Malapascua Exotic Island Dive Resort was founded in 1997 by Dutch national Dik de Boer and his Filipino wife Cora, becoming the very first dive resort on Malapascua Island, off the northern tip of Cebu, Philippines. The resort pioneered diving with thresher sharks at nearby Monad Shoal, now one of the only places in the world where these sharks are regularly seen at recreational diving depths within about 25 metres. Malapascua is also known for rich macro diving, with frequent sightings of nudibranchs, frogfish, mandarin fish, seahorses and pipefish. Exotic maintains its own house reef, seeded with artificial structures since 2001 and recognised with a Project AWARE Environmental Achievement Award in 2008. Today the resort runs a fleet of four large banka boats, a smaller dive boat and two flat boats, along with nitrox facilities, a multimedia classroom and a large team of instructors and divemasters. Day trips are also offered to Gato Island, known for white-tip reef sharks and macro life, and to Kalanggaman Island, with its dramatic drop-off wall and sandbar.