Discovery Palawan, Filipinas

Good Times in Tubbataha

The staff on Discovery Palawan made this trip comfortable and easy. There was plenty of food between dives. You will not go hungry. The diving was varied and well organized.

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Manta Ray, Sharks, & Coral Gardens

Hi end ship at a reasonable price

Seeing Marble Rays up close and a great group of divers

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Big boat, great food, attentive staff

It's a shame they use 2-stroke motors

The use of 2-stroke boat motors on its 3 inflatable dive tenders makes Palawan Discovery customers party to the exhausting of (lubrication) oil directly into the ocean and onto the reef. Great crew, great diving, but please DP - ditch the 2-strokes, as a favor to everyone and everything.

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Lots & lots of passenger space, top-notch tank fills, and ... there's a bar!

Great friendly people

The crew friendliness and attention was spot on. The food was great with 3 main course options every night. Their dive site maps where excellent and DM very specific with inflatable captains on drop points.

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Happy Hour, Great knowledge of dive site, Served buffet style alfresco dinning

Superb Experience!

The staff were incredibly attentive, personable, and helpful, including everyone from the stewards to the divemasters. For example, within hours of stepping onto the boat, every staff member greeted me by my first name and asked if I needed anything! The Discovery Palawan is a big boat, 150 feet long, and my first LiveAboard Experience, so I had a lot of questions. I was always treated respectfully and never dismissively, even though I was one of more than 30 guests. The food was endless; early breakfast, full breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner as well as a bar area. At every meal there were at least 3 main dishes and all the food was thoughtfully presented and tasted great (I am not a "foodie" and was impressed!). The ship itself is not brand new and shows some wear and tear but my quarters were great (small private room in middle of ship on lower level with its own air conditioning and bathroom). Of course, the diving in Tubbataha is wonderful but maybe a little disappointing as the water was not crystal clear as it appears in many videos and the schools of fish less prominent than I imagined. We had one Manta Ray encounter and no whaleshark encounters. We did see sharks on most dives, including white tip, black tip, and grey reef sharks, but no Tiger or Hammerheads. At times, there were too many divers at each divesite, which I mentioned to the organizers. A dozen or more divers at a dive site almost guarantees that some creatures will be scared off and diminishes the dive experience. I was told that there were limited dive sites and because of currents it was difficult to space out the divers but I think this could be improved. I shoot underwater video and it was challenging to obtain great "National Geographic Quality" videos as part of a dive group of 5 or 6 divers. The divemasters were very attentive and helpful with gear, setting it up before each dive. Nitrox percentages were a bit variable (32% could be 31% or 33% and had to be confirmed before each dive, but this is routine practice anywhere). I always dove on Nitrox and found it preferable to air (less fatigue and longer bottom times). There were always tanks ready to go and equipment was never broken (if it was, it never interfered with my diving experience). This trip is not for a newly certified diver as there may be strong currents and there's a lot of putting on and taking off equipment, sometimes in very deep water where dropping a weight belt or camera would be a problem. While most diving is at 50-70 feet, I went to 100 feet on a few dives to film some sharks. I also found my shipmates to be very courteous and interesting and fully enjoyed their company at mealtimes and breaks. It was fun to meet new people who all love diving! As it turned out, I was the only US citizen on board, the rest were Filipinos with the exception of 3 Israelis, so it was a great international experience. I would highly recommend Discovery Palawan and would return again, although next time with my own divemaster to have time to shoot more unique footage. N.B. There is no cell phone signal and no internet at the reef, which means 5 days or so of digital isolation! You may want to download some movies before you go! (I returned to Palawan and 1,700 emails waiting...so you might want to budget some recovery time after your trip.)

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Personalized service, Fantastic Food, Well-organized diving

Excellent service - the crew were very friendly and punctiluous

Tubbattaha! The place itself was the highlight of the trip

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the diving experience, food and service