Freediving in Tubbataha Reefs:

Philippine's Pride

Imagine dropping into the middle of the Sulu Sea and looking down into 20–30 meters of clear blue water.

Below you, a huge school of barracuda is turning in perfect formation. Beside them, reef sharks are moving through the blue. Bumphead parrotfish are scattered across the reef, and somewhere in the distance, a turtle passes by.

There is no coastline in sight.

Then you realize something else.

You're not swimming back to the boat.

You're drifting.

For almost 90 minutes, the current carries you along the reef while the dive boat follows from the surface.

This is Tubbataha Reefs by freedive.

And it is very different from the kind of freediving most people are used to.

Tubbataha Reef Is Not an Ordinary Dive Destination

Tubbataha Reef Natural Park sits in the middle of the Sulu Sea, far from the nearest island. The remote location is part of what makes the area so special, but it also means getting there is an adventure in itself.

From Puerto Princesa, the boat ride takes roughly 10 hours.

Most people know Tubbataha Reef as one of the Philippines' premier scuba diving destinations. Freediving there is less common, especially because conditions can be very different from a typical training dive or shore dive.

There is no beach nearby. No fixed line. No easy way to simply swim back to shore.

And depending on the site and the day, the current can range from almost nothing to strong enough to make you work hard just to get back to the boat.

Ms. Val of Azul Freediving visited Tubbataha Reef in May 2025 aboard MY Palau Sport. She also happened to have a dive buddy during the trip—her roommate, a professional freediver.

That part was pure luck.

It wasn't something arranged specifically for the trip. They just happened to be on the same liveaboard, so having an experienced buddy for the freedives was a fortunate coincidence.

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MY Palau Sport: Our Home in Tubbataha Reefs

For the Tubbataha Reefs trip, MY Palau Sport was was our home for the entire trip.

For several days, everything happened onboard—sleeping, eating, resting between dives, preparing for the next dive and watching the open ocean from the deck. With Tubbataha Reefs so far from land, the liveaboard becomes your hotel, restaurant, transport and base all in one.

This 38-meter steel-hulled, twin-engine yacht was designed specifically as a dive vessel, with space for up to 24 guests. It has 12 cabins—nine twin-berth cabins and three queen suites—and every cabin has its own ensuite bathroom.

But what stood out most for a diving trip was the amount of space dedicated to the actual diving.

The dive deck is large and well organized, with 24 individual dive stations, personal storage areas for gear, rinse and wash basins, showers, wetsuit hanging areas and air nozzles for cleaning equipment. The deck also has easy access to the smaller chase boats, so divers can get in and out without having to deal with steep ladders.

MY Palau Sport has several areas where guests can relax between dives, including the dining area and open decks where you can sit and watch the sea. After spending hours in the water, being able to come back onboard, eat, rest and then prepare for the next dive made the long days much easier.

And there was a lot of eating.

The routine quickly became dive, eat, sleep, repeat. There was a light breakfast, another proper meal, snacks between dives, lunch, more snacks and dinner. There were vegetarian options as well as chicken, beef, pork, fruits and desserts. One evening, the crew even prepared a BBQ on deck.

After several days of this routine, Ms. Val joked that she had gained around 2–3 kilos.

The food was definitely not helping the diet.

The Chase Boat

The actual freediving setup was separate from MY Palau Sport.

A smaller chase boats accompanied the liveaboard and was used to bring the divers to the starting point of each drift. Once the freedivers entered the water, the chase boat followed them on the surface throughout the dive.

This was particularly important for freediving.

For example, on one of the longer drifts, the freedivers were dropped at the farthest end of a reef section and allowed to move with the current. The chase boat stayed with them as they drifted along the reef, while MY Palau Sport remained the main home and base for the trip.

This setup meant the freedivers didn't have to worry about swimming all the way back to the liveaboard after every drift. The smaller boat could stay close, pick them up when needed and keep track of their position while they explored the reef.

Special thanks to John, Edwin and Paul Loeffel, the new owner of MY Palau Sport, and the entire crew for taking care of us throughout the trip and making our time onboard comfortable.

For those several days in the middle of the Sulu Sea, MY Palau Sport really was our home in Tubbataha.

The 10-Hour Journey to Tubbataha Reefs

Our journey to Tubbataha Reefs started at night. We left Puerto Princesa aboard MY Palau Sport, allowing us to sleep while the boat made the roughly 10-hour crossing. The goal was to arrive early, have breakfast, prepare our gear and be ready for the first dive instead of spending the morning still traveling.

Sleeping on a boat in open sea is a very different experience from sleeping on land. As the night went on, the waves became stronger and you could really feel MY Palau Sport moving side to side with the sea. You could hear the waves hitting the hull, and at times the movement was strong enough to make it difficult to sleep. With no land or islands nearby, it could feel a little scary, especially when you woke up and remembered that you were in the middle of the Sulu Sea.

Fortunately, MY Palau Sport is a 38-meter steel-hulled, twin-engine dive yacht, built for extended trips in open water. The cabins are also located above the main deck, giving us another level of separation from the sea below. Combined with the size and construction of the vessel and the experienced crew, it made the rough crossing feel much more reassuring.

Freediving and Diving in Tubbataha Reefs

Once we started diving, the schedule was simple: dive, eat, rest, and dive again. The freedivers and scuba divers were generally dropped at the same starting point and followed the same direction with the current.

While the scuba divers descended to around 20–35 meters, the freedivers stayed mostly on the surface, following the drift. This meant we were able to cover the same reef area without needing to stay at depth for the entire dive.

Visibility during our dives was around 20–30 meters, which made a big difference for freediving. Even from the surface, we could already see large reef formations and spot marine life below. Sharks, barracuda, turtles and schools of fish were often visible before we even made a descent.

