I took a trip aboard the M-Y Infiniti Liveaboard to explore Tubbataha Reef. Tubbataha Reef is located in the Sulu Sea and about half a day’s boat ride from any major town. Due to the lengthy crossing from Puerto Princesa, Tubbataha Reef can only be accessed via liveaboard, and the season is limited to late March through early June. Tubbataha Reef is made of two coral atolls: the North Atoll and the South Atoll.
Starting from Puerto Princesa, we took a 12 hour boat ride to the North Atoll, dove for a couple days, went to the South Atoll to dive for a couple days, then finally dove at the nearby Jessie Beazley Reef on the way back to Puerto Princesa.
Tubbataha Reef was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and is the only World Heritage site in Asia that is marine in nature.
The dive sites visited on this trip included the Malayan Wreck, Amos Rock, Shark Airport, and the Ranger Station on the North Atoll. On the South Atoll, we visited Southwest Wall, Staghorn Point, Delsan Wreck, and Triggerfish City. On the way back, we dove a couple of sites on the Jessie Beazley Reef located northwest of the North Atoll. Given the topography of Tubbataha Reefs, most of the dives were spent with the first half along a wall, ranging from 60 to 105 feet, and the second half on top of the reef.
Tubbataha Reef was a great opportunity to practice wide-angle shooting, with a focus on big reef scenes, turtles, schooling fish, and sharks. I shot only a couple of dives with macro lenses, with the highlight being the yellow pygmy seahorse.
Lastly, we were fortunate to be diving with Brandi Mueller, a world-class photographer, who captured this shot of me photographing a friendly turtle.
