Inside the UNESCO Wonder of the Philippines Tubbataha

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Far beyond the shores of Palawan and Necros Island in the middle of Sulu Sea lies one of the last truly wild places on Earth, a place untouched by crowds. A place ruled by currents, coral, and the rhythm of the ocean itself. This is Tupata Reefs Natural Park. For the next several days, our home will be a liverboard and my gypsy drifting above ancient reefs and endless blue water. No cities, no traffic, no signal, just sunrise dives, open ocean and encounters with marine life beyond imagination.

[00:00:39]Every dive here feels alive. Every descent feels like entering another planet.

[00:00:45]This isn't just a dive trip. It's an expedition into one of the most spectacular marine ecosystems in the world. Welcome to the adventure of a lifetime.

[00:01:04]Heat up here.

[00:01:30]And then we do uh alter course in Baywan straight to toata. So a little bit calm and more connected.

[00:01:41]>> Two shark airport.

[00:01:42]>> Two shark.

[00:01:43]>> Great.

[00:01:44]>> Let's go.

[00:01:47]>> All right. Today is a very special day.

[00:01:49]It is the start of Tupatage season. We are cruising right out at the Sulu Sea starting in Shark Airport. So why is it special? Well, every year we have the opportunity to go to the worldass UNESCO World Heritage site of the Philippines, the only one for underwater toa. And that season is only 2 3 months. So we'll be going here backtoback trip throughout April, May, and June. So, we're extremely excited. We have about 20hour cruise because this is our transition trip. So, a long way from Necros Island to Sulu Sea. I'm super pumped. I can't wait. We're going to start off in Shark Airport. Let's see what time we arrive.

[00:02:33]But it's going to be a good one. Look at the conditions. Let's go.

[00:02:58]What you're witnessing here is thousands and sometimes millions of small fish compressed tightly together to defend themsel from predators. From distance, it can look like a single shimmering sphere suspended in open water. Birds dive from above. Tuna slashing through at impossible speed. Dolphins circling and hurt the fish. Sharks appear out of the blue without warning.

[00:03:44]And we have officially arrived in Tubatan, the north bird island. This is a dicycle washing machine and shark airport. We were greeted with beautiful bird scenery feeding frenzy out in OPC.

[00:04:00]Probably sardines or something.

[00:04:02]Absolutely crazy. And now we're going to tie up to a moing and I get the show started. Let's go dive shark airport which is one of my favorite actually because at the starve it's very shallow and probably the healthiest sorry the healthiest coral I've seen in the Philippines beside maybe apple. So uh it is absolutely stunning. Just crystal clear. Look at that guys. Wow.

[00:04:31]>> Enjoy the dive.

[00:04:37]Let's go.

[00:04:54]They don't want us.

[00:05:18]Hey there.

[00:06:06]Baby, Baby, good night.

[00:06:44]Awesome dive. Sharks, pumpets, big school of jacks, >> everything.

[00:06:53]>> Full program.

[00:06:54]>> Wow.

[00:07:01]>> Here we are once again in Tupai season.

[00:07:04]The first three days were fantastic.

[00:07:07]Although we didn't see the big pelagic which we normally do in early in the season, the fish line, the sharks, the corals, it is unrivaled here in the Philippines.

[00:07:18]Just absolutely stunning.

[00:07:21]And every trip we go visit the ranger station. We can say hi to them. They have some merchandise to sell to the tourists.

[00:07:31]What a feeling being here in middle of the ocean, the most remote place in the Philippines. Holy quaga.

[00:07:42]Everybody taking pictures.

[00:07:45]This is nice.

[00:07:52]>> Habun.

[00:07:54]Habun. Yes. Bisay or Tagalog?

[00:07:58]>> Po. Okay.

[00:08:03]No, how are you guys?

[00:08:15]You want to play, sir?

[00:08:16]>> No, no, it's okay.

[00:08:17]>> Ah, here it is. Here it is.

[00:08:19]>> You want to play basketball?

[00:08:20]>> It was there last year.

[00:08:27]Imagine this view every day, guys.

[00:08:42]>> Oh, it's nice to come here. All right, time for this one of the most epic walks you can have here in the Philippines.

[00:08:51]The Tubata National Park UNESCO World Heritage Site Ranger Station Sandbar during sunset and low tide.