When something caught our attention, we could take a breath and dive down for a closer look, then return to the surface and continue drifting with the current.

On some sites, the current was gentle enough that we could simply stay on the surface and observe. On others, it was much stronger, and the difference was obvious as soon as we entered the water. The current could carry us along the reef with very little kicking, but it could also make it difficult to change direction or return to the boat if we were not positioned correctly.

This is one of the things that made freediving in Tubbataha Reefs different from a typical freedive. We were not spending the whole dive swimming from one point to another. We were moving with the reef and the current, watching what appeared below us and making short descents whenever we wanted a closer look.

Who Can Freedive in Tubbataha Reefs?

For a first Tubbataha Reefs trip, we recommend being very comfortable diving to around 10 meters and staying there for a good amount of time. You don't necessarily need to be a deep freediver to enjoy the reef—many of the incredible encounters happen well within that range.

A longer, relaxed breath-hold becomes more useful because of the current. When you want to descend to a particular reef or animal, you may need extra time to get into position and still have enough breath-hold left to return comfortably to the surface.

And you really don't need to go very deep to see something.

Having also scuba-dived in Tubbataha Reefs, Ms. Val and her dive buddy actually felt that she saw more animals while freediving. From the surface, you can already spot sharks, barracuda, turtles, and schools of fish moving across the reef since the visibility is very good. When something catches your attention, you simply take a breath and descend for a closer look.

So for Tubbataha Reefs, it isn't necessarily about how deep you can go. Being comfortable around 10 meters, having a relaxed longer breath-hold, and being confident in open water can be much more useful.

And because conditions can change from one dive site to another, having people around who already know the area can make the experience much easier and more enjoyable.

Marine Encounters in Tubbataha Reefs

The first thing that stood out about diving in Tubbataha Reefs was the sheer amount of marine life. Even while staying near the surface, there was always something to look at below.

The dive schedule allowed the scuba divers and the two freedivers to enter the water from the same starting areas and drift in the same direction. While the scuba divers explored deeper sections of the reef, usually around 20–35 meters, the freedivers could stay near the surface and watch the activity below, making a descent whenever something caught their attention.

Hundreds of Bumphead Parrotfish

The number of bumphead parrotfish was another surprise.

There were hundreds of them in different sizes, from juveniles to very large adults. They were spread across the reef, so seeing them was not limited to one particular dive site.

Bumphead parrotfish are also important to the reef itself. They feed on algae and scrape and bite coral while feeding. The material they process eventually contributes to the sand produced around coral reefs.

Among the other fish spotted during the dives were juvenile Napoleon wrasse, along with large areas of staghorn coral filled with smaller reef fish.

Sharks and Barracuda

One of the most exciting encounters was a school of barracuda alongside a group of reef sharks.

The barracuda were holding their position while the sharks moved around the reef. They were not reacting to the divers; they simply continued swimming around the area, sometimes passing close to turtles.

From the surface, the barracuda could already be seen below. A quick descent brought the freedivers closer before they returned to the surface and continued drifting.

The barracuda aren't moving. The ocean is.

That became very noticeable when the current was strong. The animals stayed in the same area while the water continued carrying the freedivers along the reef.

Even the Surface Had Wildlife

The marine encounters were not limited to what was below the water.

While drifting between sections of the reef, seabirds would sometimes fly surprisingly close to the freedivers. They would circle overhead or skim low over the water before moving away.

Tubbataha is also an important seabird breeding area, with several species nesting on its small islands. For the freedivers, spending so much time at the surface meant these birds became part of the dive experience too.

Between the sharks, barracuda, turtles, bumphead parrotfish, trevallies, reef fish and seabirds, there was very little time spent simply looking at an empty stretch of ocean.

The Malayan Wreck

The Malayan Wreck offered a completely different type of dive site.

The wreck itself is not particularly large, but the marine life around it made the site interesting. The wreck lies in the North Atoll and is associated with a deeper section of reef.

Around the wreck, there were giant trevallies and sharks resting on the sandy bottom, while smaller reef fish moved around the structure.

The freedivers could look down toward the wreck from the surface and then make a descent when they wanted a closer look.

The wreck was interesting, but the animals around it were just as much a part of the dive.

Discovering What We Have Here at Home

Trips like Tubbataha Reefs are also a reminder that some of the world's most incredible marine destinations are right here in the Philippines.

It is easy to look overseas when planning the next big adventure, but places like Tubbataha Reefs show just how much there is to discover in our own country. The sharks, barracuda, turtles, huge schools of fish, coral reefs and the sheer remoteness of the park are experiences that many people travel far to find.

As Filipinos, we should know these places, experience them, and be proud of what we have.

There is so much beauty in our own waters—and Tubbataha Reefs is one of the places that makes it very easy to see why we should love our own and be proud of it.

Join Azul Freediving in Tubbataha Reefs in 2027

After experiencing Tubbataha Reefs in 2025, Azul Freediving will be heading back in 2027.

The next trip will be planned around what makes Tubbataha different from an ordinary freediving trip: several days living aboard a dive vessel, multiple dives each day, open-water drifts, changing current conditions and plenty of time in the water.

It is also a destination where the logistics matter. The crossing takes hours, the reef is far from land, and the conditions can change from one dive site to another. Having a proper liveaboard, experienced crew and reliable surface support makes a significant difference.

For those who have always wanted to see Tubbataha Reefs while freediving, Azul Freediving's 2027 trip will be another opportunity to experience the reef from the surface—and then dive down into it when something catches your eye.

Sharks. Barracuda. Turtles. Hundreds of bumphead parrotfish. Giant trevallies. Coral reefs. Strong currents. Long drifts.

And several days of waking up in the middle of the Sulu Sea with nothing but Tubbataha Reefs ahead.

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