Rooms -

We had a super deluxe bedroom with two double beds, TV with multiple channels, and aircon – it had what we needed to rest after diving. Only thing to mention is that you should request a ground floor room if you have trouble walking up steep steps. You get used to the small geckos squeaking “geck-o” outside during the night very fast.

- Impression of Malapascua in general –

People are really friendly on Malapascua. Tourism is a great source of income, but people are friendly about it and not pushy and I felt welcome everywhere I went.

---

Thanks for a truly pleasant experience. Hope to see you again very soon.

/Sara from Denmark