Palawan’s pride, Tubbataha Reef Natural Marine Park, is named one of the ‘Best Scuba Diving Destinations’ in the World by a New York-based magazine Travel + Leisure on January 2, 2023.
According to UNESCO, the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park covers 96,828 hectares, including the North and South Atolls and the Jessie Beazley Reef. It is a unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species; the North Islet serving as a nesting site for birds and marine turtles. The site is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 100-m perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands.
Travel + Leisure Author Terry Ward highlighted that Tubbataha Reef has “more turtles, rays, and sharks than you ever imagined all in one place on incredible reef and drift dives, Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, in the Sulu Sea near the Philippines’ westernmost province of Palawan, makes for an extraordinary adventure.”
“Visit the region by liveaboard on a dive trip on All Star Infiniti that departs from Puerto Princesa on the Palawan Islands, a pretty spectacular destination of its own,“ says Ward.
Among the list of the top scuba diving destinations in the world by Travel + Leisure included the Maldives, The Cayman Islands, The Bahamas and more.
Tubbataha Reef Marine Park has been declared as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1993 and also by ASEAN Heritage Park in 2015. (GATS/PIA MIMAROPA)
