Palau Sport, Philippines

Enjoyable transition trip, bit chaotic though

The good stuff: Interesting variety of sites - beautiful reefs at Tubbataha and Apo, interesting coral formations around Coron, barracuda lake with its big thermocline, three good wrecks, and some excellent macro in Puerto Galera to finish, with only one disappointing site on the trip. Staff are all nice and a couple of times went out of their way to make the experience as good as possible. Great group of guests too. So, good diving and nice people, which are the things that matter most! The not so good stuff: It was all a bit chaotically run. Before the trip, the person running the email was not very responsive at all. We weren’t given clear updates each day about the schedule, which changed a lot. The only daily briefings were dive briefings, and I’m still not sure who the cruise director is. We only did 7 dives over 2 days at Tubbataha, yet 4 days’ diving were scheduled, which was a bit disappointing. The morning we were supposed to dive with dugongs was a complete disaster (we didn’t end up diving at all and wasted the whole morning) and should have been so simple - the dugongs were there, and we could have just had a quick snorkel with them. I don’t think this is the crew’s fault though, and it’s just due to silly local regulations. The boat is mostly fine, but the toilets in rooms do smell terrible I’m afraid. Overall, good trip, although some room for improvement. Sorry to seem critical, just want to give honest feedback so the trips can be even better!

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Diving, guests, staff

体验很好的一次船宿

看到了很多很多鲨鱼和海龟，非常蓝，能见度好到到了30m还以为在10m

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1.很友好很贴心很靠谱的crew；2.超好的能见度和夕阳；3.非常不错的食物

Dive, eat, sleep, repeat ;-)

The entire dive trip was a highlight. 18 dives on a top spot. Thanks for everything :-)

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highly motivated crew and guides. Good food and service. Clean and new cabins

Bittersweet

Once we finally got to Tubbahata after a 2 day delay in port, the diving, service, staff and amenities were very good. One point of concern was with nitrox: I was asked why I was the only person verifying my nitrox levels which seemed like an odd question because it is my responsibility. Glad I did so since I found significant discrepancies on several checks. On other liveaboards we were in charge of checking our own set up which I think is good practice. The corals, wildlife and marine diversity was terrific! The divemasters were all very good, friendly and competent. Upon return to port and in navigating compensation for the lost dive days while some nice gestures were made the manager unfortunately threatened to detain me with the coastguard because we disagreed on an item. While I understand that we all faced difficult situations differently, that was not a good decision in my view. Once cooler heads prevailed however we were able to agree. Despite all this I recommend this new liveaboard for all its qualities and I am convinced that they have learnt a lot from this trip.

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The beauty of Tubbataha, the food and the staff

Tabbataha

We had a wonderful time visiting the most significant dive sites at Tubbataha Reef. The service was very good, the crew helpful and the divemasters are capable professionals.

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Dive sites, servive of the crew and the diveguides.

Safety a priority

Too many sharks, including juveniles to keep track of. Huge schools of travelly & snapper. Healthy, vibrant reefs with tons of marine life & corals. Fantastic friendly & approachable staff who were eager & happy to look after us. Both owners are on board & lead guides so they are on top of things!

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1) Large, powerful, & stable boat. 2) Dive guides kept guest safe in strong & unpredictable currents 3) Fantastic big diving