Tubbataha: The Underwater Wonder

And so it happened!

Our hearts were set to Tubbataha this season, even if it means we had to put our faith in Expedition Fleet once again. It's funny how we were all mum about the whole thing, up to the night before we leave for Puerto Princesa, a complete opposite to the noise barrage we created the first time. Obviously we were afraid to jinx ourselves. Vangie, Zara, and I purposely didn't book the last flight to Puerto Princesa, so that we have room for flight cancellation or delays. We were skeptical like that. :)

When the boat set sail at 7:00 p.m., we were bursting with excitement but tried (really hard) to conceal it. Stephen would periodically remind everyone, bawal magsaya (no display of happiness), because the last time, we also sailed, but ended up in Mamburao (hence, the group name). It was deja vu when the boat manager did his briefing. We were rowdy and cracked plenty of inside jokes that we had to explain to our boat mates what happened the last time (flashback: Almost Tubbataha). We were 10 from the old gang and made up half of the divers.

I awoke the next day and heard Lau-tzu said:
"The journey of a thousand miles brought you to Tubbataha.

Tubbataha was everything promised and more! The minute we back rolled into the water, I'm transported into a fantasy world of bedazzling colors and shapes. It was feast for the eyes to have enchanting wall of corals to one side and bottomless abyss of blue on another.

For 50 minutes every time, I feel like a part of the underwater world, finning weighlessly alongside free swimming pelagics: sharks! school of jacks, barracudas, sea turtles, rays, wrasses, groupers, and all those I have yet to consult my fish book.

Now speaking of sharks, everyone I know knew the sharks had been elusive to me. With almost a hundred dives before this trip, I have never seen one! I warned my dive buddies that I am a living shark repellant.

But Tubbataha broke this spell. On my very first dive at the ATOL, I encountered my first to 50th shark!

And the succeeding dives after, we continue to encounter them.

Delsan is a super highway at rush hour where it literally confused us where to focus our attention. We saw a turtle digging as if the world depended on it, then came a densely packed school of jacks on the left, then to our right a long school of barracuda trailed by a couple of white tip sharks. Seriously, were we in Shark Tale?

slide photos by Neil Que, Stephen David, & DM Padoy

This is also where I dove the deepest at 40m. I actually didn’t realize it was already so deep because of the incredible visibility.

I was told by many that by third day, I’ll be tired of sharks. They were obviously kidding. On our last day of diving, at the Shark Airport, where full grown sharks rest at shallow depth, my heart still beats like mad at the the close encounters. It was a fantastic way to wrap this dive expedition.

clip by Zara Arzadon

Life in Tubbataha is out of this world.

Literally, it's "eat, dive, sleep, repeat."

We did 4 dives per day and food is served 5 times a day. If we were not doing either, we were talking about diving, reading books on fish, watching videos about the ocean, or looking at photos and videos taken that morning dives.

During the introduction by the boat manager at the beginning of the trip, he told us that we will be hearing bells a few times a day. This will only mean two things, either it’s time to eat, or it’s time to dive. And if we were confused which is which, he suggested to just touch your hair. If hair is wet, it’s time to eat. If it’s dry, it’s time to dive. It's funny but we've heard the line the last time. :)

This trip was made 10x more memorable because it was shared with a bunch of my closest buddies. I'm super glad I decided to rebook for this trip. Who else but your dearest friends would celebrate your 100th dive with a full production? We set aside time for photo shoot and a surprise awarding of my SDI Advance Rescue C-Card by my friend and instructor, Neil Q.

photos by Stephen P. David

On our last day, we visited the ranger station on a beautiful islet of white sand. A team of rangers is stationed all year round to police the reef. We went over to say hello, photo ops, and bought souvenirs that help fund the Tubbataha organization.

The one with the Ranger Station

As if life is not already perfect, every night, we were greeted by the most glorious sunset. A firework of colors that left everyone enthralled and breathless as we prepare to rest for another wonderful day of diving.

Roll Call of Mamburao 10

Zara, Vangie, Monette, Bembong, Kriz, Neil, Stephen, Michael, Bernard, and yours truly.

