Azalea Liveaboard, Philippines
- from $ 188 / day
- 8.8 Fabulous
- 16 Verified Reviews 16 Verified Reviews
- Flexible Booking
The 21m MY Azalea Philippines is a simple yet comfortable liveaboard offering week-long, year-round dive safaris to some of the best destinations in the Philippines, including Tubbataha Reef, Apo Reef and Coron. Known for pristine diving, the Tubbataha reefs are natural Marine Protected Parks located in the middle of the Sulu Sea, and only accessible via liveaboard. Abundant marine life encounters are on offer, such as manta rays, multiple species of sharks, turtles, dolphins and whales and hundreds of species of fish and coral. The Tubbataha season is only from March - June and spaces fill up fast, so be sure to book in advance!
Azalea liveaboard also offers itineraries to El Nido, Coron and Apo Reefs. This dive trip offers something for everyone. From the impressive wrecks of WWII in Coron Bay to the wealth of marine life and big-fish sightings found at Apo Reef, this is a fantastic Philippines dive destination.
Topside, M/Y Azalea Philippines caters to just 10 guests in 4 twin-bunk cabins and 1 master cabin. Built by divers, for divers, each cabin features modern conveniences such as en-suite bathrooms, AC, plug sockets and storage. Located on the main deck is the indoor dining area where freshly prepared tasty dishes will be served. This leads out to the dive deck where there is ample space for gear storage and kitting up, as well as an on-deck bathroom. The sun deck is a divers favourite hangout for unwinding with a cold beer at the end of the day whilst enjoying the sunset and discussing the day's numerous sightings.
The incredibly passionate guides and crew of the MY Azalea yacht are looking forward to sharing the beauty of the underwater world of the Philippines with fellow divers. Call us or book online today to reserve your space and start planning your Philippines liveaboard adventure.
Choose your departure date
Included: VAT, Airport Transfer, Hotel Transfer, Drinking Water, Soft drinks, Soft Drinks at Meal Times, Tea & Coffee, Welcome Cocktails, Beach BBQ, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Fishing, Cabin Towels, Deck Towels.
Required Extras: National Park Fees (75-110 USD per trip).
Optional Extras: Dive Insurance (100 USD per item), Alcoholic Beverages, Extra Dives, Nitrox Course, Private Dive Guide, Rental Gear, Scuba Diving Courses.
Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.
* Extra fees are shown per person.
Pay by bank transfer or online with Best Price Guaranteed
Boat features
Food & Drinks
If you have any specific dietary requirements whilst on-board your cruise, you can add this to your special requests on step 2 of the booking form. We advise limiting these requests to religious beliefs or food allergies.
Diving
The crew speaks English and German.
Gear Rental
There is diving gear available on this boat. Please provide your rental needs on the booking form. See below for further details on inclusions and pricing. Show prices.
Drawings & Vessel Layouts
Boat Specifications
- Year built 2018
- Length 21m
- Beam 3
- Top speed 22 knodes
- Cruising speed 12 knodes
- Engines 2
- Max guests 10
- Number of cabins 5
- Number of bathrooms 6
- Tenders 1
- Water capacity 2500
- Fuel capacity 2800
- Freshwater maker 150 Liter / h
Boat Navigation and Safety
Azalea Reviews
- 8.8 Fabulous
- 16 Verified Reviews
- Vessel 7.6
- Crew 8.9
- Food 9.8
- Diving 9.3
- Value 8.4
- 8.4 Very good
- Matt F
![United States]()
United States
Better than expected
Diving at Apo Reef was the highlight; especially the ‘shark airport’ dive site...there were probably 18-20 whitetip sharks hanging out. We had some rough/windy conditions the first night and had to take an alternate route to Apo, and ended up only doing 7, instead of 8 dives, but it was understandably the right thing to do for safety. The crew is great, and the owner was on the trip with us. Overall, an enjoyable trip and worth the money.
