Malapascua Island's

For some of the best diving in The Philippines

Nitrox / Enriched Air in Malapascua

Malapascua is the perfect place to dive nitrox. We have several dive sites that are ideal for Nitrox including our famous thresher shark site.

About Nitrox

Nitrox is the future of diving. No other development in diving has had as much effect in recent years. Nitrox filling stations are becoming more and more common in dive shops around the world. In an increasing number of destinations it is used more than, or even instead of, air.

Nitrox/Enriched Air enables you to dive at depth for much longer. It contains a greater percentage of oxygen and less nitrogen. This means that your body absorbs less nitrogen during a dive and you can dramatically increase your maximum allowable bottom time. This is particularly effective at deeper depths - from 16m – 30m.

Another effect of Nitrox is that for the same dive time as an air dive, it reduces the harmful effects of nitrogen in the body. So your risk of getting DCS (decompression sickness/the bends) is reduced.

Malapascua has several dives sites with fairly deep, square profiles. In other words, you stay at the maximum depth for the whole of the dive, rather than slowly making your way shallower. Monad Shoal, the thresher shark and manta ray dive site, is a perfect example of this. Average depth is around 22m. Using PADI’s Recreational Dive Planner, the maximum time allowed on air is 37 minutes. However, if you are diving a Nitrox 36% oxygen mix, your bottom time is extended to 70 minutes, virtually double!!! Sometimes divers don’t see any sharks until 30 minutes into their dive. It is very frustrating if they then have to come up immediately. Nitrox is the solution! The Dona Marilyn and Tapilon wrecks are also perfect for Nitrox.

The Nitrox course has a small amount of reading and will not take up much of your vacation, except of course for the extra time you get to spend diving with the thresher sharks! You can even combine the nitrox course with any other PADI course to save time and money. The Advanced Open Water and many of PADI's Specialty courses are well suited to this. We offer special packages when you do the Nitrox course in combination with other courses.

Find out more from about Enriched Air Nitrox and PADI's Discover Enriched Air Nitrox experience.