Philippines, Tubbataha

Tubbataha Tantrum Philippines 🇵🇭

Travel details

Available spaces

Fully Booked

Trip duration

10 nights

Travel dates

07 May, 2029 - 17 May, 2029

Price per person

5.999 $ per person

Trip Highlights

Tubbataha 🦈 The crown jewel of the Coral Triangle, and open to divers for only a few months a year. Two atolls, walls that drop into the blue, and reefs so healthy they look computer-generated. Grey reef and whitetip sharks patrol the drop-offs, jacks and barracuda swirl in the current, turtles sleep on every ledge — and if the ocean is feeling generous, a whale shark or a thresher cruises past. Nowhere else in Asia is protection this strict, and it shows in every single dive.

A Ship With a Story 🚢 Philippines Explorer 1 started life in 1979 as a North Sea supply vessel, servicing oil rigs in some of the roughest water on earth. She later served in the New Zealand Navy, then dived Micronesia as a research vessel — and was rebuilt from the keel up between 2025 and 2027 into a modern luxury liveaboard. That tough old steel hull is exactly why she crosses the open Sulu Sea so comfortably. Just 21 guests, 18 crew, hybrid-electric power for silent nights at anchor, gyro stabilisers, a pool, a spa — and a craft beer brewery on board. 🍺

Beyond the Atolls 🐢 Tubbataha is the headline, but this route gives you far more than the park. Cagayancillo — a remote island group most divers never even hear about — delivers wrecks, untouched hard coral gardens and Calusa Island's turtle-filled reefs. Cavili and Arena add pristine walls with almost zero boat traffic. Ten nights, up to four dives a day, air and Nitrox included, and a route that only a very small handful of boats in the Philippines can run.

Trip description

Welcome to Tubbataha Reefs, a UNESCO World Heritage site sitting alone in the middle of the Sulu Sea, twelve hours by boat from the nearest island. Here you drop into deep blue water along kilometre long coral walls, drifting with grey reef sharks patrolling the edge, giant trevallies tearing through schools of fusiliers, and the occasional whale shark gliding past in silence. This is one of those places where every dive feels almost too rich to be real: bathwater warm, gin clear visibility, and 300 metres of open ocean below your fins.

At the South Atoll, hammerhead schools patrol the deeper walls, while the North Atoll offers long drift dives past resident bumphead parrotfish and gorgonians the size of dining tables.

Tubbataha is only reachable from mid March to mid June by liveaboard, guided by experienced Filipino divemasters with strict park rules in place to keep this pristine ecosystem exactly as it is.

Philippines Explorer 1

Nights

Price per person

5.999 $

DATE START

07 May 2029

DATE END

17 May 2029

A ship with a story. Philippines Explorer 1 began life in 1979 as a North Sea supply vessel, built to service oil rigs in some of the roughest water on earth. She later served in the New Zealand Navy and worked as a dive research vessel in Micronesia, before being acquired in Australia and given a complete, ground-up rebuild between 2025 and 2027. That tough, sea-proven steel hull is exactly why she handles the open crossings of the Sulu Sea so confidently — now paired with the comfort and technology of a modern luxury liveaboard.

At 43.96 metres she carries just 21 guests in 11 cabins, looked after by 18 crew across four decks. Every cabin sits on the main deck or above, en-suite, with hot water and individually controlled air-conditioning: one Premium Suite on the bridge deck with panoramic views, six Deluxe Ocean View Suites with private balcony, and four Comfort cabins (including a single). A hybrid diesel-electric drive with 1,110 kWh of batteries means silent nights at anchor, while gyro-stabilisers and soundproofing make for a smooth, quiet ride.

Diving runs from a spacious dive and camera deck: 30 × 12 L and 10 × 15 L tanks, compressor, air and Nitrox, a Highfield tender and two zodiacs. Between dives there is a back-deck pool with swim-current, a gym, an onboard masseuse and spa, a gourmet galley, Starlink — and a craft-beer brewery on board. Philippines Explorer is run by Vessel Ventures, a team with more than 50 years' combined liveaboard experience and among the first in the Philippines to build hybrid-electric liveaboards.

