The Philippines Aggressor 2 is a magnificent and modern 43m/140 ft steel hulled liveaboard. The yacht operates 7 and 10 night diving trips to Tubbataha and a variety of the best destinations in Visayas - Malapascua, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Dumaguete and Cebu. These represent much of the best in scuba diving that the Philippines have to offer - large pelagics such as whale sharks, mantas, hammerheads and thresher sharks, plus an incredible amount of macro creatures including innumerable varieties of nudibranchs, shrimps and octopus.
26 guests are accommodated in 13 cabins with ensuite bathrooms. There are Deluxe Staterooms on the lower deck, as well as Balcony Suites on the upper deck (with private balconies, of course), from where you can enjoy the picturesque seascape of the Philippine islands. Guests are attended by a liveaboard crew of 15, so you can expect the same attentive service that is characteristic of all Aggressor liveaboards.
The Philippines Aggressor 2 has a dedicated restaurant on the main deck, where meals are taken - breakfast is cooked to order, lunch is a buffet, and dinner is served tableside. The menu onboard the liveaboard is varied and the food plentiful. Some examples of dishes include Roasted Turkey with Brown Sauce, Crème Brûlée. There are always plenty of snacks available throughout the day too, such as Mexican-style nachos and carrot cake. Local beer and wine is provided free of charge throughout the cruises.
The sun deck has a hot tub and a wet bar - ideal for late afternoon or early evening relaxation. The awning covers the entire deck, but is retractable so sun worshippers can catch some rays during the day. The upper deck of the liveaboard is also a popular social area, and there is an indoor lounge on the main deck, featuring television sets and various other entertainment, such as movies, games and books.
The dive deck of the Philippines Aggressor II is wide and spacious; each diver has their own tank rack, locker, and seating area. All dives are made from the 20 ft / 6m outboard zodiacs capable of carrying 12 divers. The boarding ladders on the platform were designed for convenience to make entries and exits a breeze. Many sites in the Philippines have currents so divers should be comfortable with drift diving. A full line of Aqualung rental equipment is available aboard the liveaboard. If any of your own dive gear fails while onboard, the crew will loan you equipment free of charge, compliments of Aqualung. Sweet!
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (8 Days / 7 Nights - 22 Dives)
Trip highlights: shark action, great macro life/ marine diversity, schooling fish & big pelagics
Diving environment: advanced divers, drift diving, healthy reefs, off the beaten track, wall diving
Dive sites and activities: Tubbataha North Atoll: Ranger Station, Shark Airport, Washing Machine, Malayan Wreck, Seafan Alley, Terraces; Tubbataha South Atoll: Black Rock, T Wreck, Ko-Ok, Delsan Wreck, Triggerfish City, Southwest Wall, Staghorn Point; Jessie Beazley Reef
Day 1
This liveaboard adventure begins in Puerto Princesa, where you’ll board the Philippines Aggressor 2 and be warmly welcomed by the crew. The cruise director will introduce the team, provide a safety and orientation briefing, and walk you through the week’s exciting plans. You’ll have time to complete the trip formalities, settle in your cabin, and explore the vessel before dinner is served. As night falls, the yacht will set sail from port for the overnight journey to Tubbataha. Rest well, your diving adventure begins at sunrise.
Core Days
The Tubbataha Reefs National Park, located in the heart of the Sulu Sea, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most pristine and biodiverse marine ecosystems on the planet. Over the course of several days, you’ll dive with the Philippines Aggressor 2 across its North and South Atolls and the Jesse Beazley Reef, exploring sheer walls, coral plateaus, and drift sites that are home to extraordinary marine life. One of the highlights is Washing Machine on the North Atoll, a thrilling drift dive where unpredictable currents sweep you along sheer reef walls. Here, you might spot giant trevally, tuna, and barracuda pushing through the surge, while deeper down, grey reef sharks, eagle rays, and even manta rays glide by.
