World Of Scuba Diving

Wreck Diving in the Philippines

September 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Wreck scuba diving in the Philippines has been popular since World War II, when many boats from the Japanese Imperial Navy were sunk around the Philippines by the USA. In fact, every year thousands of people go on scuba diving vacations to the Philippines to see these wrecks.

There are certain scuba diving travel destinations that are more popular than others, due to a greater number of more interesting dives. Coron Bay is one of the favored diving resorts, not just in the Philippines but in all of South East Asia due to an abundance of wrecks in that area, many of which are in good condition. It is located in the Busuanga islands in North Palawan. It has twelve sunken ships all in conditions suitable for diving and clear water, giving great visibility. The best diving season in Coron is from May to October, when visibility is at its highest and underwater conditions are perfect. This is also the time when the best tropical marine life can be seen.

The best known diving site around Coron is the Olympia Maru, an old Japanese warship sunk during the Second World War and it is largely still intact, making for a very interesting dive. Due to its great size, the ship could only be fully explored in two or more individual dives. It is filled with exotic marine life and to many it is the best area to go wreck diving in the Philippines.

Many people interested in diving in the Coron Bay area do not choose to stay on Coron Island but instead stay on the tiny Filipino island of Sangat, approximately two kilometers away from Coron Island. Sangat is a popular choice of tourist resort as the tourist trade there is aimed almost entirely at divers, with the facilities to meet diver’s needs.

With a wide number of diving courses available in Coron, such as the PADI Dive Center, it is a good place to learn to dive from the many instructors available for hire. Many of the boats from the Japanese fleet were sunk in this area and some of them are quite easy dives, suitable for beginners, although there are others which may only be suitable for more experienced divers.

Coron features many other attractions to divers and tourists alike with limestone cliffs, unspoiled beaches and freshwater lakes with hot springs.