2000 Chapbook

Major dive areas are concentrated around Batangas, Mindoro, Palawan, and the Visayas.... The reefs here are among the most diverse and most threatened in the world, supporting more than 2000 species of fish (the Great Barrier Reef, by comparison, supports around 1500); however, up to 70 percent of Philippine reefs are dead or dying.... The best diving is in the Sulu Sea, which can only be accessed by live-aboard....

Big Blue Explorer(Scuba World-Manila), April 1999, Jim N. Parkhill (Scuba7056@aol.com), McAllen, TX. Vis: 75-125 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Rainy, cloudy. Water: choppy, currents. Restrictions: 130 ft. depth recommended but not enforced, safety stop enforced, no time limit. Two large rinse tanks and large camera table on dive deck. Fully equipped lounge with charging station, work tables, VCR, etc. No on board processing or photographer expertise. Crew good at handling cameras for divers. Big Blue departs from Puerto Princesa, Palawan for a 7 day itinerary to the Sulu Sea. 167 ft. converted Japanese navy observation ship is extremely spacious compared with most live-aboards. Dive deck is roomy with an abundance of storage and hanging space, 6 fresh water showers, camera tanks and tables. Cabins vary in size, but all are spacious with en suite full bath and air conditioning. No hot water, but a hot tub for the post night dive chills. Covered open air bar on the bow and an upper sun deck. Small but comfortable lounge has the usual amenities. Surprisingly small dining area consists of no-frills bench seating and a serve yourself buffet. Food is wholesome and adequate but won't win an ovation for the chef. Dinner fare can be picked over by the time the night divers return. Normal trip is 18 divers in 9 cabins. Only 9 divers on our trip, so 5 singles were given separate cabins. Other cabins below and apparently Big Blue has booked Japanese groups of over 40 divers. Crew is friendly and efficient. Dive deck crew knock themselves out to please, literally pouncing on returning divers to assist them with gear and peel off their wetsuits. Crew rinses and hangs gear and wetsuits. Three divemasters. Boat manager/dive master Vio Casingal is as good as they come and has knowledge of sites that comes after spending years in the area. Enthusiastic spotter but no hand holder. Inconspicuously keeps tabs on divers but imposes few restrictions. No dive time limit but prefers the group surfaces together to make it easier for the banca driver to spot divers. Important given the rough seas, rain and cloudy weather. Other two divemasters (Craig from Canada and Heidi from Norway) recently arrived from Phuket and though pleasant and fun, were learning the sites. Unseasonable rains produced complaints from a couple of professional photographers on board because of less than optimum lighting but otherwise did not mar the diving. The 7 days begins with two days at Basterra Atoll. Sometimes tricky current there (called "El Presidente"). East side of Basterra has an infamous downcurrent, where a couple of wrecks lie in shallow water. White tip sharks are common on every dive and there is an abundance of eels, lobster, turtles, barracuda and reef fish. We encountered resident manta rays on five of the eight dives. One put on a show while we were on the surface for as long as we remained in the water. Tip: for this eventuality, carry a snorkel. Next two days spent at South Tubutaha Reef. Dive off the SW corner near the lighthouse (five stars). Began with a wall full of beautiful soft corals and enormous sea fans. Schools of tuna passed in parade. Above and below were vast schools of jacks, batfish, sweetlips and surgeons. White tip sharks on solo tours everywhere. Several graceful eagle rays and too many turtles to count. Top of the wall produced an incredible variety of reef fish along with a couple of fat nurse sharks under a ledge. The remaining dives at South Tubutaha were good but the best was yet to come. North Tubutaha the most consistently excellent diving. White tip and black tip sharks too numerous to count on every dive...both at depth off the walls and on top of the reef. Grey reef sharks and nurse sharks from time to time. Although used to diving with sharks, this diver found those at Tubutaha a disconcerting at first. My experience is that sharks either ignore the diver of hightail it at the sight of him. But these Tubutaha made observation passes, sometimes making a 180 degree turn to come back for another look or sometimes coming up or going down to my depth for a closer look. Eventually I got used to this and just assumed that since the area sees few divers, the sharks were merely curious. North Tubutaha treated us to schools of big fish and pelagics virtually every dive. On two successive dives we encountered a whirling cloud of jacks numbering in the thousands. We delighted in photographing one another disappearing into the funnel cloud as if we were bound for Oz. These two days gave us plenty of turtles, different kinds of rays, monster groupers and the occasional Napoleon Wrasse. The tops of the reefs were teeming with reef fish, small critters and acres of garden eels. Only the current determined whether a dive would be great or merely very good. The only exception: Black Rock (Ahmos Rock) is a wasteland of bleached coral and little marine life. Jessie Beasley Reef was also a bit of a let down. According to Vio, La Niña, typhoons and persistent dynamiting have taken a toll. On three occasions underwater, we could hear dynamiting. Still, the area teems with marine life. It's a sanctuary but the manpower is not there to police a large area. A Vietnamese boat was caught fishing and his permanent solution was not just fines and jail but they scuttled his ship. All things considered this trip was a delightful surprise. The Sulu Sea doesn't get the kind of dive mag exposure that Micronesia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Maldives get, but it deserves to be included in that company. And on the big Big Blue, if the diving gets boring, you can always get in a little jogging around the deck. (Telephone: 888-552-5502; Phone/Fax: 877-348-3475; e-mail: diveisles@aol.com; website: www.scubaworld.com)