Dive Review of Philiipines Aggressor in
Philippines/Visayas

Other Philippines reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Philiipines Aggressor: "Big Boat, Little Stuff, Macro Dream", Aug, 2023, by Thomas Smith, MO, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 12546 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	We did the 10 day Visayas 360 itinerary. The boat is huge at 135', with 12 staterooms, 3 on the upper deck with small balconies, 4 on the main deck with large picture windows, and 5 on the lower deck with the usual porthole. While holding a maximum of 24 divers, our trip had only 11 divers booked, 3 of which cancelled at the last minute leaving the crew of 14 only 8 divers to look after. We were there during rainy season, so skies were often overcast with some rain many days. It was plenty warm on the surface, and water temperatures hovered around 84F, though a bit cooler on a couple of dives. I wore my 3mm the first dive then wore only a 1mm the rest of the trip. Service was typical of an Aggressor, with a solid safety briefing, twice a day room servicing, and plenty of help on the dive deck. The Cruise Director Talal, from Egypt, knew his stuff and went out of his way to ensure guests had what they wanted and needed. The dive masters were good at pointing things out underwater. Deck and skiff crews were plentiful and helpful. I thought the food was a bit below Aggressor standards on this trip, perhaps due to the #1 chef being off the boat, or maybe just my personal food preferences. Since they usually service 24 divers, there weren't eggs or omelets to order, but some kind of eggs were usually included in the buffet. Breakfast and lunch were serve yourself buffets, with plated service at dinner, and snacks between dives when there wasn't a meal. Several guests had dietary restrictions and the gallery staff seemed to do a great job accommodating them. There was no shortage of things to eat ever. The diving was a macro lover's dream, with tons of nudibranchs, anemones with their attendant clownfish, lots of little shrimp and crabs in the coral and sea fans, and plenty of odd creature in the muck. One diver thought she had seen and photographed over 30 species of nudibranchs. We saw blue ringed octopus, mantis shrimp, razor fish, pygmy and large sea horses, etc etc. We got to see thresher sharks on several dives, and numerous turtles. Some divers claimed to have seen a manta in the distance. Soft and hard coral were abundant and seemingly healthy. I was somewhat disappointed in the scarcity of tropical fish on many dives, although we did spend a lot of time on the walls. The last day at Hitutungan we finally found what I think of as Pacific diving, with scores of species plying the sunlit coral gardens. The big disappointment was missing the whale sharks at Oslob due to it being closed, this after the authorities had told us the prior day that we would permitted in, and steaming overnight to get there!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Belize, Cayman, Dominica, Saba, Bonaire, Fiji, Cocos, Galapagos, Palua, PNG, Solomons, French Polynesia, Socorro etc etc
Closest Airport	Mactan/Cebu	Getting There	LA to Manilla to Cebu for us.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Mostly macro.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 615 dive reviews of Philippines and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Philippines Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Philippines
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Philippines reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.17 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Philiipines Aggressor in Philippines/Visayas

Philiipines Aggressor: "Big Boat, Little Stuff, Macro Dream", Aug, 2023,

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 Philiipines Aggressor in
Philippines/Visayas