Included

10 nights aboard Philippines Explorer 1
Full board, snacks and soft drinks
All scheduled dives with air and Nitrox
Tanks, weights and guiding
Up to 4 dives per day
Airport transfers as per programme

Not Included

Flights
Tubbataha park & conservation fee (approx. US$ 145 per person)
Equipment rental
Alcoholic drinks
Crew gratuities
Mandatory dive & travel insurance

Day-by-day program

Note: This is a sample route. The actual itinerary, dive sites and their order are never guaranteed and are decided daily by the captain and dive team according to weather, current and visibility. Welcome aboard Philippines Explorer 1. Please arrive at the vessel by 14:00. After a welcome drink, cabin orientation and safety briefing we set course westward into the Sulu Sea. Meet your fellow travellers, settle into your cabin and enjoy the first evening aboard as we head for the Cagayan Islands.

Far from the country’s main tourism routes, the Cagayan Islands are the perfect introduction to this expedition. Today’s diving may include the MV Forever Lucky wreck and the surrounding reefs, where healthy coral growth and abundant fish life give a first taste of the region. After two or three dives we continue westward towards Tubbataha, leaving land behind as the open Sulu Sea stretches out ahead.

Welcome to Tubbataha. Rising from deep oceanic water, this UNESCO World Heritage Site protects one of the most intact reef ecosystems in Southeast Asia. Our first dives take place around the North Atoll’s Ranger Station area — steep walls, healthy coral formations, reef sharks, turtles and large schools of fish. Between dives there may be a chance to visit the ranger station itself and learn about the conservation work that protects the park.

A full day at Jessie Beazley Reef, an isolated seamount northwest of the North Atoll. Surrounded by deep water and exposed to current, the reef pulls in the big stuff: schools of jacks, barracuda and tuna, plus several shark species. No two dives here are ever quite the same.

Back to the North Atoll and the reefs around the Malayan Wreck. The remains of the vessel still rest on the reef, but the real attraction is the thriving ecosystem that has grown around it: sloping coral reefs, abundant fish life and excellent visibility. A reminder that Tubbataha’s greatest treasures are the reefs themselves.

The expedition continues at the South Atoll. The Delsan Wreck area is known for its concentration of marine life, with jacks and barracuda schooling around the reef corner and dogtooth tuna, reef sharks and other pelagics cruising the blue. Later, the Southwest Wall shows a very different face — coral-covered drop-offs falling away into the depths of the Sulu Sea.

Black Rock is one of the South Atoll’s best-known sites. When the current runs, nutrients sweeping across the reef pull in huge numbers of fish and create superb chances for pelagic encounters — reef fish massing in the blue while larger predators patrol the current lines. A site that shows Tubbataha’s dynamic side at its best.

For our final day in the park we return to the North Atoll and dive Shark Airport, named for the whitetip reef sharks that rest on the sandy seabed here. Together with turtles, rays, schooling fish and healthy coral, it is a fitting conclusion to our time in Tubbataha.

Leaving Tubbataha behind, the voyage turns eastward through the remote islands of the Sulu Sea. Diving around Cavili and Arena is a very different experience from the atolls: healthy reefs, clear water and a powerful sense of isolation. These are places that remain largely untouched by modern tourism.

The final full day is spent around Calusa Island and Cagayancillo — a quieter side of the Philippines, where traditional island communities and remote reefs remain closely tied to the rhythms of the sea. Diving, island visits and local encounters make a fitting last chapter to the voyage.

This morning we arrive back in Campomanes Bay and the voyage comes to an end. Over eleven days this expedition has crossed a remarkable slice of the Sulu Sea — from the remote Cagayan Islands to the reefs of Tubbataha and back. Farewell to the crew and individual onward travel.

TRIP LEADER

Your Trip Leader

The driving force. Over 20 years of providing people adrenaline through big animal diving. If there is a divespot worth noting, he will have heard about it. A wild character with a big heart, a lethal combination.

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