Another unforgettable site is Shark Airport, known for its large, efficient cleaning station perched on a sandy plateau at around 15 m depth. Grey reef sharks, nurse sharks, and even silky sharks often gather here, while whitetip reef sharks rest peacefully on the seabed below. At night, this site transforms: as the sun sets, moray eels, pufferfish, and other nocturnal creatures emerge, making it a favorite for night dives.
Beyond the big-fish action, the reef itself is a canvas of color and complexity. On the Malayan Wall, thick gorgonian fans and soft corals create towering underwater forests. Schools of snapper, angelfish, and grouper swirl at the base of the wall, and if you’re lucky, you may glimpse hammerhead sharks cruising in the blue. Meanwhile, Amos Rock (Southwest Rock) is covered with whip corals and sea fans, and dusk dives here are magical, dogtooth tuna, Napoleon wrasse, and giant trevally sometimes hunt along the wall’s edge as soft corals glow in the fading light.
With each dive, you’ll be immersed in a living, breathing ecosystem: highly protected, remarkably remote, and full of frequent encounters with turtles, mantas, sharks, and vast schools of pelagics.
Day 8
You will disembark the liveaboard in Puerto Princesa after breakfast and be transferred back to the local airport.
Tubbataha, Cebu, Bohol, Dumaguete & Cagayan
Trip highlights: whale sharks, shark action, dolphins, manta rays, turtles, great macro life/ marine diversity, schooling fish & big pelagics
Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers, drift diving, healthy reefs, off the beaten track, wall diving
Dive sites and activities: Tubbataha North Atoll: Ranger Station, Shark Airport, Washing Machine, Malayan Wreck, Seafan Alley, Terraces; Tubbataha South Atoll: Black Rock, T Wreck, Ko-Ok, Delsan Wreck, Triggerfish City, Southwest Wall, Staghorn Point; Jessie Beazley Reef; Cagayancillo, Bohol: Cabilao; Cebu: Mactan, Olango; Dumaguete: Siquijor, Apo Island, Dauin
Day 1
This transit trip through 2 of the Philippines' top diving regions - Tubbataha and the Visayas - begins in Puerto Princesa, where you will board the Philippines Aggressor II liveaboard. After a welcome, and safety and orientation briefing, you will settle into your cabin, complete the trip formalities, and familiarize yourself with the vessel. As the yacht departs for the overnight crossing toward the Sulu Sea, dinner will be served. A restful night prepares you for the first dives at sunrise.
Core Days
The Philippines Aggressor II begins in the Sulu Sea, where you will explore the Tubbataha Reefs National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its dramatic topography and exceptional biodiversity. Steep walls drop thousands of meters into the deep, covered with soft corals, sea fans, black coral trees, and dense growths of hard corals in the shallows. Many sites feature strong, nutrient-rich currents that attract large numbers of pelagics. Along the walls, you may see blacktip, whitetip, grey reef, and silky sharks cruising past in groups, with hammerheads appearing in the deeper blue. Schools of barracuda, surgeonfish, unicornfish, bigeye trevally, and snappers move along the drop-offs, while napoleon wrasse, turtles, and giant dogtooth tuna make frequent passes. In some areas, you may encounter manta rays circling above cleaning stations. The reef plateaus are home to swarms of anthias, chromis, and butterflyfish, adding color and movement to every dive.
You will also visit the more isolated Jesse Beazley Reef, known for its vibrant coral formations and clear water. Here, hawksbill and green turtles are often seen feeding along the slopes, while reef sharks cruise around the coral heads. This area is especially good for spotting large schools of jacks and for enjoying long, relaxing drifts along untouched coral walls.
In the Visayas, the liveaboard cruise continues through several iconic regions that offer a completely different set of experiences. Cagayancillo, a remote atoll group closer to the Sulu Sea, is known for wide coral terraces, clear conditions, and relaxed reef dives. Large schools of reef fish gather along the drop-offs, and the hard coral coverage is extensive in many areas. The terrain includes gentle slopes, walls, and coral gardens suitable for varied diving levels. Cabilao is known for its hammerhead sightings and long vertical walls decorated with sea fans and whip corals. The reef edges often attract schooling barracuda and trevally, while the shallows host turtles, batfish, and reef squid.