Tubbataha Dive Log:

Day One (April 17, 2010)
Dive # 1: Amos Rock
Dive # 2: Gorgonian Channel
Dive # 3: Wall St. - Amos Rock
Dive # 4: South Park

Day Two (April 18, 2010)
Dive # 5: Ko-ok - South Islet
Dive # 6: Lighthouse
Dive # 7: Staghorn
Dive # 8: Delsan Wreck/Crack

Day Three (April 19, 2010)
Dive # 9: Delsan Wreck/Crack
Dive # 10: Delsan Wreck/Crack
Dive # 11: Delsan Wreck/Crack
Dive # 12: Staghorn/Triggerfish City

Day Four (April 20, 2010)
Dive # 13: Black Rock
Dive # 14: Black Rock
Dive # 15: Malayan Wreck
Dive # 16: Ranger Station

Day Five (April 21, 2010)
Dive # 17: Washing Machine
Dive # 18: Shark Airport
Dive # 19: Washing Machine
Dive # 20: Washing Machine

Additional Note:

On April 6, 2010, Republic Act No. 10067 was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal. The landmark law establishes a 10-mile buffer zone around the park and increases the penalty of violators where the fund will be for the sole use of its management.

Fore more tubbataha info: www.tubbatahareef.org

the evil sisters promote Philippine diving

tubbataha: the pilgrimage begins

the mecca for divers will once again come alive this summer as tubbataha season begins this march. avid divers long to experience tubbataha, whether for the first time or over and over again. i believe one is never truly a diver unless they've gone to tubbataha.


i had my first tubbataha experience last year, during the last transition trip of the oceanic explorer, june 6-13, which sailed from puerto princesa, palawan to 4 days in tubbataha, a day in cuyo islands & a day in apo reef.

6 days. 27 dives. over 2500 pictures and videos from my camera alone.


the tubba life: wake up. eat. dive. eat. sleep. dive. eat. sleep. dive. eat. sleep. dive. eat. sleep. dive. eat. drink. sleep.


the day starts with a 6am wake up call to a light breakfast and dive briefing. its on to the first dive by 7am, back to the boat by 830am for a heavy breakfast, then take a nap for about an hour before going to the 2nd dive at 10am. after the second dive, its back to the boat for lunch, then squeeze in an hour-long nap and dive again by 2pm. after diving, its eating time again and an opportunity to take a few minutes nap before jumping back into the water by 4pm. back to the boat to eat and sleep and get ready for the night dive by 6pm. after the night dive its time for dinner (and drinking if we still have the energy) and sleep to do this over and over again for 6 days.





i'm proud to say i did not miss any of the 27 dives. but i had to pass on the drinking every night.

tubbataha was amazing. everything super sized, the reef, the fishes and other sea creatures, the corals...schools of fishes came in thousands or more and visibility was great. there were several times i thought i was just 50 or 60 feet but when i checked my dive computer, i was at 130! awesome!







and of course sharks were everywhere! white tip, black tip, gray reef -- contrary to popular belief sharks do not attack people on sight, they're just like regular fishes who swim away when you go near them. during the first two days I was so gung-ho on chasing them sharks but got tired in the next few days. but there was this one time i was chasing a shark to take a picture of it and it was swimming away from me, then suddenly it made a u-turn and swam towards me! scary! i made a full stop and swam backwards. haha, serves me right!





next stop was cuyo island. coming from amazing tubbataha, cuyo seems colorless, bland and unexciting, with not much marine life.


but cuyo had its own delights. the reef was flat and wide with large table corals and upon closer inspection, interesting macro creatures and corals. and the reef was deep! and just to prove me wrong some more, i experienced the strong currents of cuyo and the most intense thermocline i've had in the trip. water temperature dropped from 86 degrees to 81 degrees in a matter of seconds! cuyo was an interesting and fun dive.


after cuyo we sailed to nearby quiminatin island. i had fun above and underwater this time since the island had a small patch of white sand beach where I was able to lounge around in. from the deck of the boat, i jumped and swam to shore!


the 2 dives at quiminatin was fun, although it was sad to see that the corals suffered much damage from dynamite fishing from a few years back, corals are starting to thrive again.


after the dive at quiminatin siland, we once again sailed in the night to the last stop for the transition trip: apo reef.


apo reef was a fitting end to my dive adventure. like a tubbataha redux, i feasted my eyes on giant corals, sharks and excellent visibility. i stretched my 4 dives for as long as i could, diving until I had no more air on my tank because it may take a while before i can once again take on this adventure.






