Photograph © Dennis Champ
Diving with us
Wrecks – Ormoc Bay
As a strongly contested archipelago for over 800 years the Philippines holds all kinds of secrets for the avid wreck diver. Unfortunately time, and some help from the local hooker divers, has left few remnants of the really old wrecks, but we are lucky to have access to numerous relics from the 2nd world war until now
Malapascua
Our local wrecks in Malapascua are quite private as not many other divers are going deep, or penetrating inside of ships.
The "Pioneer" - 55m Within just 20 minutes of the diveshop we are able to regularly enjoy a great wreck known locally as the "Pioneer". Little is known about the wreck as it has not even been fully identified, but it is believed to be a Japanese gunboat sunk in 1944 during the return of the American forces. Sitting upright on a 55m bottom this is a great technical dive, and there is lots and lots of marine life that now call the wreck home. Although a small wreck of only 60m length the bow is still imposing with the 2 anchors stowed as they were when she sank.
The Pioneer has access to some of the lower deck levels where you can see debris from the ships action days; and at the stern you can enjoy trying to tell if there really is a stern gun there. Drop down over the stern to see the still intact propellor, slightly stuck in the sand.
Dona Marilyn Ferry Wreck - 32m As Typhoon Ruby lashed the Philippines on October the 23rd 1988, an inter island ferry travelling from Manila to Tacloban was caught in her fury. The 98m long Dona Marilyn now lies in 32m on her starboard side, and has gained an amazing coverage of large black coral bushes, which give a multitude of hiding places for all kinds of marine life.
The Dona Marilyn sits lightly on the sand and the bow and stern both rise neatly up creating interesting areas to swim underneath and hunt out the resident marble rays, big snappers, and schooling grunts. If you choose to take a look inside you can follow companionways which run almost the entire length of the ship; you exploration here will guide you past the bunk beds of the 3rd class areas, and into the large restaurant area aft of the wheelhouse. Weaving deeper inside the wreck you can find your way to the cargo holds which are a poignant reminder of the people who lost their lives, luggage is strewn around and you can see remnants of childrens nappies, flip flops, and various other personal belongings.
Get really deep inside the wreck and penetrate the engine room, where all the usual working of the ship can be seen, and you can follow hatches out to other part of the ships interior.
We regularly make trips to Subic Bay on Luzon, and Coron bay in Northern Palawan which are both well known homes to US and Japanese ships from the war. These locations are more often visited by recreational and technical divers so expect to bump into more divers there.
Strangely enough the fiercest naval battle that took place in the Philippines is rarely talked about
The Battle of Ormoc Bay saw some of the mightiest ships of the period going head to head in the shadow of the mountainous jungle. Stretching from the beginning of November 1944 until the liberation or Ormoc city on December 10th that year, the Japanese and US both saw losses and victories in the struggle over Leyte Island. We are now priveledged to be able to dive on some of these wrecks in the calm waters of the tropics
Ormoc Bay
This large expanse of water to the West of Leyte Island is our favorite wreck destination in the Philippines. No one else has been diving there, the wrecks are untouched, and the conditions are generally good
Due to the nature of Ormoc Bay most of the wrecks are deep. This means their integrity still remains to allow you a very special experience. Our current list of wrecks is always growing so check back often for our new finds:
The Pier wreck – 25m Great for training, close to land, can suffer from bad viz
The barge – 45m Very friendly groupers
Lockheed PV-1 Bomber VPB-137 – 60m A great find in awesome condition. See http://dd-692.com/pv1.htm for the full story
The coal wreck – 85m A longer trip to a great wreck sitting upright on the bottom with lots of inhabitants and a wheelhouse untouched since the day she sank
IJN Hamanami – 90m A Yugumo class Japanese destroyer. Sunk by aircraft of TF38 on 11-11-44
Unkown WWII merchant ship – 94m
IJN Kuwa – 100m A Matsu class Japanese destroyer. Sunk by USS Allen Sumner, USS Cooper and USS Moale. Commander Yamashita killed in action
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© Matt Reed
© Matt Reed
© Matt Reed