Apo Island brings another highlight, with sweeping schools of trevally forming dense, swirling formations around the slopes. Colorful triggerfish, sweetlips, and parrotfish are common along the reefs, and drift dives across the pinnacles reveal swarms of fusiliers and anthias. Dauin provides an entirely different style of diving: black-sand muck sites where you may find wonderpus, bobbit worms, pipefish, tiger shrimp, juvenile batfish, and countless nudibranch varieties. Frogfish in multiple species and colors are regular sightings, making it a paradise for macro photographers.
Final Day
After breakfast, you will disembark from the liveaboard in Cebu and be transferred to the local airport.
This itinerary may run in reverse, so please confirm your exact embarkation and disembarkation ports.
Cebu, Bohol & Dumaguete (8 Days / 7 Nights - 22 Dives)
Trip highlights: whale sharks, turtles, great macro life/ marine diversity
Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers
Dive sites and activities: Bohol: Cabilao; Cebu: Sumilon, Moalboal, Pescador, Mactan, Olango; Dumaguete: Apo Island, Dauin
Day 1
Upon arrival at Cebu in the afternoon, you’ll be greeted and transferred to the Philippines Aggressor II liveaboard. Once onboard, the cruise director will conduct a safety briefing, introduce the crew, and review the week’s diving schedule. You’ll then be shown to your cabin and have time to complete the paperwork, get familiar with the yacht, and settle in. Dinner will be served as the vessel departs from port. After a restful night’s sleep, your diving adventure begins the following morning.
Core Days
Your liveaboard diving cruise through the Southern Visayas promises a spectacular range of underwater experiences, combining walls, slopes, and coral gardens teeming with life. Around Cabilao Island, you’ll descend along steep walls adorned with soft corals and sea fans while keeping an eye out for elusive hammerhead sharks gliding in the blue. Smaller marine life such as pygmy seahorses, leaffish, and ghost pipefish often hide among the corals, rewarding those who look closely.
In Moalboal, the action intensifies as millions of sardines move in synchronized waves, forming immense bait balls that attract hunting trevally and tuna. Between the chaos of predators and prey, you can spot frogfish, harlequin shrimp, and a rainbow of nudibranchs along the reef slopes. At Pescador Island, expect steep walls covered in soft corals, sea fans, and overhangs filled with marine life. The topography makes every dive dynamic and full of color. In Mactan, you will explore a mix of coral gardens and walls known for clear water and vibrant marine life, including turtles, jacks, and macro species hiding among the reefs. Over at Olango, you will dive gentle slopes and coral formations home to schools of reef fish, sea snakes, cuttlefish, and occasional passing pelagics. The marine sanctuary offers calm conditions and excellent visibility.
Further south, Sumilon Island brings the chance to encounter whale sharks and manta rays, along with reefs bursting with anthias, fusiliers, and moray eels sheltering in coral heads. Apo Island, one of the oldest marine sanctuaries in the Philippines, offers magnificent coral gardens and swirling schools of big-eye trevally, while sea snakes weave through the colorful landscape. Finally, the volcanic sands of Dauin near Dumaguete offer legendary muck diving. Here, you’ll search for some of the ocean’s strangest and most fascinating creatures, flamboyant cuttlefish, mimic octopus, pipehorses, seahorses, and rare frogfish, making it a paradise for macro photographers.
Day 8
After breakfast, you will disembark and be transferred back to Cebu airport or local hotel.
Please note that this itinerary sometimes uses the port of Dumaguete, so please check the exact port of departure and return.
