Subic bay the old home of the US fleet in the Philippines is a great wreck diving spot. One of the attractions is the variety of wreck sites that is hard to find anywhere else and all at very accessible depths.
Wrecks range from the San Quintin scuttled in 1898 by the Spanish to block a narrow channel into the bay during the Spanish American war.
A more modern wreck is the El Capitan. An American transport ship sunk in a storm after the war and now lays on her port side in about 20m of water.
The largest wreck in Subic is the USS New York a battleship launched in 1891 that saw service in WW1. Scuttled in December 1941 to prevent her capture by the Japanese she now lays on her port side in about 30m of water.
One unfortunate consequence of the scuttling is it's location, very close to one of the rivers that feed Subic Bay, as a result the visibility is usually very poor and green as you can see from the photo, this was considered a good day to dive her.
It is a pity as this would be a spectacular wreck in clear water. As it was you could not even see the full length of the 8" guns that she carries.
As a complete contrast to the mighty battleship The Barges are a sunken landing stage in shallow clear water near Grange Island. This site slopes from 5m down to 34m is a real haven for wild life and a favourite of all of the dive centres around Subic as there is so much life to see, making it great for underwater photography or just a rummage round. Here are just a few of the inhabitants.
Leaf Scorpionfish
Kune's Chromodoris (I think)
Scorpionfish. A face only a mother could love.
In addition to the these sites there are also a couple of LSTs and aircraft in the bay but I was not able to dive those so all the more reason to go back once we can travel again.
I hope you Hivers enjoyed this little dive into some of the sites in Subic Bay one of the best wreck diving sites in the Philippines.