every year i long to be in tubbataha, but i have to give way to new adventures and experiences. maybe sometime soon, i will go back.



a few slots are still open for the 2009 tubbataha season:

From tubba

reservations can also be made as early as now for 2010: www.expeditionfleet.com

indayguapa: my wandering sole

through the years, i have unknowingly gained the reputation of being always on-the-go, always up to something and constantly planning trips and adventures to experience. i say unknowingly because i do not go out of my way to be and do these things. its in my nature to move - i cannot sit still, i cannot NOT experience new things, i simply cannot bear to let adventure pass me by.

looking back at the past couple of years (just the couple of years and nothing later coz that would be a litany of travels), i realized that the reputation is well-deserved, i have really been to a lot of places - albeit mostly in and around our wonderful country, and experienced stuff that i could store into my box of 'the last time i did something for the first time' or in my chest of 'things i love doing over and over again'.

2007 brought me home to cebu a total of 6 times! for sinulog, for family reunions and mostly for frolicking in its beautiful beaches and as stopover to other destinations. moalboal, malapascua & bohol offered great diving, bantayan was reminiscent of boracay in the yesteryears - quiet, serene & clean. i had numerous diving trips for this year too - apo island in dumaguete (with side trip to pulang bato falls), wreck diving in subic and of course the easily accessible batangas with numerous resort choices like balai, dive & trek, outrigger, pier uno & the lesser known but quite lovely vista aplaya. for this year, i drove as far as palaui in cagayan valley and in nearby quick-vacation destinations like tagaytay for food tripping, taal for wakeboarding, clark for hot air balloonfest and zambales for beach-bumming & surfing. i also went on a quick trip to boracay and this was also the year i discovered the 'boracay' of cavite - the calumpang marine base beach on a cove near puerto azul and inside a military base which is open to the public for a mere P50 entrance fee.

i thought i couldn't top my '07 but 2008 proved to be another year of endless travels and 'first times'. i had return trips to cebu for sinulog and family vacations - to olango island in mactan for bird-watching, went back to clark for my 2nd year of hot air balloon fest, anilao for diving - tried planet dive and solana for the first time. for holy week i did a fun and uncharted road trip with my friends which took us camping in anawangin in zambales as our first stop, dropped by capones before heading to do another overnighter on one of the uninhabited islands of the 100 islands in pangasinan, then to la union for surfing and had our last stop in bulacan for the holy week salubong. as a break from the tiring but fun road trip, i rediscovered metro manila - spent a day in quiapo and la mesa ecopark in the succeeding weekends. no sooner had i recovered from the holy week road trip, i was off to donsol in sorsogon to go swimming with the whalesharks.

a highlight of this year is my first tubbattaha live-aboard trip - 7 days of unadulterated diving - flew to palawan to catch apo explorer, spent 7 days on the boat cruising from tubbattaha, cuyo and quiminatin islands, apo reef and then back to batangas. i took a short break from travel and tested my physical strength and endurance at the TNF100, a 100km race through the hills and mountainsides of cavite and batangas, and survived. but i really cannot stay put for long, in to time i was organizing dive trips to galera and verde island, was invited by my good friend kat to her hometown in davao for kadayawan and arranged a trek to pinatubo & side trip to the taksiyapo wall in tarlac for my best girl friends. i was quite content to sit out the remainder of the year since i've had my fair share of traveling already and loads of work came in during the last quarter (yes, despite all the trips, i work hard too!) but wanderlust truly finds me, a few days before the year ended i was invited to visit the mangyans in foothills of mount halcon in mindoro.

my only regret about all my wanderings is that i did not blog about it. yes i uploaded tons of pictures and short description from my various travels in my social networking pages, although i willingly share my suggestions for things to do, places to see & information, details and budgets for trips when friends ask for it, i just realized that it was a bit selfish of me to keep it to a chosen few. but it is never too late to change, hence this blog.

there's still so much to do and so many places to see right here in the philippines. my wandering sole has brought me to the farthest corners and yet i remain insatiable. maybe its high time to plan bigger, grander things. maybe i should go a little further. instead of round-the-corner, why not round-the-world.

oh yes, why truly not.