We have booked in for 2 dives at Gato island.
Great to be on an island like this and we enjoy our free breakfast at the blue coral. Usual wake up of pancakes and fruit. Today banana.
50 minute boat ride to the small island. Choppy waters make entry a slower affair. We descend to 20 metres to go through a 30 metre cave which passes under the island. Torches on, breaking through the eerie darkness to make our way to a more open part of the cave. We are treated to a whitetip swimming around us. I watch a larger whitetip resting in a narrow cave to the side. As we move towards the other side, light streams in and illuminates the sandy basin. It is quite beautiful. We leave the sharks to their contemplation and swim along the sloping wall of the island. The coral here is in better condition with the first fan coral I've seen in Malapascua. Plenty of macro life, with a pgymy seahorse I missed on the fan coral. Sometimes dive guides spend a ridiculous amount of time looking for one elusive object.
2nd dive is along the side of the island. Spot another whitetip resting and the macro here is very good. A number of nudibranch species and a few variety of seahorse.
After the dives I watch a large storm off the coast. With little horizon the sky here appears larger and apart from some wind the storms fury stays away. I have signed up for a thresher shark dive tomorrow so fingers crossed. A lot on my mind at the moment so needed to build up to this dive. Go to a Japanese restaurant on the waterside. We sit with a girl from Hong Kong who works in the financial sector. She had been on the dive boat. We talk and she tells us about the city and we head along to the beanbag bar. Meet Sam on the way and as much as I'm enjoying myself I need to bale from this growing party. Their diving is finished. Mine has not.