- Recommended for
- Diving, smaller number of guests, friendly vibe
- 8.8 Fabulous
- Ralph C
![United States]()
United States
Slow boat to Tubbataha
This is a small boat with a correspondingly small number of divers (10). On this trip we had 7, and dove in 2 groups. All were competent and neither group experienced any diver related issues. The boat appeared ready to leave port at about sundown, but the tender suffered an engine issue sometime before we were to leave Puerto Princesa, and finding a replacement and receiving coast guard clearance delayed our departure until 2 am. A storm passing to our South further delayed our arrival at Tubbataha and we missed one day of diving as a result. The Azelea promptly refunded the value of our lost dive day when we returned to port. I was berthed on the upper deck and have no complaints about the quarters. Air con was available all night, and would be switched on during the day if the crew was asked. But it wasn't necessary. The food was good, and always plentiful. The crew was awesome, and would do anything for you. The diving, as expected, was terrific, and the guides were capable, friendly, and familiar with the area. 4 dives were offered each day except departure day (2 at Jessie Beazley). Nitrox is not available, if that's your thing. This is not a luxurious boat, and not for everyone. But for my dive buddy and me, it was what we were looking for and we were not disappointed at all, except for what was mentioned at the top, and that, though unfortunate, was not the fault of this dive op. We would, and in fact might, go again with Azelea.
- Recommended for
- The diving, the number of divers, the price
- 9.2 Superb
- douglas W
![United States]()
United States
Great crew and good eats
So much marine life, truly mind boggling.
- Recommended for
- Crew, food and dive guide
- 9.2 Superb
- Avihou B
![Israel]()
Israel
Very good value for money!
The amazing dive sites with very good dive instructors the lead us there
- Recommended for
- Value for money, crew members and the boat owner
- 7.6 Good
- Günter E
![Germany]()
Germany
very nice crew, perfect dive experience, boat standard below average
The dives were very well organized. The crew tries to improve everyones dive experience individually and takes special care for private equipment. The crew is very friendly and helpful and we even had an extraordinary party with them on board! Unfortunately the boat itself is very poorly constructed: All rooms under deck are filled with dense gasoline smell from the engine room for 24 hours. Gives you nice headaches sleeping there! Every morning they switch of electricity in the rooms, which destroyed many chargers of the guests. After the shower, the floor drain in the bathroom does not work.
- Recommended for
- dive masters, crew and food
- 8.0 Very good
- dae jin K
![South Korea]()
South Korea
Good Crew Bad Cabin
a good dive a good crew a good view a lot of fish and sharks paint-smelling cabins Night Only Operating Air Conditioning Narrow space But the price is the best.
- Recommended for
- Diving people together Crew
- 10 Exceptional
- Charlott R
![Sweden]()
Sweden
Share your hobby with your teenagers is fabolous
All the laughs with the crew and the very best service To Enjoy the holiday was to die for
- Recommended for
- food, snacks and drinks, Hospitaltity from The Whole crew Privacy in the night, To Sleep in separate rooms
- 10 Exceptional
- christina S
![Singapore]()
Singapore
Cosy and enjoyable unlike bigger LOBs
Utterly satisfied with the entire crew. The Swedish family we travelled with were nice and friendly which makes the LOB cosy. I went on the LOB and actually forgot to bring the charger of my underwater camera. An American and his Philippino partner both had the same underwater camera and charger as me. I tried to borrow his charger twice but he needs to constantly use it and cannot lend to me at any point of time. Despite this, the entire crew and the rest of people on the LOB tried to find if they had any that could be used on my Olympus camera. Even though I could not take anymore pictures on the rest of my dive trip, everyone else and the crew were very nice.
- Recommended for
- Crew is good and attentive/ food is good / service is best
- 8.4 Very good
- Jacqueline S
![Australia]()
Australia
Great diving, friendly crew
The trip was great, particularly our diving with JR in Apo Reef. We had a lovely cabin on deck but be warned, the cabins below deck smell very strongly of engine fumes. If you select the upstairs cabins you will have a fabulous trip.