Southern Leyte, Malapascua, Cebu & Bohol (8 Days / 7 Nights - 22 Dives)
Trip highlights: whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, shark action, manta rays, turtles, great macro life/ marine diversity
Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers
Dive sites and activities: Southern Leyte: Sogod Bay - Napantao Fish Sanctuary, Santa Paz, Limasawa, Panaon Island; Camotes, Bohol: Anda, Cabilao, Olango, Malapascua: Monad Shoal, Gato, Capitancillo
Day 1
You will board the Philippines Aggressor II liveaboard in Cebu. The cruise director will personally welcome you, introduce the team, and guide you through a short safety and orientation briefing outlining the adventures ahead. You’ll then be shown to your cabin and have time to unpack, complete dive check-in formalities, and explore your new home at sea. As the yacht sets sail from port, enjoy your first onboard dinner while getting to know your fellow divers. Settle in for the night and rest up for the exciting dives that begin the next morning.
Core Days
This liveaboard diving itinerary with the Philippines Aggressor II showcases the very best of the Visayas region, including Malapascua, Bohol, and Southern Leyte, blending pelagic action with beautiful reefs and fascinating macro life.
At Malapascua, you’ll have the rare opportunity to encounter thresher sharks rising from the depths at dawn, along with possible hammerhead and manta sightings. The reefs here burst with life, from mandarinfish and frogfish to banded sea kraits, and schools of reef fish fluttering above coral gardens.
In Bohol, you’ll drift over dazzling coral slopes alive with color, spotting turtles, schools of trevally, and the occasional reef shark gliding by. The underwater landscape is a kaleidoscope of sponges, sea fans, and hard corals, creating the perfect stage for both wide-angle and macro photography.
Heading south to Southern Leyte, the adventure continues with one of the Philippines’ most rewarding dive regions. These nutrient-rich waters attract whale sharks during plankton blooms, offering unforgettable encounters. The area is also famed for its muck and macro diving, where divers can spot hairy frogfish, mimic and blue-ringed octopus, stargazers, xeno crabs, and countless other unusual critters hidden in the sand.
Across all destinations, the Visayas biodiversity is on full display - seahorses, ribbon eels, shrimps, nudibranchs, cuttlefish, and octopus appear in astonishing variety. Each dive brings something new, from big pelagics to delicate, camera-ready macro life.
Day 8
After breakfast, you will disembark in Cebu and be transferred back to the local airport or local hotel.
Malapascua, Cebu, Bohol & Dumaguete (11 Days / 10 Nights - 27 Dives)
Trip highlights: whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, shark action, dolphins, manta rays, turtles, great macro life/ marine diversity
Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers
Dive sites and activities: Malapascua, Gato, Capitancillo, Cebu: Moalboal, Pescador, Oslob, Sumilon, Dumaguete: Apo Island, Siquijor, Dauin, Bohol: Pamilacan, Anda, Olango
Day 1
This extended liveaboard diving cruise through the Visayas region begins in Cebu, where you step onboard the Philippines Aggressor II. The cruise director introduces the team, and provides a safety and orientation briefing. Take some time to settle into your cabin, explore the liveaboard, and feel the rhythm of life at sea. As the yacht slips out of the harbor, the coastline fades into the horizon, and a sense of anticipation builds for the spectacular marine encounters to come. Dinner onboard marks your first evening at sea, followed by a restful night’s sleep, preparing you for the underwater discoveries awaiting at sunrise.
Core Days
Over the next days, you’ll explore the central Visayas region on a circular route around Cebu Island with the Philippines Aggressor 2 liveaboard, visiting world-class dive sites along the way. At Malapascua, you may encounter thresher sharks in the early morning, alongside graceful manta rays, while the reefs teem with mandarinfish, frogfish, and vibrant soft corals. You will also have the opportunity to dive at Gato Island, a dramatic rocky islet northwest of Malapascua. This marine sanctuary is known for its underwater tunnel that cuts through the island, a 30-meter swim-through where whitetip reef sharks often rest near the exit. Craggy overhangs and cave-like formations provide shelter for sea snakes, lobsters, and a wide range of macro life such as pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, and frogfish. At Whitetip Alley, you may see sharks resting under ledges, while soft coral fans and sponges create an atmospheric backdrop along the route.
