Coron 1997

Predictably the Philippine Airlines flight was late leaving Hong Kong. We had checked in OK, although Keith looked extremely overweight. He had brought along a Nikon RS, which weighs about as much as a small car (batteries not included). To be on the safe side he had also brought along a slightly smaller backup camera. Oh, and of course he had a land camera too. Once airborne, the arrival cards were handed out. They came in 3 different pieces, one of which was a carbon sheet to save you rewriting all the information. After 10 minutes Keith and I thought we had sorted out which sheet went where. However our confidence was shattered when he noticed that not only was the copy not coming through on to the second sheet, but he'd inscribed his name and passport details onto the tray table. From this inauspicious start things got worse (as they often do when travelling in the Philippines). Once in Manila the plan was to meet up with Suzie and Peter Knights who'd just flown up from Adelaide with 3 other Aussies, Laurie, Eva and Craig. They had arrived OK and were supposed to find the chartered bus which had been booked to take us to Batangas. It was due to appear at 7:30 p.m. As if anticipating our late arrival it turned up at 9 p.m., just as we were waiting for our luggage. It didn't turn up where it was supposed to, but luckily Peter saw it and directed it to the right place. Unfortunately our luck ran out, as that was the last we saw of the bus despite an extensive 2 hour search of the entire airport. Peter was kicking himself for not getting on it to make sure it went the right way, but if he had, Suzie might have been missing a buddy all week. At around 11 p.m. in the type of bold and decisive move you would expect from an airline pilot, Captain Corset hired 2 vans. We got to Batangas at around 2 am, having received telephone directions from Steve and Trevor, who had cadged a lift down with Steve’s driver and were comfortably ensconced in the bar. For some reason their directions led to us visiting all of the oil refineries in the Batangas area. We all christened our bar bills, and Nigel set the pattern for the trip by being the last man standing, a feat he was to repeat every night despite some serious competition later in the week.

 The boat was the M/Y Tristar, which has space for 24 people in a variety of different sized cabins. It would have been a bit cramped for 24, but was fine for the 16 of us.

Because of our late arrival our itinerary went through the first of its many changes. The first day’s diving was around Bonito Island and I am reliably informed that the first 2 dives were lovely. By the time I had emerged from my pit in time for dive number 3, we managed to find the only bit of dead coral on the entire reef. Day 2 was on Apo Reef, a place Pam had been trying to get to for 7 years. It was very pretty, but the fish life was not all that prolific. However we did see a big turtle during a night dive. The water was a bit colder than many of us were expecting. Louisa was glad she had brought her 8mm wetsuit. However she needs an 8mm wetsuit in a sauna.

That night we steamed south to Coron. Here the Japanese had hidden a supply fleet in 1944. They camouflaged the ships, but American reconnaissance noticed that several of the ‘islands’ in Coron Bay were moving. In the resulting air raids, 24 ships were sunk, of which 12 are diveable. We were divided among the 2 chase boats, with Steve, Captain Cortisone, Keith, Nigel, Trevor, Davina, Eva and Les in one; and Pam, Kevin, Suzie, Peter, Laurie, Craig, Louisa and me in the other. First dive was on the Akitsushima which was in 34 metres of water. Pam found some material draped along the ship which Davina swore was velvet, although why a WW2 flying boat tender would have had velvet curtains is beyond me. Second and third dives were on a tanker called Taiei Maru. This was upright in 24 metres and was a lovely wreck with tons of fish life. 3 years ago when we attempted to do a night dive on this wreck we were confronted by a boatload of men from the local oyster farm armed with assault rifles. They were presumably worried we might wake up their oysters. This time we had no such problem. The 2 dive masters tried to lead each of the groups on a short penetration of this wreck. By the time the last of the group had gone into the wreck it was completely silted up and they couldn’t see anything. After a spirited discussion with the dive masters we started diving as buddy pairs

 The dive guides unsuccessfully tried to minimize our time at Coron. At first we didn’t know why, but it turned out they had only actually dived 3 of the wrecks and didn’t know where the others were. To their credit they did manage to locate most of them with help from the local fishermen. They would set off before we got up, and mark the day’s dives with buoys. On a couple of occasions the lines drifted off the wrecks. Once we ended up trawling for the Olympia Maru with a shot line. After 20 minutes of this we gave up and decided to head for the nearest fishing hut to ask for directions. While reeling the line in it snagged, on the Olympia Maru.