[00:09:07]Diving in Tupata Reeves Natural Park feels like entering in a place that was never fully touched by the rest of the world. The first thing most divers notice is the water clarity. On good days, visibility stretches so far that it feels like you're floating in air instead of water. Sunlight cuts down in bright blue columns, and beneath you, the reef drops into deep ocean walls that seem endless. Then the scale hits you. Schools of Barakura move like silver tornadoes. Giant revalis patrol the current. Reef sharks cruise calmly at the edge of visibility. Sea turtles drift past with almost no effort.

[00:09:49]Sometimes you hear dolphins before you see them. Everything feels alive, but balanced, not crowded, not chaotic.

[00:10:04]Dupatar Reuse Natural Park sits far out in the Sulu Sea. You're aware that you're hours away from city, signal, traffic, and noise. On a liverboard trip, days start blending into sunrise, dives, salty air, and star-filled nights. Many divers describe it as a less as a vacation and more as a temporary escape from modern life.

[00:10:32]You drift on the reef's edge on a dive and watch pelagic fish fly past like a aircraft in a blue sky. Your breathing becomes the loudest thing you hear. time slows down.

[00:10:48]What makes it unforgettable for many divers is that the reef still feels generally healthy. Huge hard corals, dense fish population, and predators at the top of the food chain create the feeling of seeing the ocean closer to how it used to be centuries ago.

[00:11:05]It's not just beautiful, it feels rare.

[00:11:15]After a few days, the time starts feeling fluid. You stop checking your phone because there's often little or no signal. Salt dries on your skin constantly. You begin measuring the day by tights, currents, and marine life encounters instead of clocks. There's also a stronger feeling of isolation and privilege in Tupata specifically because access is seasonal and remote. It feels like entering a protected world few people ever see.

[00:11:47]The reefs are healthier, fish life is denser, and the encounters with sharks, rays, turtles, and massive schools of fish feel less staged and more wild.

[00:11:59]The underwater world of Tupata Reeves feels like entering a vast self-contained ocean kingdom that never sleeps. For days you are surrounded entirely by the open Sulu Sea. No cities, no shorelines, just deep blue water stretching in every direction. The first descent is often unforgettable.

[00:12:21]The blue slowly opens beneath you and then the reef appears almost suddenly.

[00:12:28]Massive coral walls exploding upward with color and life. Hard coral spread like underwater forests. Soft corals sway in the current like fields in the wind. And farther out beyond the coral slope, the open water feels alive with possibility. At night, the sea turns black and endless beneath the boat. And somewhere below the reef continues hunting, feeding and moving in the darkness.

[00:13:18]And with over a decade diving in the Philippines, one animal stands above the rest, and that is the mighty largest fish in the ocean, the whale shark.

[00:13:54]Heat up here.

[00:14:13]Heat.

[00:14:16]Heat.

[00:14:26]The reefs in Tupata are unmatched. It is like going back in time. This is one of the greatest earth's examples how ocean used to look like. And to top it all off, at the very last dive of the trip, and I thought I seen it all, the biggest schools of fish I've ever seen.

[00:14:48]Heat up here.

[00:15:26]Wow, what a last dive of the trip. The biggest schools of jacks I've ever seen.

[00:15:33]All right, we're about to wrap up the trip on our way back from Kaga and Silio heading straight to Sipalai after six awesome days in Tubata and Kagilio. For me personally, my favorite dive of the trip was actually the last dive in Kagan and Silio because our group uh we're split in two groups every dive and we got to see the biggest schools of Jack I've ever seen in my life. Bigger than in the park. I have to say thank you very much to Robert Wilping and the team of Vero Dive. But we started in Darwin all the way up to Malita. We had the model was diving through the sardines was amazing with bions. Then we went to Malabosco. We did amazing dives with the treasure sharks. We get bamboo sharks.

[00:16:23]We get jacks as well. We just had one day diving. We loaded with diesel with food at the same group all the way from Darwing to Dubada. Then we did first the north, we did the south and now Gakayan the trip was just amazing. Everybody super happy from bottom of our hearts.

[00:16:42]We want to thank our guest friends and family around the globe for choosing us and hopefully this video you were able to sort of join us on this adventure on board and my gypsy. So, we'll see you guys on the next trip.