Cabilao is famous for hammerhead sharks, dramatic vertical walls, and cleaning stations bustling with wrasse and cleaner shrimp. In Moalboal, the reef comes alive with massive sardine clouds, attracting hunting trevally and tuna, creating one of the most dynamic dive experiences in the Philippines. Sumilon offers encounters with whale sharks and mantas, along with healthy coral walls rich with reef fish.
Apo Island presents huge schools of trevally and schooling predators, while the slopes and pinnacles provide excellent drift diving. For macro enthusiasts, Dauin is legendary for muck diving, where you can discover sea moths, ribbon eels, shrimps, crabs, cuttlefish, and octopus. On Siquijor, you’ll explore some of the most enchanting reefs in the Visayas. Sites like Paliton Wall feature steep coral walls covered in soft corals and sea fans, with nudibranchs, mantis shrimp, and frogfish often hiding in the cracks. In the Tubod Marine Sanctuary, gentle slopes lead to seagrass beds and coral bommies visited by turtles, ribbon eels, and bright reef fish. Night dives here reveal Spanish dancers, cuttlefish, and ghost pipefish, highlighting the island’s magical underwater world.
In Bohol, diving around Pamilacan Island offers steep reef slopes lined with soft and hard corals, where turtles frequently glide past. Around the Spanish Tower area, you can explore coral-covered terrain home to trumpetfish, butterflyfish, and various macro species. Further east in Anda, quiet and uncrowded reefs are ideal for spotting small critters and enjoying long, relaxed dives perfect for photography. Olango completes the picture with shallow reef flats and coral patches that offer calm, easy conditions and excellent opportunities for finding nudibranchs, shrimp, and other macro creatures.
Day 11
After breakfast, you will disembark and be transferred back to the local airport.
[Information is best estimate in ideal circumstances and subject to changes beyond our control. The itinerary is a guide only and may be adapted to best suit the weather, tides, currents, availability and other prevailing events. Price is for the cruise, not for an exact number of dives].
The Philippines Aggressor II liveaboard offers a satisfying blend of Filipino favorites and international cuisine, all freshly prepared by the onboard chef. Meals are enjoyed in the dining room and planned around the dive schedule so guests can relax between dives without missing any culinary highlights.
Start your day with a colorful breakfast spread of fresh fruit platters, sliced cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers, followed by hot dishes like pancakes, French toast, hash browns, or fried potatoes. Filipino classics such as garlic or fried rice, bacon, sausages, ham, beef tapa, chicken tocino, or nuggets are rotated throughout the week. Eggs are made to order, just the way you like them.
Each midday lunch begins with a comforting soup, from Crab & Corn, Pumpkin, Noodle, or Molo (wonton) Soup. Refreshing salads include Avocado, Ceviche, Carrot & Cucumber, Watermelon, or Lychee combination. Main courses showcase a variety of local and Asian recipes such as Chicken Adobo, Sweet & Sour Fish, Buttered Shrimp, Roasted Chicken, Kare Kare, Picadillo Beef, and Pork Steak. Served with rice, noodles, sautéed or roasted vegetables, or pasta sides.
Afternoon treats include cakes, muffins, plus snacks like pizza, dumplings, fries, chicken strips, or siomai.
Evening dinners begin with soups such as Sweet Potato or Minestrone, paired with fresh salads like Papaya Mix Lettuce, Salmon, or Bino Salad. Entrées often include Filipino and Western-style dishes such as Roasted Chicken, Pininyahang Manok (chicken in pineapple sauce), or Salmon Fillet. These are complemented by sides of rice, baked or mashed potatoes, vegetables, or pasta.
Desserts bring a sweet end to the day, featuring Mango Float, Tiramisu, Mango Graham.
During the liveaboard cruise, a festive BBQ night takes place, with grilled specialties such as squid, spareribs, pork belly, chicken, and Spanish mackerel, alongside potato salad, coleslaw, and grilled corn.
Guests of the Philippines Aggressor II enjoy fruit juices, soft drinks, iced tea, iced water, and coffee throughout the day. A complimentary selection of local beer and wine is available.
