Monday, April 18, 2005
Dving the Tubbataha Reefs
musings
Tubbataha Reefs, a protected area run by the Protective Area Management Board of the DENR, is the best place to dive in the Philippines and in the world. It is recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a place that any serious scuba diver aspires to visit. Because of the habagat and amihan monsoon winds, the season is short. When the amihan wind and the habagat wind converge in the Sulo Sea creating very calm waters, that’s when the season starts in March and ends in mid-June.
Tubbataha is special. It has awesome walls, flourishing reefs, 2 wrecks, big fish and a remoteness that you’ll seldom find in the world. Many divers return year after year to rediscover the experience.
Located 100 nautical miles (180 km) east of Puerto Princesa, Palawan (8 to 12 hours by boat depending on how fast the boat travels) is accessed only through live aboard boats or private yachts. Most dive shops located in Metro Manila can book you on trips aboard the boats. The more popular live aboard boats includes the M/Y Tri-Star. These live aboard boats are very well equipped and fully air-conditioned. For local divers, a 5-day 4-night trip would cost you Php 35, 000 but for foreigners, they charge $1,000. The fee includes all dives, food, weights, tanks and services of a dive-master/dive-guide. Airfares, spirits, beers, juices and soft drinks are not included. There are DVDs available and CDs on board. Scuba World has 3 live aboard boats.
Tubbataha is two separate reef structures housing three lagoons. The larger structure to the north has two lagoons. A the top, a tiny islet, called Bird Island (off-limits to visitors) is the landmark of North Tubbataha. At the southern portion of the north side is a sandbar where park rangers has their outpost. The South Tubbataha has a lighthouse located in a tiny islet.
The rangers assigned to Tubbataha are strict in implementing park rules. No fishing, jet skiing, water skiing, no spear-fishing, shell or coral collecting, no touching of the corals, no disposal of garbage and human waste, etc. Fines are steep. You can be fined Php 10, 000 just for overturning a sea cucumber. It happened last year when Gutsy Tuason (a world renowned photographer with 2 books under his belt) overturned a sea cucumber for a better under water shot. A diver reported it to the park rangers and he was fined Php 10, 000.
Two years ago, President Arroyo dived in Tubbataha and had dinner at the sand bar where the Ranger Station is located.
Let me recount to you the Tubbataha trip that I just came from.
We left from Bauan, Batangas Wednesday evening March 23 at about 9pm with 16 divers and 2 dive masters on board the MY Sarangani. The Sarangani is a former Japanese research ship with a length of 160ft. It is now used as a private pleasure yacht with diving facilities. Roy Chiongbian’s family (Eastern Shipping) owns the ship.
The dive group is a well-experienced dive group. Most of us hold advanced certification and those that only have open water certification had at least more than 100 dives. Gutsy Tuason (you should have heard about him. He’s the photographer with 2 photo books on diving the Philippine reefs), his mom Karen and his girl friend Amanda Griffith was with us.
On the way down to Tubbataha, we decided to stop by Apo Reef for a couple of days of diving. We decided to head to Coron for shelter when the waters got rough.
We finally left Coron Sunday for the 22-hour trip to Tubbataha. We arrived in Tubbataha Monday morning at the Ranger Station and after the formalities got into the water at 10am. On the 1st dive, tunas, jacks and numerous white tip sharks were seen. But the highlight was 2 nurse sharks resting in crevices and a huge marble ray as big as a tabletop was resting in about 50ft of water in a crevice. By the 3rd dive, the white tip sharks, tunas, jacks, snappers, turtles, blue and yellow fusiliers were so ordinary that we were looking for rare like whale sharks or leopard sharks.
We transferred to South Tubbataha on Tuesday. That’s when we saw the manta swimming 40ft away from the boat. Everyone, including the dive boats next to us scrambled for masks, fins and snorkel and jumped into the water. The manta played for about 30 minutes before moving away!
We stayed there for another day and that’s when I saw my leopard (book calls it zebra shark) shark at 95ft inside a crevice. And the school of hammerheads at 80ft above us. One of them managed to come back and stare at us. At about 130ft, a huge grouper (lapu-lapu) about 6ft in length and 4ft wide was spotted behind a crevice.
Next day, we decided to move North Tubbataha. That’s when I saw the thickest school of jacks, blue and yellow fusiliers forming into a ball around me. Just as we were doing our safety stop, we saw a huge napoleon wrasse (mameng) behind some rocks.
On Friday, we dove the Malayan wreck site. That’s when we spotted several giant triggerfish guarding their nests. We had to do our safety stop out in the blue since the reef was infested with triggerfishes! Those triggerfish can get really vicious when they’re protecting their nests. We heard and spotted a dolphin at 50ft.
Too bad we had to return to Puerto Princesa. We didn’t get to dive Jessie Beazley Reef and Basterra Reef. These two reef systems are near the Tubbataha Reefs. We left Tubbataha on Friday evening after dinner.
On Saturday we were back in Puerto Princesa just as the air condition in the yacht broke down.
So now I’m back to reality and day dreaming of the dives in Tubbataha.
