Malapascua Island

Malapascua is two and a half kilometres long, off the northern tip of Cebu across a shallow strait. Bounty Beach runs along its southern shore and most of the island's dive shops sit on it.

What brings divers here is Monad Shoal, a sunken plateau twenty minutes offshore where thresher sharks come up from deep water at first light to be cleaned. It is the only site where the encounter is close to daily, which is why boats leave in the dark.

Above water the island is small, flat and walkable, with the wreck of a Japanese vessel and the Kalanggaman sandbar within boat range.