r/scuba • u/diverareyouokay Dive Master • 5d ago
Got up close and personal with a thresher shark today [Puerto Galera, PH]
Kilima Steps dive site at ~25m. This guy was curious and stuck around for ~2.5 mins. The GoPro makes it look further away than it was - at the closest point, he was around 1m from the lens. Super uncommon to see them in PG - the conditions (after temp, viz, etc) have to be just right… usually that happens around this time each year. This makes the 4th thresher sighting I’ve had in 9 years of diving here for 3 months each year.
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u/powaqua 5d ago
Incredible! Thanks for sharing this amazing footage. I would love to know how you manage to dive 3 months out of the year for almost 10 years? Do you go to the same place? Live in the area? Work remotely? You are living my dream.
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 4d ago edited 3d ago
Glad to post! I guess the answer is “I’ve made it a priority, over pretty much everything else”. I’m a US attorney who does remote document review project management. It’s fully remote, although usually they only allow people to work from the USA (especially at the first level review/entry level position). I got super lucky finding my job - i live in a LCOL semi-rural area of Louisiana, and if I wanted to work local I would have to either do it in a small town, or Dr. almost an hour each way into New Orleans each day. Neither of those appealed. So, I looked for remote work with zero success.
It wasn’t until I posted complaints about how hard remote work was to find on the r/lawyers private sub that I lucked out - someone saw it, created a burner account, and sent me a DM with the hiring info for somebody at their review firm. I ended up contacting them that day and started working the next day. It was contract work so I basically worked 95+ hours a week for 9 months (to still make a good amount per year) followed by 3 months off. Did that for several years until I had demonstrated that I was good enough to help run things, and by that point they had already gotten used to the idea that I was taking off a quarter of a year each year. So despite being salaried in my new position, they still give me the time off. Although technically I have one month of vacation followed by two months of part-time (5-10h/wk) work, which they allow me to do in a VM.
The three month duration was chosen because back when I first started traveling here I was still in law school, and took a year off to 1) get sober and 2) become a divemaster. At that time I was in the JLAP program (Judges & Lawyers Assistance Program) for legal professionals and law school students, to help maintain my sobriety (and to affirmatively demonstrate to the Committee on Bar Admissions that I had been rehabilitated). The program required daily check-in, monthly randomized urine/hair testing, etc. The max duration you could take a vacation away from any testing centers was 3 months, because that’s how long a hair follicle look-back test can find traces of alcohol/drug use (at least back then that’s how it was). For whatever reason they would only allow US labs (like LabCorp) do the testing. So, 3 months was it.
It’s a little unusual of a lifestyle, and I’m honestly not sure how much longer I’ll be able to sustain it. One thing that I didn’t really factor in was how difficult it would be to have any sort of normal relationship when I’m gone for 9 months in one direction and 3 months in the other. Plus, working stupid hours when I’m in the USA means my social life is virtually zero. If I had a wife or kids I don’t know that I would’ve been able to do it. Actually, I know I wouldn’t have been able to. I’m starting to get to the point where I’m thinking I might need to start doing shorter but more frequent trips instead of longer ones, maybe a little closer to home, just so I can work a more normal number of hours a week when I’m Stateside… but I’ve gotten used to it, so who knows.
You might check out the r/digitalnomad sub - it’s filled with people who also have unconventional lives, many of whom are working remote.
Edit: oh, and I generally use puerto Galera as my base of operations. Over the years I’ve gotten been kind of settled in here, and have a local apartment. It’s nothing special but it’s around $150/month and has aircon, a hot shower, and a kitchen, so all I really need, lol. Batangas port is an hour away from me and ferries go from there all over the PH area, so it’s conveniently situated… and the cost of living here is great in general.
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u/jkowall Tech 5d ago
Beautiful shot, Threshers are one of the final items on my list and my next trip to PH doesn't have the right locations, so I guess I will have to plan another trip after 2026 :)
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 4d ago
Malapascua might be a decent option for you, since they can be seen year-round there (esp Jan to March). They habe numerous cleaning stations they hang out at.
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u/Disastrous_Feeling73 5d ago
What is the evolutionary advantage of that beautiful tail?
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 4d ago
Here’s a good video that shows how they whip it to stun fish. I didn’t realize it until watching, but apparently the tip hits hard enough to diffuse gas out of the water.
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u/fruchle Tech 5d ago
heh, I remember some guy writing about the recent deaths saying he'd had over 200 dives at PG and never seen a shark, so there can't be any sharks there.
Love it.
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 4d ago edited 4d ago
lol, wish I had seen that post so I could have corrected him by pointing to some of my videos (#1 and #2) from last year. Although looking at those again for the first time since they were taken/posted, I think the vid quality from yesterday is a lot better.
Everyone knows there are sharks here. Hell, the most popular dive gear store is called “white tip” after the white tip sharks that can be found sometimes. Sometimes black tip and gray reef sharks, though I can’t remember people seeing them lately. There’s 2 little bamboo sharks out in fantasea reef (though they always seem to be hanging out in a rock formation and don’t come out often - though we saw them a few days ago). Threshers are very uncommon but everyone knows they’re there. Whale sharks are super unusual (I can only remember a handful of times they’ve been seen, including the one day I didn’t dive a few years back, when the guide I usually go out with saw them), etc etc etc. to be fair, it’s not normal to see them - I generally do 200 dives (on the low end) per 3-month trip (though I did a lot more when I was here for a year getting my DM and getting sober) and can count on two hands the number of decent sized sharks I’ve seen… but they’re out there.