PS: For non-divers, the swimming and snorkeling on top of the reef or around the lagoon is a must. Non-divers will be amazed at the quantity and quality of the corals, the variety of fishes in very good visibility. Just watch out for the sharks. They don’t mind the divers but they might give snorkel swimmers a scare. Ha ha ha ha ha! J
Tubbataha Reefs, a protected area run by the Protective Area Management Board of the DENR, is the best place to dive in the Philippines and in the world. It is recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a place that any serious scuba diver aspires to visit. Because of the habagat and amihan monsoon winds, the season is short. When the amihan wind and the habagat wind converge in the Sulo Sea creating very calm waters, that’s when the season starts in March and ends in mid-June.
Tubbataha is special. It has awesome walls, flourishing reefs, 2 wrecks, big fish and a remoteness that you’ll seldom find in the world. Many divers return year after year to rediscover the experience.
Located 100 nautical miles (180 km) east of Puerto Princesa, Palawan (8 to 12 hours by boat depending on how fast the boat travels) is accessed only through live aboard boats or private yachts. Most dive shops located in Metro Manila can book you on trips aboard the boats. The more popular live aboard boats includes the M/Y Tri-Star. These live aboard boats are very well equipped and fully air-conditioned. For local divers, a 5-day 4-night trip would cost you Php 35, 000 but for foreigners, they charge $1,000. The fee includes all dives, food, weights, tanks and services of a dive-master/dive-guide. Airfares, spirits, beers, juices and soft drinks are not included. There are DVDs available and CDs on board. Scuba World has 3 live aboard boats.
Tubbataha is two separate reef structures housing three lagoons. The larger structure to the north has two lagoons. A the top, a tiny islet, called Bird Island (off-limits to visitors) is the landmark of North Tubbataha. At the southern portion of the north side is a sandbar where park rangers has their outpost. The South Tubbataha has a lighthouse located in a tiny islet.
The rangers assigned to Tubbataha are strict in implementing park rules. No fishing, jet skiing, water skiing, no spear-fishing, shell or coral collecting, no touching of the corals, no disposal of garbage and human waste, etc. Fines are steep. You can be fined Php 10, 000 just for overturning a sea cucumber. It happened last year when Gutsy Tuason (a world renowned photographer with 2 books under his belt) overturned a sea cucumber for a better under water shot. A diver reported it to the park rangers and he was fined Php 10, 000.
Two years ago, President Arroyo dived in Tubbataha and had dinner at the sand bar where the Ranger Station is located.
Let me recount to you the Tubbataha trip that I just came from.
We left from Bauan, Batangas Wednesday evening March 23 at about 9pm with 16 divers and 2 dive masters on board the MY Sarangani. The Sarangani is a former Japanese research ship with a length of 160ft. It is now used as a private pleasure yacht with diving facilities. Roy Chiongbian’s family (Eastern Shipping) owns the ship.
The dive group is a well-experienced dive group. Most of us hold advanced certification and those that only have open water certification had at least more than 100 dives. Gutsy Tuason (you should have heard about him. He’s the photographer with 2 photo books on diving the Philippine reefs), his mom Karen and his girl friend Amanda Griffith was with us.
On the way down to Tubbataha, we decided to stop by Apo Reef for a couple of days of diving. We decided to head to Coron for shelter when the waters got rough.
We finally left Coron Sunday for the 22-hour trip to Tubbataha. We arrived in Tubbataha Monday morning at the Ranger Station and after the formalities got into the water at 10am. On the 1st dive, tunas, jacks and numerous white tip sharks were seen. But the highlight was 2 nurse sharks resting in crevices and a huge marble ray as big as a tabletop was resting in about 50ft of water in a crevice. By the 3rd dive, the white tip sharks, tunas, jacks, snappers, turtles, blue and yellow fusiliers were so ordinary that we were looking for rare like whale sharks or leopard sharks.
We transferred to South Tubbataha on Tuesday. That’s when we saw the manta swimming 40ft away from the boat. Everyone, including the dive boats next to us scrambled for masks, fins and snorkel and jumped into the water. The manta played for about 30 minutes before moving away!
We stayed there for another day and that’s when I saw my leopard (book calls it zebra shark) shark at 95ft inside a crevice. And the school of hammerheads at 80ft above us. One of them managed to come back and stare at us. At about 130ft, a huge grouper (lapu-lapu) about 6ft in length and 4ft wide was spotted behind a crevice.
Next day, we decided to move North Tubbataha. That’s when I saw the thickest school of jacks, blue and yellow fusiliers forming into a ball around me. Just as we were doing our safety stop, we saw a huge napoleon wrasse (mameng) behind some rocks.
On Friday, we dove the Malayan wreck site. That’s when we spotted several giant triggerfish guarding their nests. We had to do our safety stop out in the blue since the reef was infested with triggerfishes! Those triggerfish can get really vicious when they’re protecting their nests. We heard and spotted a dolphin at 50ft.
Too bad we had to return to Puerto Princesa. We didn’t get to dive Jessie Beazley Reef and Basterra Reef. These two reef systems are near the Tubbataha Reefs. We left Tubbataha on Friday evening after dinner.
On Saturday we were back in Puerto Princesa just as the air condition in the yacht broke down.
So now I’m back to reality and day dreaming of the dives in Tubbataha.
PS: For non-divers, the swimming and snorkeling on top of the reef or around the lagoon is a must. Non-divers will be amazed at the quantity and quality of the corals, the variety of fishes in very good visibility. Just watch out for the sharks. They don’t mind the divers but they might give snorkel swimmers a scare. Ha ha ha ha ha! J
