The underwater world is diverse and amazing in beauty even perhaps surpassing the surface earth. As New York magazine Travel + Leisure compiled the best scuba diving sites in the world for 2023, Palawan’s Tubbataha Reef’s Natural Park did not escape its notice.

Tubbataha is is a protected area of the Philippines located in the middle of the Sulu Sea and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The marine and bird sanctuary consists of two huge atolls (named the North Atoll and South Atoll) and the smaller Jessie Beazley Reef covering a total area of 97,030 hectares(239,800 acres; 374.6sq.miles).

Making it to the 18th in the world (in a list of 19) is a spectacular feat but given the natural wonders it possess, it is not surprising. Travel+Liesure described Tubbataha as “At the center of the Coral Triangle, the waters of the Philippines harbor some of the best scuba diving in the world.”

Describing what awaits in Tubbataha “see 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.”

Completing the list of 19 are Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia, Palau, Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia, Maldives, Azores in Portugal, Tobago, Galapagos Islands, Cocos Islands in Costa Rica, Socorro and Revillagigedo Islands, in Mexico, Baja California Sur also in Mexico, The Bahamas, The Florida Keys in the United States, Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand, Fiji, Heron Island in Australia, Chuuk Lagoon in Micronesia, Red Sea in Egypt, and Cayman Islands.

The Travel+Liesure article was published on its website last January 2, 2023 and suggested that “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.”