Dive Review of Expedition Fleet/Stella Maris Explorer & Oceanic Exp in
Philippines/Tubbataha

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Expedition Fleet/Stella Maris Explorer & Oceanic Exp, Mar, 2010, by Robert Flatt, HI, US ( 1 report). Report 5410.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	1) Stella Maris Explorer – Transition trip, Batangas to Puerto Princesa. The transition trip offers dives at Apo Reef, Cuyo Island, and four days at Tubbataha Reef; however the Stella Maris was too slow to make the trip to Tubbataha as well as stop for two days diving along the way – so we missed Cuyo and I felt we had been misled. It could have been worse; the Pacific Explorer had engine trouble and didn't leave port at all. The Oceanic Explorer made the same trip and we saw her every day. Apo Reef is an atoll with healthy colorful coral, and nice diving; five kinds of anemone fish, anthias, snappers, sweetlips, and the like. Tubbataha in the middle of the Sulu Sea and consists of two atolls with steep walls, it is a 'Nature Park' and open about 3 months of the year in the spring. When the current was running, about 1/3 of the dives on this trip, it was a blast. Grey reef sharks, whitetips, big dogtooth tuna, great barracuda, schools of yellowtail barracuda, schools of chevron barracuda, and schools of bigeye jacks. On the east side of the atolls the face of the wall is sometimes broken by slopes which disrupt the current flowing along the wall and here is where the bigger fish gather for what can be electric action. I really enjoyed the diving on this trip because of these drift dives. When the current is not running the diving is less interesting. Still we saw skittish eagle rays, a couple of mantas (one wrapped in line and dying), a nurse shark, sleeping whitetips, blue spotted rays, and marbled rays. Plus the usual array of little guys, though nothing out of the ordinary. Diving was from two tenders each with about ten divers and two dive masters; too many divers on each really. The best I can say is it worked OK but with so large a group there was not much opportunity to stop and look at something for a while, and everybody came up together. The boat offers 45 minute dives usually 5 times a day, except on the last day when there is no night dive and the two afternoon dives may be unavailable due to flight times. Divers typically wore 3mm full suits; I was fine in my worn 2mm shorty though the thermoclines were obvious. The Stella Maris was reasonably spacious with 21 passengers but the dive deck is small, after a day we got the rhythm and it was comfortable. Food was cafeteria style and people were happy; as a vegetarian I had to pick what I could and did OK – I had requested veggie meals when booking and also on arrival on the boat but nothing special was provided. One accident occurred because an electric rotary fan was jury rigged in the kitchen porthole; a passenger walking on the gangway outside the kitchen had her hair caught and wrapped in the fan. A passenger on the Oceanic Explorer during the same week had part of a finger crushed between the boat and a tender. These were two reminders that boats on the open ocean can be dangerous places. 2) Hotel Moana, Puerto Princesa. I spent two days and one night in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. The hotel was basic and clean, a 20 peso (about 50 cents) ride on motorbike/trishaw taxi into town. The hotel has a small dive shop with rental gear; some of this gear required adjustment when used by two divers on my next boat. Not really a tourist town Puerto Princesa is clean and has a few restaurants, banks, a café, and stores; half of the vehicles are motorbike/trishaw combinations and crossing the road takes courage at first. My debit card worked in one of the ATMs and dinner in a restaurant named Kalui was excellent for both vegetarians and fish eaters. 3) Oceanic Explorer – Tubbataha Reef from Puerto Princesa. This trip is the same as the as the last part of the trip on the Stella Maris – four days at Tubbataha Reef. The management of the boats is essentially the same, the crew are always helpful and the dive masters very competent. However the weather was different this week. A perhaps 15 to 20 knot north-east wind blew up creating two to four foot swells that were too much for the fully loaded tenders. We were shut out of the best sites where the current is found. During the one opportunity we did have the two liveaboards dumped five tender loads of divers (about 50) on the same site at the same time in a perhaps 2 knot current; a scheduling and dive group management disaster. So the lee side of the atolls provided the diving, but for me the walls sometimes going from 10 ft to blackness got old after a while, I skipped some dives. Still it was all worth it for the sighting of a Zebra Shark. The Oceanic Explorer is smaller than the Stella Maris but carries more passengers, on this trip twenty nine – several of which had transferred from the still absent Pacific Explorer. The only chairs were on the dinning deck area, between dives you end up sitting at the dinner tables. Dive sites are the same as those visited by the Stella Maris Explorer, but from three tenders all usually visiting the same dive site at the same time (perhaps on this trip because of the weather). The Borneo Explorer and the Atlantis Azores were also seen during this trip. Between the wind and the number of divers this liveaboard carries I did not enjoy this week as much as the previous one.
Websites	Expedition Fleet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Scotland, Caribbean, California, Socorro, Galapagos, Hawaii, Solomon Islands, PNG, Australia, Indonesia.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-150 Ft/ 15-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	45 minute dives, every body in group comes up together.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Expedition Fleet/Stella Maris Explorer & Oceanic Exp in Philippines/Tubbataha

Expedition Fleet/Stella Maris Explorer & Oceanic Exp, Mar, 2010,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Expedition Fleet/Stella Maris Explorer & Oceanic Exp in
Philippines/Tubbataha