Little Mermaid Dive Resort — Hotel in Malapascua

We take diving reviews seriously because it helps other divers know who to trust above and below the surface. In scuba diving we put our safety partly in the hands of strangers, and therefore reviews help us know who we should be working with.

The good news is that Little Mermaid is a small operation and they are very flexible to meet your needs and make a diving plan. Roland, in particular, was great to work with.

The bad news unfortunately outweighs the good. First, the dive shop suggested we become Nitrox certified to enjoy longer bottom time on the thresher shark dive. Expensive, but a good idea we thought, so we splurged and bought the certification. However, on the Nitrox dive, our guide set his dive computer to compressed air, so we got the exact same dive as we would without the Nitrox cert. We still had to pay for the certification. Attention to detail, in my opinion, is very important in this sport and Little Mermaid seems to employ a guide that needs more training.

Our next dive was further evidence of this opinion and put us in danger. Long story short, on our trip to Gato island, my neck seized up and spasmed. I couldn't move it. This was the start of the dive. We were only at 5 or 6 meters. I gave the sign to emergency abort the dive. Simply put, the guide sent my buddy and I to the surface and did not come with us. He prioritized staying with the other two divers, rather than bringing everyone to the surface to assess the situation. This left me and my dive partner at the surface alone in very choppy conditions surrounded by large unanchored transport boats. I couldn't lift my neck above water. Eventually we flagged our boat, which was slow to respond and recognize the urgency of our situation. The remaining crew did not seem to speak enough English to understand our calls for help. The pontoon of the boat landed on my neck and head.

The point is that in our sport the first priority should always be safety. I think we would all agree on that. And the choice made by the Little Mermaid dive guide to send us alone to the surface greatly jeopardized our safety. We are lucky my dive buddy is rescue trained. This could have been much worse. Once on board, they were not equipped to provide any first aid for the situation. Again, as luck would have it we dove with a doctor and physio therapist. It's a bad plan to rely on luck when scuba diving.

As a result of these dives - our only two of the trip - I can not recommend this company. There is so much competition for dive companies on the island. Perhaps look somewhere else. In my opinion, saving a few dollars with Little Mermaid is not worth your peace of...

As a professional, award winning underwater photographer, an Ikelite and LUMIX ambassador and with over 25 years of diving experience I am very exacting in who I choose to dive with. I walked into many dive centres on the island and none came up to standard I need. I walked into Little Mermaid and was welcomed by Santi who gave off an aura that this is a place I could work with. I looked at the equipment and was pleased to see the unusual sight of many brand new tanks lined up. I have my own gear so do not hire but was even more impressed on the last day to see a whole fleet of X Rite wings arrive for customers use. I decided to dive with them, and after the first dive I knew I made the correct choice. My guide was EJ, a guy with exceptional skills, knowledge and the ability to bring a sense of calm to a bustling dive boat. He knew what I needed and always put me in the right spots. When there were many divers in the water he always found quieter areas. His and all the other crews briefings were all on point. Safety procedures were all covered and the location of the 02 pointed out. Every morning everything was meticulously prepared and organised and my rig set up for me. I am probably more qualified than most to speak of this company as I did 30 dives with them, all without a single issue. I would not have done so many if I wasn’t completely happy. Kevin the dive centre manager was always warm and accommodating and I felt like he was was fitting in with me rather than the other way around. I rarely give five star reviews but this dive centre deserves it as they go above and beyond. I can whole heartedly recommend Little Mermaid if you’re diving on Malapasqua. NB. I’ve seen a few reviews on here criticising the tanks as the reason for short dives. This is not the case as I can attest to doing 30 dives with them where I probably used the majority of their tanks at one point without issue. Everyone one of my dives was...

We spent five days diving in Malapascua and ended up choosing Little Mermaid Dive Resort (LMDR) by chance, as other "famous" places were fully booked. In fact, the room we stayed in was the last one available at their resort. For the first two days, our experience was quite average. The food at the restaurant was slow to arrive, and our room was located next to the gas filling station, making it a bit noisy in the morning when they moved the tanks for the morning dives. Our goal was to explore more than just Kimud and Monad Shoal for thresher sharks, and this was when we truly saw the effort of the manager, Kevin. He consistently went above and beyond to accommodate customers, even the most demanding ones. Thanks to him, we were able to complete our dive plan in the most efficient way possible.

The entire LMDR team was friendly, helpful, and responsive, but we want to give a special shout-out to our dive master, EJ. From the beginning, he offered to help us assemble and clean our gear (we brought our own BP&W and reg), and he took care of everything even better than we could ourselves. EJ is incredibly detail-oriented—he double-checked everything, gave a final inspection of our setup before every dive, and handled our equipment with meticulous care. Underwater, he was an exceptional guide—not just sitting and waiting for thresher sharks like some DMs do. He took us around the entire Kimud Shoal, exploring deeper areas where we found white-tip sharks and encountered large octopuses. His guidance made the dives far more rewarding, and we were beyond satisfied with the experience he provided.

In short, we highly recommend diving with Kevin's...