Palawan Tubbataha Reef Liveaboard — 5 Days

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site sitting alone in the middle of the Sulu Sea, is widely regarded as the finest diving in the Philippines. This five-day liveaboard sails overnight from Puerto Princesa and delivers up to four days of pristine wall and drift diving on reefs so remote and so well protected that the marine life is genuinely staggering.

Expect to see grey reef, white-tip and black-tip sharks on virtually every dive, with hammerheads and the occasional tiger shark cruising in the blue at depth. Vast schools of jackfish and barracuda swirl over the drop-offs, while giant trevally, tuna, manta rays and green turtles round out the cast. Visibility regularly exceeds 25 metres in warm 28 to 30 degree water, with mostly gentle drift dives along sheer coral walls.

Because Tubbataha is exposed open ocean, the park is only accessible during the calm-water season from March to June, when every liveaboard in the country runs its trips. This is bucket-list diving for certified divers who want walls alive with pelagics and reefs in near-perfect condition.