Seadoors Philippines
My wife and I made our trip to Tubbutaha with Seadoors March 10th to March 16th 2018. Our pick up from our hotel was prompt and on time. We found the entire crew quick to introduce themselves and learn our names. The owner Pierlo was on board and very engaged with the guests also making many of the dives with us. Our cabin number three was at the front of the ship on the lower deck, it was cleaned daily and everything worked properly from the A/C to the shower. We had no problems with the toilet either, all experienced liveaboard customers know what I'm talking about!
In the main salon there is a dedicated camera and charging area with 220 and 110 volt receptacles, so no fear on charging batteries. There are also two rinse tanks dedicated to cameras on the main dive platform and two showers for after each dive. All dives but one of ours were made from chase boats. The crew handles getting your tanks, BC and fins on and off the chase boats.
The guests were split into two groups and given colored tags for there BCs indicating their group. Each dive briefing was given in English and French and that was also how our groups broke down with 8 divers in each group. One group got ready first and on their chase boat before the second group to help keep dive deck space open. The groups rotated each day who went first. We found the briefings to be well done with safety a priority which is good because this location is rather remote. We had two dive masters in the water on most dives the second one usually stayed up higher and behind the group. On the first dive all divers are required to send up there SMB's. I thought this was a great idea due to the remote location of the diving and possibility of strong currents which my wife and I did not experience on this trip.
As I am usually taking pictures, my wife and I made a lot of our dives away from the group and given all the freedom we wanted, this is a big plus for photographers. We made 4 dives a day and 3 on the last. The 4th dive each day ends as a night dive. We used nitrox all week and there were two testers on board; the average % was 32. The boat is also set up for people diving re-breathers also and the owner Pierlo made all of his dives on a re-breather.
By the end of the trip my wife and I were looking forward to hearing the bell ring to say it was time to eat. We were both left amazed that Anthony, the cook, could produce such high quality food out of such a small galley. The food is served buffet style. It was a fusion of French, Philippino, Asian and American with a Mexican night thrown in for good measure. We all ways found there to be plenty of food for every one.
My wife and I do not drink alcohol when on a dive trip but I would venture to say this French owned boat may have the best Belgian beer and French wine selection in the Philippines all reasonably priced self served on an honor system. The owner took all of his meals with the guests and an excellent host he was. On two evenings a projector screen was set up on the top deck under the stars and Blue Planet episodes shown great touch.
So what did we see? As expected very healthy corals vast fields of hard and soft popping with life, with reef fish of every shape and size. White tips and gray reef sharks on pretty much every dive. Manta rays on both of our dives at Black Rock. We had great dives with whale sharks at Jessie Beazly reef at shallow depths making for great photos. My wife and I had a great hammer head swim up from behind us and glide past with in 10' At a depth of 70' on one wall dive off of the south atoll our first! The amount of action at Delsan wreck required two dives: white tips, gray reefs, huge tunas, schools of jacks, eagle rays all concentrated on one dive. Tubbutaha may not be known for macro but we still found ghost pipefish, whip coral shrimp, numerous crabs, nudis and gobies.
My wife and I were very happy with the quality of diving and the pelagic marine life on offer. The exposed remote location of this site makes it suitable to more advanced divers; the trip was well worth it to my wife and I. Seadoors runs a solid professional operation at a very reasonable price. I would recommend this trip to any serious diver or photographer.