 The next day saw us dive on the Kogyo Maru, Morazan Maru and the Olympia Maru. The day after that we dived Irako and then back to Morazan Maru and Olympia Maru. Nigel and Steve managed to visit both ends of each wreck, along with their engine rooms, no matter how big the wreck was. Unfortunately Nigel was unable to see much of the wrecks as he spent all the dives admiring his shiny new computer. Evenings were spent relaxing on the deck, watching Peter become an expert at servicing newly serviced regulators. One fine evening, the crew started asking whether any of us had any pesos, and could they borrow them. This met with a predictable lack of reaction until they casually mentioned why they wanted the money. Apparently we were almost out of beer. There was an immediate stampede to the bar for refills. Meanwhile within 30 seconds Trevor had raced down to his cabin and back, and handed over his wallet to sort things out. I’ve never seen him move so fast. To be on the safe side, Les switched to vodka, which probably ranks as the silliest thing he did all week. The following day we donated our boat for the beer run. As a bonus, by the time we got to dive, the early morning current had vanished and Les was able to see out of at least one eye.

On Thursday the Tristar moved to let us have another look at the velvet curtains, then we dived on the Nanshin Maru near Black Island. Louisa had been promising Laurie that we would see dolphins on the trip, and on the way to Black Island we did. Unfortunately he was asleep at the time and missed them. Today Keith provided an object lesson in safe diving. He did 4 dives, which got progressively deeper as the day went on. In fact on the night dive he had to miss the wreck completely in order to get the extra depth he needed. Earlier in the week his computer had gone into Attention mode, and advised him not to dive. But today he must have been safe, as it was perfectly happy with him.

On the Friday we did a morning dive on the Kyokuzan Maru, whose captain went down with the ship. We were told we had to salute the bridge when we got down there, so he would let us out of the wreck. We dived first but unfortunately the silt in the holds was already very stirred up. Our dive guide, Orland, later told us that this was because the captain had been sweeping. Inevitably the second group blamed us not the captain for the silt. We were supposed to do a second dive on this wreck before moving to Club Paradise’s protected reef. However after a disappointing first dive, Captain Custard gathered the troops together and suggested an alternative. In a very unbiased fashion he said we could dive on the protected reef at Club Paradise, or again on that shitty hulk. Kevin was equally open-minded when he said it was a choice between diving in Paradise or Hell. As Captain CorBlimey put it, that’s the end of the Maru’s, and now for the weather forecast. So we went to Paradise and an excellent reef dive it was. Tons to see including stingrays, large schools of jacks and barracudas, lots of cuttlefish, large groupers, coral trout, trumpet fish, angelfish, butterflyfish, trigger fish, sweetlips, unicornfish, snappers, 2 4ft. wide giant clams. (And all this from someone who used to have trouble telling the difference between cod, haddock and plaice).

The last day brought us to Anilao. We did an excellent dive first thing in the morning before breakfast. The final dive was the only time I didn’t keep the rest of our boat waiting. In fact I was first kitted up, first in the boat, first ready to get in the water. Unfortunately at this point my mask strap broke and all my good intentions were ruined. So back we went to the Tristar to get my backup mask, and I managed the dubious distinction of also being the last kitted up, the last in the boat, and the last ready to get in the water. This was a great dive to finish on, with a moray under every rock. The only thing restricting the visibility was the fish, there were so many of them.

That afternoon we moved to Puerto Galera, where Trevor completed his 400th dive. We almost had another wreck to dive on, after 2 bancas full of divers collided and sank. Puerto Galera was a bit of a disappointment to some of the team. Apparently it has just got a new Mayor, who wants to close down some of the more scenic bars. These bars are claiming they are just dancing clubs. Consequently the girls are rather better dressed than usual.

 After a short night’s sleep, at about 4 a.m. we were up and ready to go. Trevor had already reconfirmed the bus would arrive between 4 and 4:30, and after their previous cock-up, we were sure there would be no problem. So at 5 a.m. we gave up on the bus and flagged down 2 jeepneys. The luggage went into one along with Les and Nigel. The rest of us went into the second. After about 15 minutes we had to stop as our jeepney was full of smoke. It looked as though there had been no water in the radiator for the last few weeks. Our driver poured several gallons in, then we woke up Keith and Nigel who seemed to be able to sleep anywhere, and we were ready to go again. As a precaution we redistributed the luggage, and put the Aussies and Captain Carseat into the other jeepney, as they had to get back more urgently than the rest of us. Our luck held, and we got to the airport in time for our flights.

Thanks in particular to Trevor for organizing an excellent trip, and to the charter bus company for trying to make life more interesting.

So what was the diving like? Well the reefs were as good as I have seen in the Philippines, as for the wrecks, I really enjoyed diving on them, but it depends on the type of diving you like. The visibility was not great. The wrecks were picked clean as Les repeatedly reminded us, in fact Steve only found 3 portholes during the entire trip. If you are expecting something like Truk, where the government has stopped people from taking anything from the wrecks, you may be disappointed. However the wrecks are recognizable as complete ships, and fairly safe to penetrate if you have some idea what you are doing. I liked the novelty of wreck diving, it made a very pleasant change from the reefs. Wreck diving can be dangerous and often needs more care and planning than diving on regular reefs. As far as safety goes, Steve summed it up best - "If you’re not sure, don’t do it!"

Discovery Divers - Coron - Details of wreck diving in Coron.