Tubbataha or ???

[highdesert]

Greetings, PPD'ers -

I spent many hours over a year ago looking at putting together a Philippines trip, but it never materialized. So, I'm back again, but trying to put together a shorter trip. Leading possibilities are a Tubbataha liveaboard, probably with Expedition Fleet, or some other undertermined Philippine location, either moderately priced liveaboard or resort+day boats.

Some specifics:

- A couple of experienced AOW divers ... Komodo, Raja Ampat, N. Sulawesi, Wakatobi, Caribbean.
- Travelling from the USA in late May/early June looking for a week to ten days there, hoping to minimize domstic flights on your end.
-We like to dive ... 4x a day is a good thing, and more important than the accommodations.
-Don't need luxury, but don't want backpacker style rooms. Clean and safe is fine.
-AC is a good thing, as is hot water.
-Don't need night life after a day of diving, just decent food and cold beer.
-Not crazy about densely populated resort areas.

While we appreciate macro, we've seen a ton of it in the last five years, so we don't require a lot of it this time out. Some muck and macro is OK. More into schooling fish, healthy reefs with good coral (bleaching or dynamiting is not a bonus), some bigger stuff (we know not to expect big numbers of pelagics). Mantas or sharks would be a nice bonus. Casual UW photographer, simple setup.

The one thing that's concerning about Tubbataha is a remark someone made in another SB forum about bleaching in the upper 30' at Tubbataha. Does anyone have deatils about that? Is it isolated or widespread? I love spending a good part of a dive in that bright, sunlit shallower water that's so thick with reef life.

So ... any suggestions for any one location that would satisfy what we're looking for? Will it be Tubbataha, or someplace else?

Thanks for any suggestions!

PS - Oh yeah .... Happy New Year!

 

[Centrals]

Tubbataha's season end around mid June. But it is the BEST in the country.
Malapascua and Sogod Bay(Southern Leyte) are very good but they are NOT Tubbataha.

 

[Magrone]

I was there last June and made the comment about the bleaching. It is not an isolated occurrence. On most dives the corals looked pretty dull, or even dead, on top of the atolls. But down the walls, where you spend most of your time anyway, the corals are very healthy with no signs of bleaching. The sea fans and barrel sponges are enormous, big enough to hide a diver. White tip reef sharks were seen on most dives, occasionally a sleeping nurse shark or a Grey Reef would be spotted. The large schools of Jacks were there in there slow tornado and a HUGE school of juvenile Barracuda (1000+) was in attendance at the Delsen Wreck despite the lack of current.

Tubbataha is not good for macro and most people were a little disappointed with the night dives, but I still enjoyed them. We saw sharks hunting around by our dive lights ten feet below us a couple of times and 10 or 12 turtles (a few big, ancient looking ones) on another.

The damage is not surprising considering my computer consistantly read 88-90 F on most dives until 60 feet. It was 84 degrees at 80 feet. There was a group there that did deep deco dives to 130-200 feet pretty regularly to catch more of the pelagic action, grey reefs, silvertips, dogtooth tuna and the like. But I was content with the walls and didn't drop down more than 120 to look for hammerheads. We did see a small school of scalloped hammerheads and a great hammerhead on two of the dives at about 115 ft.


The 2010 El Nino water temps has supposedly affected coral throughout the region. The latest news I've heard is that they are closing down some sites in the Andaman Sea in Thailand due to the bleaching from the 2010 El Nino.

I did not regret diving in Tubbataha at all. I was actually much more disappointed in Apo Reef when we stopped there on our way home. Dynamiting, cynide is pretty evident on a number of sights at Apo.

 

[Magrone]

A couple of videos my girlfriend and I shot with a Panasonic point and shoot while we were there. White balance is a little off, I'm still learning.

YouTube - Tubbataha, Philippines(1).mp4

YouTube - Tubbataha Turtles

 

[marinea]

hi there
thanks for the sharing, very useful !
may i know which LOB did you go with? you can end me a PM if it is not conveneit to say it here.
I am looking for a LOB with consistent good feedback actually... if you know of any please let me know! thanks!

 

[Magrone]

I was on the Expedition Fleet's Big Blue Explorer. Nice big boat with a great crew and good dive guides. The Expedition Fleet took some flack for having one of their boats break down last year, but I think it was a very professional operation and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Food could have been better, I have had much better food on budget LOB's in Indonesia. This was probably the only criticism I have.