Guide to Coron Wreck Diving and Photography

Nanshin Maru Wreck was a Japanese Freighter which can be found 22M off Black Island.  Thick soft and hard coral growth envelopes the wreck inside out

Mark was a batchmate during my PADI IE who gave me a quick message over FB sharing, "do you want to make some money?"...two days later, I found myself living in Coron for more than a month.

Air Juan flies daily to Busuanga Bay Lodge, currently my home at the moment where I'm getting the opportunity to explore diving Coron on a daily basis

I was always intrigued with Coron but I was not really a wreck fanatic, but like beer, it first tastes  funny but after a while,. you need you're fix every now and then.

Clear visibility of the Morazan Maru, a wreck diver favorite in the area

There is so much information about Diving Coron out there but to date, I've yet to see a defining visual as most pictures of the wrecks were from the inside and small portions of it's exterior, very understandable as the visibility can be quite challenging. caused by northern wind swells and the numerous patches of pearl farms which just ruin the visibility during harvest, plus most wrecks in the area exceed 100M in length, Wrecks in Coron are huge. Visibility will be at 8 meters on an average day which improves to around 14M on lucky days.

 

Students explore Morazan maru's Cargo area

While I was on a scuba instructor role with BBL Divers till March 1, 2018, I tried to find time to take photos of the wrecks I would come across when the shop had a light day. On my final two days, Mark of BBL Divers gave me time to take photos of more wrecks which they will be using said images as dive collaterals for Adex, Dema, DRT and other dive shows happening around the world.  Busuanga Bay Lodge Divers just opened in December and it's quite busy nowadays on a daily basis.

one fine clear day of Morazan Maru's stern side perspective

Anyway, here are some of the most visited wrecks in Coron by seasoned dive tourists in the area (shared images of Nenshin Maru and Morazan Maru already). Expect more than 8 boats in a day per dive site with probably 10 divers+/- exploring the shared wrecks. The only wrecks I havn't been on is the notoriously deep and challenging wreck Irako which took a soul late last year but here are some visuals with an attempt to visually define the most visited wrecks in the area...

Akitsushima is a Japanese Battleship which launched seaplanes via crane. It's so huge the diver (left of photo) looks like but a speck of dust

Aircraft Guns off the Akitsuhima Wrecks

Huge crane which used to take down Japanese seaplanes off the cargo holds for take off

Terukaze Maru is an easy dive which starts at 10M, located off the shores of Sangat Island

   
Easy swim throughs where a periscope and a furnace greet you during penetration dives

Shofu Maru Wreck is your best starter Wreck Dive. You can see the stern portside during low tides

Easy shallow swim throughs await within the Shofu Maru gunboat wreck

Shofu Maru is the shallowest of the wrecks where the stern touches the surface during low tide and is a great spot for snorkelers

Okikawa maru is one of the prettiest wrecks where the dive starts at 12M all the way down to 26M. Lovely swim throughs and exceptional coral and fish life envelope this amazing wreck.

    
Okikawa Maru is lovely outside and is home to plenty of fish

Jail cells (actually were stables) withiin the cargo holds of Okikawa Maru

Kogyo Maru rests on it's starboard side where the portside welcomes you at 22M which goes all the way down to 36M. Loads of schools of fish in the area such as giant trevaly, juvenile barracudas and snappers

Cement Mixer and hundreds of cement bags in one of the Cargo Holds of Kogyo Maru

Due to time constraints, I missed taking photos of the Irako, the exterior of the Olympia Maru and the most famous wreck Kyokozuna Maru, which I however had video clips shot in 2013 during a transition trip with Oceana Maria, a mandatory stop over at Club Paradise en route to Tubbataha, plus a Japanese zero fighter 40M deep somewhere around the Black Island area in North of Coron where my employer Mick Stefurack shared a cool shot...I would probably dive here in the near future.

Photo by Mick Stefurack, owner of BBL Divers... A Japanese Zero Plane at 40M 

squeezing in tight spaces inside the Olympia Maru Wreck

other points of interest will be Barracuda Lake, Kayangan Lake (both comprehensively covered by the local free divers),  Gunthers Cathedral which I also missed plus the Dugong Aban of Abanaban Island which I will share in my next post in the near future.

Aban, the friendly Dugong resident of Abanaban Island was one of the coolest wildlife interactions I've had in my lifetime to date. Was hardwork, as he'd swim off every 7 minutes for air and choose a different spot to feed.

Want to Dive with Dugongs, follow this link