TUBBATAHA Reefs on-board the Stella Maris Explorer

14 to 20 May 2016

Pick-up and Transfers ...

After lunch, the same 1.5 hours van ride and we were back in the hotel at 1.30pm. Our original arrangement was a 4pm pickup. Hotel helped me called up Janet from expedition fleet and made arrangements for an earlier pickup at 14:30hrs. Our ride came on time and soon we were on our way :>

First look at the boat which is going to be our home for the next 6 days

Our Room A4 ...

... located at the rear of the boat on the top deck. The bottom bed was large enough for both of us to sleep in, too lazy to climb on the top deck. We had a sheltered deck with some tables right outside our door which is where I work on my camera stuff as there was not enough space in the room and the boat does not have a camera room. Each room had a regulated voltage power source, so I charging my camera gadgets was not an issue.

Briefing by Tubbataha Management Office (TMO)

Prior to leaving port, the Tubbataha Management Office had 3 staff come on-board to conduct a briefing on common park rules. Encouraging us to help report sightings of various species on our trip and sharing statistics of sightings reported by guest on the various Live-On-Board last year. Round of appluases for TMO for being a proactive park management office

The Itinerary On-board for the next 6 days ...

... nothing rocket science about live-on-board itineraries. Eat, Sleep, Dive, REPEAT. Stella Maris had 2 speedboats for diving. 8 divers each boat with at least 2 dive guides per group. NITROX was free which was great plus. The crew was enthusiatic and fun. They even handle your wetsuits after each dive (rinsed and hang up) ... so there is really nothing much you need to do, expect dry off and rush to the espresso machince :P

A compilation of Tubbataha Underwater ...

Visiting the only "building" structure in Tubbataha ... The Ranger Station

These guys stay here 3 months at a go on a structure that is maybe at best 20m by 20m

Shark research equipment ...

... belonging to "sharkman", an irish researcher who has been on the station for as far as anyone can remember

The Lucky Charm ...

... was "proven" by Sock who bought this little fellow at the ranger station, and became the only one in the group to run into a tigershark when snorkelling at T-wreck the next day :P

Snorkeling with a Tiger Shark in Tubbataha!

About Food Stuff

The routine was to eat every every 2-3 hours ...
0600 - Small pre-dive breakfast of toast, cereal and coffee
0830 - The "real" breakfast which varies daily from sausages, bacon and eggs, corn beef, congee, pancakes ... etc
1200 - Lunch
1430 - Teabreak with brownies, cakes and other sweet stuff e.g. local fried banana
1900 - Dinner

Meals are buffet style, menu changes daily with a mixture of international and local flavours ... yummy sweet chilli crabs, grilled fish, pasta, roasted duck, sauteed beef ... etc

Blue vs Orange ...

The Crowd ... a truly international breed

On this trip we had 4 russians, 3 koreans, 2 americans, 2 singaporeans, 2 brits, 2 french, 1 indonesian, 1 canadian, 1 japanese ... as mixed a crowd as it gets


7 days / 6 nights on-board the Stella Maris came to an end ... feeling tired from 4 dives a days but reluctant that it came to an end. We disembark after breakfast and our van to Port Barton was already there to pick us up.