Philippine Wreck diving in Subic

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. IMG_1422 2.jpeg Over the years storms have reduced much of the wreck and buried it in the sand but the boilers and some of the heavy iron ribs and plates of the bow and stern remain. P3230001 2.JPG

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.IMG_1426 3.jpeg The El Capitan is a popular wreck with divers because of the sheltered water and shallow depth there is plenty of opportunity to safely penetrate the wreck and lots of dive time to do it in, even on a single tank.
P3230037 2.JPG

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. IMG_1424 3.jpeg
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. P3240104 2.JPG

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.P3240105 2.JPG

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 P3230092 2.JPG
Kune's Chromodoris (I think)P3230101 3.JPG
Scorpionfish. A face only a mother could love.
P3230082 3.JPG

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.

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