Dive Sites in Tubbataha (Palawan), Philippines
5 dive sites in Tubbataha (Palawan)
A UNESCO World Heritage site in the middle of the Sulu Sea, accessible only by liveaboard and open just four months a year. Tubbataha delivers pristine vertical walls, multiple shark species, mantas, and fish biomass that dwarfs anything on the Philippine mainland. The premium destination for serious divers. Browse all Tubbataha dive sites below.
Amos Rock is one of the premier wall dives at Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site sitting in the middle of the Sulu Sea, 150 ki...
Black Rock is a small, dark pinnacle rising from the depths near Tubbataha's South Atoll, and it's the site most likely to produce encounters with the...
Jessie Beazley Reef sits alone in the Sulu Sea, a submerged atoll separated from the main Tubbataha atolls by 20 kilometres of open ocean. It's the mo...
Shark Airport is a flat, sandy area on Tubbataha's North Atoll where sharks gather in numbers that explain the name. The 'airport' is a reference to t...
Wall Street drops vertically from a shallow reef top into the deep blue of the Sulu Sea, and it does so with a perfection that makes you wonder if som...
Open ocean, no land in sight, anchored over a reef that drops into the abyss. Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the middle of the Sulu Sea, accessible only by liveaboard and open for just four months a year (March to June). This is the Philippines' premium dive destination, and it earns that status on every dive.
Two coral atolls and the Jessie Beazley Reef make up the park, covering nearly 100,000 hectares of protected marine area. The walls are vertical and spectacular, dropping from reef top at 3 metres to beyond 100 metres in a sheer face crusted with hard corals, gorgonian fans, and barrel sponges. Sharks are the headline act: whitetip, blacktip, grey reef, hammerheads, and whale sharks all patrol these waters. Manta rays, eagle rays, and large schools of barracuda and jacks complete the pelagic lineup.
What makes Tubbataha diving exceptional is isolation. Sitting 150 kilometres southeast of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, the park sees limited visitor numbers (around 30 liveaboards operate permits each season). The result is reef condition you rarely find elsewhere in the Philippines: pristine, largely untouched, with fish biomass that dwarfs anything on the mainland.
Liveaboard trips typically run 6 to 7 nights, departing from Puerto Princesa. Expect to pay $2,500 to $4,000 per person depending on the boat. Flights to Puerto Princesa connect through Manila or Cebu. The diving suits confident intermediates and above; currents can be strong along the walls, and some sites require blue-water descents. Visibility regularly exceeds 30 metres, often reaching 40. Water temperature stays between 27 and 30°C.