Tubbataha LOB - worth extra days for 9D/8N trip?

[divenski]

I'm considering the MY Resolute, which is the only LOB available that does more than 7D/6N trips. For the travel distance, I usually like to dive as much as possible. Any opinions on the value of adding 2 days of diving to a LOB trip in Tubbataha?

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

whilst i haven't been on this boat...my personal answer is 'yes' to any opportunity to add extra days and stay on the boat longer......i'm doing back to back 16 nighters in Nov next year.....I find a regular week a bit to short for all the hassle it entails...and that's in the carib...let alone flying to asia..

 

[outofofficebrb]

Yes. That's 2 more days of whale sharks. Jessie Beazley was my favorite atoll. It was slightly reminiscent of Raja Ampat, minus the density. Do it!

 

[bshort4]

I'll be on the Stella Maris at the end of May this year to Tubbataha and didn't see any boats with that long of a trip---bummer.

 

[Allison Finch]

I did two back to back 10 day trips on the Philippine Siren. Even that wasn't long enough.....

 

[divenski]

Well, I just got a response from the Resolute - the only boat with trips that long - they said they did not get enough people interested, so they've changed it to the standard 7D/6N. Too bad. And yes, I've done back-to-back trips before as well. This time i was thinking of adding a few days of land-based to the LOB rather than 2 LOB weeks. But we'll see....

 

[Damselfish]

I’ll throw in a vote sort of on the other side. While I loved Tubbataha (7nts on Azores) and would do it again sometime, I would do a different spot for a second week of the same trip over back to back Tubbataha weeks. You are diving a fairly small area and I seem to remember a lot of repetition. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, or back to back LOBs in general, but I’d mix it up. (Oddly enough we did our Tubbataha trip when looking for something to add after a 7nt Palau liveaboard. Direct flight from Koror to Manila and a LOB opening and there we were!)