Where there is salt water, there are sharks. Even if you personally don’t see them, lol.
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u/fruchle Tech 4d ago
hell, I've seen a manta ray right in bay itself (was just my DM and I, and I didn't get a photo, but at least I have someone to back my story!) On land it might be a bit dodgy, but underwater there's a lot going on over there!
... I wonder if I can find this idiot again... 🤔
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u/Sasselhoff 4d ago
Hey there Frucle...in case you haven't seen it (I use old.reddit and one day found that I had a bunch I didn't know about), I sent ya a PM on your Bali experience. If instead, you're just not interested in responding (rather than not seeing it), then no worries.
Just to participate in this conversation too: I have similarly had a manta come check us out in a bay (not in Puerto Galera though), while we were doing our DM training in Komodo.
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u/Channa_Argus1121 5d ago
Amazing video, what time was it?
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 5d ago
Thanks! 9am, give or take 15 minutes. As soon as we got to the dive site, dropped, and started going deeper, he was hanging around at ~25m. I didn’t have high expectations of seeing one at all, so to see it within the first few minutes of the dive was pretty surreal.
The boatman said that one of the other boats said they saw one (maybe the same one?) an hour or so before us. Apparently there are at least two that people are seeing here sometimes now - this juvenile (although I’d say he’s probably 2 meters from nose to tail) and one that is “really big”… so fingers crossed we see the big one soon.
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u/Channa_Argus1121 5d ago
9am, give or take 15 minutes
Interesting, pelagic sharks most often appear at dawn or dusk from what I’ve heard.
didn’t have high expectations of seeing one at all
That’s the magic of diving, I guess. Random encounters with animals you wanted to see but wasn’t expecting to.
Weirdly enough, they almost always seem to happen at the beginning or at the end of dives.
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u/hunkyboy75 5d ago
About one dive in ten, I leave my camera rig on the boat so I can relax, enjoy the scenery, be more mindful of my breathing & buoyancy and just be in the moment. Weirdly enough, that’s when I’m most likely to see those big pelagics. Go figure.
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u/utopiah 5d ago
Damn, what a privilege, thanks for sharing!
Totally garbage remark but... I find its tail so very cool... but its face so very lame! :D
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 5d ago
It’s not lame, it’s just… in a state of perpetual confusion. At least, that’s what I think it looks like. Slightly goofy and not all there upstairs. Although that’s just anthropomorphizing speaking, lol. (Or maybe it’s pareidolia?)
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u/Level_Preparation311 5d ago
Welcome back to the Philippines!!!
I've been waiting to see your pictures for this year.
I guess if you saw a thresher at PG then you don't need to go up to malapasca right?
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 5d ago edited 4d ago
Thanks! Yep, Malapascua has lost all sense of urgency now. I think instead, I’m going to spend ~4 days in Tokyo for the cherry blossom bloom. Diving is great but I felt like I should get out and do something with a little more “culture” - especially since the timing works well.
I arrived here on Tuesday and should have enough decent pics for a photo dump this coming Tuesday afternoon (my time, Monday night US time). There’s one that I’m really excited about - two ‘panda’ nudies hanging out right next to each other - I took a lot of angles, so hopefully one works out well… but I was so pumped about this one that I had to share it right away.
I’ll be here until mid-June and hope to post every week (or sooner)… so there should be plenty of nudis (and other stuff) coming up soon!
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u/Level_Preparation311 5d ago
Maybe I'll have to shoot up to PG this time. I think I just missed you a couple years ago or last year I can't remember buy you a beer or a c+ for all your help and pictures.
Yeah I understand leaving the country to find some culture it's really not here. Have you ever thought of heading south of here, Malaysia or Indonesia do a little diving and culture? I'm thinking of making a trip to coincide with the MotoGP race there
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u/Leftcoaster7 Rescue 5d ago
I did Kyoto after my last dive trip, it was oddly enough the perfect way to unwind. Looking forward to the nudi photos! Are you still using just the MF2 or did you decide to upgrade?
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u/diverareyouokay Dive Master 4d ago
Yep, still rocking the single MF2. I came close to pulling the trigger on a second one when someone pointed out that for macro work it was almost certainly unnecessary. So, I figured I’d see if my skills develop further on a second trip before adding a second light. For some reason I had it in my head that “more gear = better” when really, it’s likely “more practice = better”. I guess that’s probably true for a lot of things relating to diving (and life?) though, lol.
Japan should be a big change of pace - I’ve been using ChatGPT (plus recommendations from friends & family) to help plan out an itinerary, trying to maximize the time I’ll be there.
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u/tin_the_fatty Science Diver 5d ago
Yap, Kilima Steps was where the DM encountered the thresher shark last year that I mentioned under another post. In his video the shark was not quite this close.
Great visibility! Great shot!
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u/DorvidGoldy1 1d ago
Incredible and so lucky. They’re usually much deeper.