M/V Discovery Palawan

CEBU - MALAPASCUA - VISAYAS OVERVIEW

The Visayas region in the Philippines consists of several thousand islands. As a result, the majority of the Philippine dive destinations can be found here. We have chosen the best of these dive sites to make up an exciting trip that includes sea fan adorned walls, colorful reefs, superb macro and thresher sharks, manta rays and whale sharks. Here are the highlights:

Our first stop is the beautiful Kalanggaman. The first dive will be a checkout dive before exploring its rich walls and reefs. Guests will have a chance to lie on the beach and enjoy the tropical beach island paradise. After the second dive, we will be moving the ship to Monad shoal in Malapascua to do an afternoon dive at the manta cleaning station.

2 morning dives on Monad shoal to look for thresher sharks are in store and an afternoon and night we will move to Gato island where we will be doing an afternoon and night dive.

A 30-meter long tunnel cuts through the small island at a depth of only 12 meters. You will definitely need a torch to light up your way and watch the walls come alive with different crustaceans, sponges and colorful Tubastrea coral which bloom yellow during the night dive. Outside, you can find bommies covered in pastel shades of yellow and orange soft corals. Various species of nudibranchs including the famous Spanish dancer can be found here.

CEBU - MALAPASCUA - VISAYAS Itinerary (7D/6N - 15 Dives)

• Day 01 - Embarkation in Cebu Yacht Club between 2 - 4pm
• Day 02 - Kalanggaman (3 dives)
• Day 03 - Monad Shoal / Malapascua / Gato (3 dives)
• Day 04 - Pescador Island & Moal Boal (3 dives)
• Day 05 - Oslob & Sumilon (3 dives)
• Day 06 - Cabilao Island (3 dives)
• Day 07 - Disembarkation in Cebu Yacht Club between 8 - 10 am

Tubbataha Overview

No doubt the crown jewel of Philippine diving, Tubbataha is the only Asian UNESCO World heritage site that is marine in nature. Although open year-round, the short weather window between late march to mid-June is the only time the park is accessible to divers. This park is guarded by armed rangers 24/7 and year-round. As a result, visitors can expect to see pristine reefs, mantas, schools of fish, turtles, mantas, and whale sharks.

Giant Sea fans, refrigerator-sized barrel sponges and delicate soft corals turn the vertiginous walls into hanging gardens. Invertebrates, sponges crustaceans make the walls look like a master's mural canvas.

Highlights of this cruise include Shark Airport, which is the reef edge containing coral bommies and sandy patches where white tip sharks can be found lying in the sand, like planes at an airport. Schools of surgeonfish and snappers likewise inhabit the reef top.

Requirement:Divers must have at least 50 logged dives due to safety reasons.

Tubbataha Regular Itinerary (7D/6N - 19 Dives)

• Day 01 - Embarkation in Puerto Princesa Port, between 2 - 4pm
• Day 02 - 4 dives in TRNP (Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park)
• Day 03 - 4 dives in TRNP
• Day 04 - 4 dives in TRNP
• Day 05 - 4 dives in TRNP
• Day 06 - 3 dives in TRNP (no night dive)
• Day 07 - Disembarkation in Puerto Princesa Port after breakfast, 8am onwards

Apo Reef - Coron Overview

Apo Reef - Apo Reef Natural Park is actually the 2nd biggest contiguous coral reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef. 385 species of fish and approx 400 species of soft and hard corals make their home on this massive reef system. There is a shallow wreck completely covered with soft corals on the eastern tip. Coral covered slopes and vertiginous walls are patrolled by sharks, rays and other pelagic fishes such as tuna, mackerel and shoals of fusiliers.

During the winter months, there is a good possibility of seeing hammerhead sharks off the North Wall of Apo Mayor, the biggest island where the park rangers are stationed. There is also a lighthouse for guests to climb to get a 360-degree view of the ocean and island. The shallow reefs in front of the ranger station to the lighthouse is a wonderful night dive. The South Point is a good place to hang out to see fish action.

Apo Menor, the smaller of the 2 islands, is a favourite place for spotting schooling bumphead parrotfish.

Coron - Located n the southern side of Busuanga Island off the northern tip of the province of Palawan, divers come to Coron for 3 reasons: wrecks, wrecks and more wrecks. This is the Philippine version of Truk lagoon. 12 dive-able Japanese wrecks are available in the vicinity- victims of a fierce bombing run from the fleet of Adm William Halsey.

Favorite dives include the Sangat Wreck, Olympia Maru, Akitsushima and the Irako. The wrecks are now covered with corals both hard and soft and armaments such as machine guns can still be found.

Not only are these wrecks now part of national heritage and top tourist attraction, but they also act as fish nurseries and fish aggregating devices, as evidenced by the number of both food fish such as lapu lapu (groupers) and dalagang bukid (fusiliers)that can be found on the wrecks in great numbers. Lovely schools of friendly batfish have likewise taken up residen here as well as scorpion and crocodile fish.

Barracuda Lake - Barracuda Lake gets its name from the lone barracuda that used to inhabit the lake and is accessible only after a short stair climb built over sharp pinnacles and open to scuba divers only. The effort is well worth it as the underwater topography is spectacular as divers can swim in between pinnacle and peaks of limestone. That the waters come from an underground, thermal source, is unmistakablethe deeper one dives, the hotter it gets.

On the Southeastern side of Coron lies Gunthers Cathedral, a cavern half-filled with water and accessible only through an underwater tunnel where divers can surface to find a cathedral illuminated with shafts of sunlight coming in through the roof.

SPECIAL CRUISE Cebu Oslob, Sumilon - Apo Island - Cabilao Cebu 6D5N

• Day 01 Embarkation in Cebu Yacht Club between 2 4 pm
• Day 02 Oslob (1 dive), Sumilon (2 dives)
• Day 03 Apo Island (3 dives)
• Day 04 Cabilao (3 dives)
• Day 05 Cabilao (3 dives)
• Day 06 Disembarkation in Cebu Yacht Club between 8 11 am