down to 28 m
Shark Airport
Named for the whitetip sharks lined up resting on its shallow plateau like planes at an airport.
- Advanced
- Whale sharks
Tubbataha
Diving in Philippines
8 documented dive sites. Known for manta rays, blacktip reef sharks and grey reef sharks.
- Best months
- Mar–Jun
- Water
- 27–30 °C
- Levels
- Advanced
- Diving from
- Liveaboards
Photo: Ron Van Oers, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, via Wikimedia Commons
When to go
Pick a month: the diving season, from published sources, and the typical weather.
Pick a month
- Best
- Good
- Possible
- Closed
- Not documented yet
Tubbataha in October
Usually closed- Sea
- 30 °C
- at the surface
- Air
- 29 °C
- 27 °C at night
- Rain
- 310 mm
- one of the wettest months
- Wind
- 15 km/h
- on average
Typical weather, not a forecast: averages for 2021–2025 (air, rain, wind) and 2023–2025 (sea), data from Open-Meteo (ERA5 / Copernicus, Météo-France). Covers an area of roughly 10 to 25 km around the destination.
Liveaboard-only park, open March to June.
Usually closed or not dived: Jul–Feb.
Dive sites in Tubbataha
From the easiest to the most demanding. Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still verifying.
For Advanced divers
usual dive down to 30 m5 sitesDrift
Black Rock
Drift a sloping plateau and wall past whitetip and grey reef sharks, with a manta ray cleaning station nearby.
- Advanced
- Manta rays
down to 50 m
Jessie Beazley Reef
- Advanced
- Manta rays
Washing Machine
Currents meet and change direction at this north-east corner, where mantas, eagle rays and even whale sharks pass.
- Advanced
- Whale sharks
Wall
down to 60 m
Wall Street
- Advanced
- Groupers
Level not documented yet
3 sitesMarine life
When the big encounters happen, month by month.
Reported here, season not documented yet:
- Manta rays
- Blacktip reef sharks
- Grey reef sharks
- Whitetip reef sharks
- Turtles
- Eagle rays
- Tuna
- Barracuda
- Trevally
- Nudibranchs
- Groupers
- Moray eels
- Napoleon wrasse
- Snappers
- Whale sharks
- Hammerhead sharks
- Nurse sharks
- Silky sharks
- Tiger sharks
- Guitarfish
- Frogfish
- Pygmy seahorses
Where is Tubbataha?
- How people dive here
- LiveaboardsLiveaboard only
Tubbataha: frequently asked questions
- When is the best time to dive Tubbataha?
- The best months to dive Tubbataha are Mar–Jun. Diving usually stops in Jul–Feb. Liveaboard-only park, open March to June.
- Is Tubbataha good for beginner divers?
- Not really: none of the 8 dive sites we document is rated for Open Water divers. Plan an Advanced certification and some experience first.
- What is the water temperature in Tubbataha?
- The water is usually between 27 °C and 30 °C over the year.
- What marine life can you see in Tubbataha?
- Divers regularly see manta rays, blacktip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, turtles and eagle rays.
- How do you dive Tubbataha?
- Diving here is done from liveaboards only.
About this page
Seasons and marine life come from the sources below. Site levels and depths marked as estimated come from our original catalogue and are being checked one by one. Conditions change: always confirm with a local dive centre.
Your next dive is somewhere out there.
Find my next dive tripPhoto credits
- Sandbar and lagoon at Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Ron Van Oers, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunlight and bubbles in deep blue water, Sarah Lee, Unsplash License, on Unsplash
