Dive Review of Azores Liveaboard in
Philippines/Tubbataha

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Azores Liveaboard: "Pelagics! Pelagics! Pelagics!", May, 2016, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 96 reports with 59 Helpful votes). Report 8931 has 1 Helpful vote.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	AZORES TUBBATAHA REVIEW Boarded the Azores live-aboard for a 7 night dive trip to the Tubbataha reef system in Puerto Princessa. I had cabin 3, which was fine for 1 person but would have been quite tight for 2. There is no drawer storage space so all clothes and other stuff went on the top bunk. There are 2 220 volt outlets by the sink. The cabins have no windows or port holes and the lighting is dim so the rather dark environment is best suited for only sleeping. There is a large dining area and an elevated salon area with a large flat screen TV. The dive deck was quite spacious with each diver having his own station storage bin. 2 warm, fresh water showers were well used by the divers. The camera table is large enough to accommodate several big rigs with compressed air. Diving starts early with the 1st dive at 7 AM. A continental breakfast is available at 6 AM. After the first dive, a full breakfast is served. The second morning dive is at 10:30 AM followed by lunch. The afternoons included a 2 PM dive and a 4:30 PM dive. We did no night dives. The diving at Tubbataha is best suited for wide-angle photography with lots of sharks (mostly gray reef and white-tip), manta rays, large schools of jacks and barracudas, octopus, turtles and whale sharks. We had 2 whale sharks encounters each lasting about a minute or so and a very nice encounter with a few hammerhead sharks. We dived the entire reef system, both north and south atolls along with Jessy Beazly Reef. There are several live-aboards that dive Tubbataha during the limited diving season so some of the dive sites can get a bit congested, such as Black Rock where the mantas hang out. Captain Brian did a good job putting us on dive sites that were the least congested. The divers (14) were divided into 2 groups and dived from different inflatable skiffs. Both groups had the same dive guide for the entire trip, which is a bit unusal that they weren’t alternated between dive groups. One dive guide was a terrific critter-finder while the other one sometimes just seemed to be along for the ride. The dive briefings were complete and well done. Dive gear is sort of piled in the front end of the skiff both before and after the dives so one’s gear does take a bit of abuse. Also, camera are stowed on the skiff floor near the stern subject to being underfoot. Dive gear is left on the skiffs during the day so access to one’s dive gear between dives is not ready available. The food served was plentiful and very tasty. Breakfast included meats, pancakes, French toast, fruit and made-to-order eggs. Lunch and dinner were selected from a limited menu offering a variety of fish, meat , pork, poultry and veggie dishes. Wine and beer are included. The upper deck offers a spacious seating area, hot tub and sun deck – quite nice for sunsets and star gazing. The crew was very friendly, hard-working and always helpful. I did indeed enjoy my experience at Tubbataha aboard the Azores and would definitely consider a repeat trip.
Websites	Azores Liveaboard
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae
Closest Airport	Dumaguete	Getting There	Thru Manila
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	85-87°F / 29-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No Deco
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Tubbataha is definitely the locale for wide-angle photography. Just put on wide angle rig and leave it. The Azores has a spacious camera table with compressed air for blowoff. My primary concern was camera gear getting underfoot on the dive skiffs although no problems occurred in this regard.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Azores Liveaboard in Philippines/Tubbataha

Azores Liveaboard: "Pelagics! Pelagics! Pelagics!", May, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Azores Liveaboard in
Philippines/Tubbataha