5 years ago I had never heard of the Tubbataha Reefs, the Sulu Sea or Puerta Princesa in the Philippines.
Good things really do take time but fortunately the experience was well worth the wait when a group from Dive Club Wellington finally made the trip in June 2023!
Tubbataha Natural Park is a UNESCO protected area, located in the middle of the Sulu Sea, 150 kms southeast of Puerto Princesa . The marine and bird sanctuary consists of two large uninhabited atolls (the North Atoll and South Atoll) and the smaller Jessie Beazley Reef.
Our dive club has certainly missed our international dive trips but not the travel! Unscheduled changes to air travel routes and flights, airport queues, early starts and jet lag meant all the travelling was not so fun.
Eventually we made it to our liveaboard – the Philippine Aggressor and our holiday could begin. With 24 divers and nearly as many crew we all introduced ourselves and where we are from. We then enjoyed our first 4 course dinner of the trip as we began the long overnight trip out to Tubbataha.
The next morning started with the bell, first breakfast, some excited divers, a dive briefing and finally the order to get ready for our first dive on Jessie Beazley Reef. We were divided into 4 groups of 6 divers with our local dive guide. Two groups would get ready and as we were heading to the reef on the tenders the next two groups would be getting ready for their dives. We did 4 dives a day, 20 in total on the reef, ~60 minutes long per dive. Most of the sites had shallow 5-15m plateaus with walls dropping off 100m+.
The water was a very tropical 28-30 degrees – the corals, sponges and anemones were plentiful, colourful and full of an incredible array of fish. There were way too many different species to identify or even photograph let alone name. The schools of Jacks, Snapper, Barracuda and Emperors were great to see and to swim through. The brightly coloured Sweetlips, Clownfish, Angelfish and Butterflyfish were a firm favourite. There were plenty of turtles and sharks including White Tips, baby Black Tips, Grey Reef Sharks but unfortunately only 1 Whaleshark and not everyone got to see it. We all saw a Manta Ray though.
Overall it was a great trip with a great group of divers and some great diving. In true liveaboard style we ate, dived and ate again with plenty of time to relax and talk with other divers and share our experiences.
