Sometimes called the Truk of the Philippines Coron Bay has some very interesting wrecks.
Flying into Busuanga Island is quite entertaining, the runway is an old Japanese airstrip and really rather short. It is not built for big jets and all the planes landing are smaller turboprop type. It was good of the pilot to give a warning that noise levels would increase as the props reverse, but he could have said something about standing on the brakes too, there were a few screams. Another word of warning, baggage weights are limited if the plane is full so pack light. The airport is about about 40minutes from the town and the ride is a bit bumpy so go before you get on the bus or it could get messy.
The are a few places to stay and dive but my choice was Discovery Island Resort based on Dicanituan a small island about 10 minutes bangka ride from Coron Town, the rooms were basic but everything worked, not always the case in the Philippines. The food was good, the beer cheap and they had WIFI so what's not to like. They have an excellent dive centre too and can accommodate technical divers if that's what your after.
The wrecks are more spread out than Truk and the bangka ride was often over an hour to the main sites, but the sea was as smooth as glass in the bay so this really wasn't a problem for even the worst of sailors. The usual plan was a 3 dive trip, 2 deeper dives in the morning, a light packed lunch soft drinks and a shallow dive in the afternoon. There were usually a few cold beers in the cool box for the trip back to the resort so good planning from the bar staff.
Because of the bay and generally muddy bottom diving the wrecks in Coron is a bit like UK wreck diving in warm water, it's a bit green, visibility isn't always great. The wrecks are quite silty too so once your inside it's easy to kick up the silt and reduce your view to next to nothing. Most of my inside photos really suffered from backscatter. There were supposed to be 24 ships sunk by the Americans during the raid in September 1944 but only around 12 have been found so far so who knows what may turn up in the future. Most of the wrecks were partly salvaged in the 60s and while this has removed some interesting items they were mostly after non ferrous metals so the main structure of the ships is still there and the salvage has opened them up so penetrating is easy.
Like Truk most of the ships are merchant freighters or tankers. The only real odd one out is the IJN Akitsushima which was a seaplane tender for the large Mavis flying boat. On her Port side in just under 40m of water the Akitsushima is a big wreck about 120m long and 16m wide. The dive boats tend to tie off to the stern so you descend onto the large gantry used to lift the flying boat aboard.
A complete contrast the the Akitsushima is the Luson Gunboat, this tiny 40m long submarine hunter sits close to shore in a maximum 20m of water most of it much shallower. The wreck is very open and plenty of light floods in.
With the abundance of soft coral it's more haven for small fish of many kinds.
A great opportunity to take photos of the many different types of anemone fish that have made this wreck their home.
Not a wreck dive but if you are in Coron you really must dive Barracuda Lake. This is one if the most bonkers dives in the Philippines. The small inland brackish lake with a sulphur layer around 35m. Accessed by a short walk from the landing area. The odd thing is the this dive gets hotter as you go down the surface was a pleasant 28deg rising to almost 38 deg at 30m so no need for wetsuits. Thermoclines mark the temperature changes so your head can be cool while your body is hotter. The bottom of the lake isn't silt but a kind of jelly really odd. No photos unfortunately as it cooked my camera :(. No barracuda but there small fish and crayfish that have adapted to the temperature.
That's it for Coron I hope its wetted your appetite for some wreck diving, I'll be going back once we get the chance to start moving around again.
