Diving Japanese Shipwrecks in Coron, May 13, 2008

Adult Batfish on the Luzong Gunboat


Left: The Olympia Maru before it sank.
Late on the afternoon of September 23, 1944, Fast Carrier Task Force (TF) 38 under the command of Vice Admiral "Bull" Halsey positioned itself for an attack on a Japanese supply convoy hiding in Coron Bay. At 5:50am on September 24, 1944, 180 Hellcat and Helldiver planes lifted off the American fast carrier force ship stationed in the Leyte Gulf of the Philippine Sea and headed off on the 350 kilometer flight to Coron Bay. This was to be the longest carrier based attack ever carried out. At 9:00am a wave of bomber planes burst out of a cloud bank high above Coron Bay and commenced their rapid descent towards their unsuspecting targets. After a frenzied 45 minute attack the planes left, leaving behind at least 14 sunken ships. 10 aircraft attacked the Olympia Maru; the fourth apparently scored a direct hit perhaps on a fuel tank, and the engine was disabled. At 1:30 pm there was a raging fire--the ship started sinking and at 2:26 pm she went down stern first, taking with her 19 Japanese sailors.


I dived three of the wrecks sunken by the US in 1944: the Olympia Maru, the Taiei Maru, and the Luzong Gunboat. The Olympia Maru, the deepest of the three lies at about 35 meters under water. Coron is slated to have the best wreck diving in the world, but I confess that I was rather disappointed--I had never done a wreck dive and I expected it to be more about the variety of marine life than about exploring the wreck itself. But apparently, wreck diving is all about exploring the wreck. The wrecks are nearly intact, however poor visibility makes it difficult to appreciate the wreck in its entirety or to get a sense of how massive the ships are. While it is pretty cool to be on a World War II ship, one probably needs some understanding of ship building mechanics to really “ooh and awe”—apparently the Olympia had massive boilers—and while I’m positive I floated in front of them I have no idea what a boiler is or what it looks like so sadly, the excitement was completely lost on me. There were plenty of fish, but nothing I hadn’t already seen while snorkeling in Port Barton. Since the Filipinos haven’t been throwing cyanide at the wrecks, the coral is more varied and diverse than on the reefs. Coron Town itself is a bit of a hell hole. The town is dirty and miserable and completely devoid of charm; apart from wreck diving there is nothing to do. There is however a cool fish market, except that you have to pass through the pig slaughtering market first. But I got a lobster for $1.75 and they cooked it at my guest house for free. That rocked.

Travel Tips:
Where to stay & dive: Sea Dive is the top diving resort in Coron. Accordingly, so are their prices. I stayed at the Sea Dive lodge which has overpriced small rooms with bedbugs, private bath, and fans for 600 pesos (approximately $13) (yes, I did say bedbugs, but this is the nicest place to stay in Coron and the others are simply grim.). Book in advance if you want A/C as they have very few rooms available. Sea Dive has one redeeming quality: a wi-fi enabled restaurant that overlooks the sea. It makes your (non-diving) time in Coron bearable. I did my dives with Cal Divers (up the street from Sea Dive)—it is the cheapest place to go in all of Coron; they charge 2800 pesos ($61) for three dives compared to 4000 pesos ($87) at Sea Dive. The wetsuits and BC’s are rattier, but they do the trick.

Gear you’ll need: It is worth investing in diving gloves or staying far away from the diving lines when diving the wrecks. The lines are full of tiny poisonous organisms (perhaps tiny jelly fish?) that will sting you hundreds of times on your hands (8 days later my hands are still itching uncontrollably and I have teeny tiny little blisters everywhere).

Getting there: The cheapest way to get to Coron from El Nido is via Atienza Shipping Lines, they run a cargo boat that operates on Fridays from El Nido to Coron and on Wednesdays from Coron to El Nido. The boat costs 950 pesos ($21) and leaves at midnight (saving you a night of hotel costs). There are small cots on the boat but they are usually below deck, where only Filipinos that are used to heat can bear to sleep. The cots are arranged in three rows with no space in between the cots at all. Imagine a refugee camp. Unless you get there super early (circa 8 or 9pm) expect to have to crawl over families of Filipinos, their chickens, TVs and children to find an extra spot. If you are lucky, the cargo boat won’t be carrying any cars and you can throw your mattress pad on the main deck and sleep under the stars with the dogs and other livestock. On all other days except Wednesdays you must shell out 2200 pesos ($48) for a bench spot on a Banca. Don’t drink too much water as the trip lasts 8 hours and the banca has no toilets.