- Recommended for
- Crew, diving, food
- 10 Exceptional
- Arianna C
![Italy]()
Italy
Yum!
The crew was incredible. Always happy and helpful. It was an incredible and fun week. The food was glorious (I'm a vegan) and the boat was small but perfect for what we needed. Dives were great. Beautiful reefs and corals <3
- Recommended for
- Crew, dive sites, food
- 10 Exceptional
- JI YOUN K
![South Korea]()
South Korea
What a great crew!!
Ship crews were perfect to serve us. Wonderful team!
- Recommended for
- Hospitality, Foods, and Service
- 9.6 Exceptional
- Israel E
![Israel]()
Israel
Very friendly and professiinal stuff.
Although we couldn't find the giants (Whale sharks, Mantas, Open sea sharks etc.) The vacation was very succesful. It is pity and disappointing that underwater life is down going. Corals dying due to bleeching. So, we have to be more activate for Echology, and to hurry up exploring the underwater sea life, while it is there, YET.
- Recommended for
- Good atmosphere. Little & familiar group. Professional & friendly stuff.
- 7.2 Good
- Kayla W
![Canada]()
Canada
A bit disorganized after 2 years of no tours
This is a budget live aboard, so you do get what you pay for. It was the first tour in 2 years so naturally there will be some growing pains, but there are some things to consider if you are looking to book the Azalea. The boat is VERY rocky, so may not be best for those with motion sickness. As noted before the bathrooms don't drain well so my bathroom was a little lake for most of the trip. The boat ran out of water for showering and hand washing a few times for several hours. The downstairs area where there are 3 cabins can smell strongly like diesel. There were some miscommunications about timing, day 2 we expected to dive at tubbataha at 6:30am, but the boat didn't arrive until around noon (which made us miss 2 dives that day), and on the last day we were supossed to arrive to the port between 8-10am but didn't arrive back until 2:30pm (a note if you plan to fly out the same day). The crew is very new to this route, as well boats in general, so organization was minimal. I also rented gear and they didn't really have anything that fit me, I had to wear 2 booties for the foot, they only had size large flippers so the dive master gave me his medium flippers which were still too big, and there were multiple issues with BCD's and other equipment. We also would do 3 dives at the same dive site instead of going to new dive sites which was a bit disappointing. You can go on this live aboard and still have a nice thing, just take these things into consideration.
- Recommended for
- Tubbataha reef is beautiful, the food was quite good, the crew really tried their hardest
- 7.2 Good
- Solina M
![Canada]()
Canada
Unexpected weather
Summer in Palawan is supposed to be hot and sunny. But this hasn’t been an usual year. We’ve been getting rains almost daily, and did only 11 dives vs the advertised 18 dives. Some people got a deeply discounted trip and mighty not mind much, but for someone who paid the full price 2 years ago and had really been looking forwards to it, it’s a bit disappointing. We dive on 3 sites mostly, Amos Rock, South Park and Black Rock. Missed the best North Atoll because they tried to save the best for the last. Unfortunately, weather wasn’t cooperating and we didn’t get to dive the best sites. My buddy and I wonder if the trip was planned differently, could we have had a better experience? But to be fair, even the three sites we dove, the coral reef was in pristine condition and very well preserved. So definitely coming back to Tubbataha again some day. The owner and crews must have had some difficult times during the long lockdown. So I try to be understanding. I think they’re probably doing the best they could under the circumstances. Everyone was always polite and trying to be helpful in anyway they can. Hopefully weather gets better for the next group. Oh, a lucky couple on our boat did get to see a manga as they surface. We also saw some dolphins swimming not far from the boat one day. Plus the beautiful corals, not a bad trip. Just wish we did more dives after the super long and expansive flights we took getting here.
- Recommended for
- Crews trying to be helpful
- 7.6 Good
- Martin S
![Switzerland]()
Switzerland
boat is to tiny for a one week liveaboard trip
Manta, plenty of reef sharks
- Recommended for
- Food, kindness of diving guides and head waitress
