cleung
Contributor
Anybody here dived Subic Bay in Philippines? Wondering if it's worthwhile.
Anybody Dived Subic Bay?
- Thread starter cleung
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Hi Clint, It has been many years since I dived Subic, but one of my friends and customers just went there last month and took a wreck course from Andy aka "Devon Diver".. My friend enjoyed his time on the wrecks. He seemed to think it was worth it. Another Friend just returned from Subic and he liked it, he dived with Arizona Dive Shop..
Cheers,
Roger
Cheers,
Roger
OP
cleung
Contributor
DevonDiver
N/A
Clint,
Subic has great diving - but it is not great reef/wall/pelagic diving.... so it's really a matter of personal opinion and preference.
Of course, Subic is famous for ship wrecks. There's a lot of those - all within 15 minutes of the dive centers and the vast majority within recreational diving depths. There's big and small, modern and old... a lot of historical heritage to be enjoyed.
The 'signature' wreck is the USS New York...former 'pride of the Pacific fleet'...a huge leviathan. Huge guns, huge propeller - all still in place (rare on a wreck). This is what most visitors dive... and what brings Subic its reputation for poor visibility etc. It's sunk directly in front of the Olongapo river exit - so it's really a brackish, estuarial-type dive. Viz is consistently ~5m. Maybe 15m on a rare day. Sometimes it is less. Many people visit Subic for a day-or-two and that's the memory (and the opinion) they take away (and spread). It is not reflective of the other diving available in the Bay...
Having said that, I've heard more than a few visiting divers expressing that their time on the USS NY was one of their best diving experiences - regardless of the viz.
For better visibility, the sites/wrecks around Grande Island offer consistently good visibility - especially in the 'dry' season (Nov-Apr). 20+m visibility is the norm. The coral reefs are somewhat damaged by dynamite fishing (not rare anywhere in the Philippines), but the Barges and San Quentin wrecks function perfectly as artificial reefs and attract large numbers of reef fish. The El Capitan (USS Majaba) currently hosts a vast school of Jacks... and it's fun to drift along the impressive wreck superstructure surrounded by a silver 'lava lamp' cloud of fish...
Arizona Dive Center have pioneered some excellent shore diving from their beach-front. It's most note-worthy as a night dive - as it attracts a plethora of muck/macro critters like seahorses, pipefish, frogfish, octopus, cuttlefish and (occasionally) bamboo shark.
[vimeo]41705207[/vimeo]
For more info on the wrecks: Subic Bay Shipwrecks and Dive Sites
and photos of the Marine Life: Subic Bay Marine Life Gallery
Subic has great diving - but it is not great reef/wall/pelagic diving.... so it's really a matter of personal opinion and preference.
Of course, Subic is famous for ship wrecks. There's a lot of those - all within 15 minutes of the dive centers and the vast majority within recreational diving depths. There's big and small, modern and old... a lot of historical heritage to be enjoyed.
The 'signature' wreck is the USS New York...former 'pride of the Pacific fleet'...a huge leviathan. Huge guns, huge propeller - all still in place (rare on a wreck). This is what most visitors dive... and what brings Subic its reputation for poor visibility etc. It's sunk directly in front of the Olongapo river exit - so it's really a brackish, estuarial-type dive. Viz is consistently ~5m. Maybe 15m on a rare day. Sometimes it is less. Many people visit Subic for a day-or-two and that's the memory (and the opinion) they take away (and spread). It is not reflective of the other diving available in the Bay...
Having said that, I've heard more than a few visiting divers expressing that their time on the USS NY was one of their best diving experiences - regardless of the viz.
For better visibility, the sites/wrecks around Grande Island offer consistently good visibility - especially in the 'dry' season (Nov-Apr). 20+m visibility is the norm. The coral reefs are somewhat damaged by dynamite fishing (not rare anywhere in the Philippines), but the Barges and San Quentin wrecks function perfectly as artificial reefs and attract large numbers of reef fish. The El Capitan (USS Majaba) currently hosts a vast school of Jacks... and it's fun to drift along the impressive wreck superstructure surrounded by a silver 'lava lamp' cloud of fish...
Arizona Dive Center have pioneered some excellent shore diving from their beach-front. It's most note-worthy as a night dive - as it attracts a plethora of muck/macro critters like seahorses, pipefish, frogfish, octopus, cuttlefish and (occasionally) bamboo shark.
[vimeo]41705207[/vimeo]
For more info on the wrecks: Subic Bay Shipwrecks and Dive Sites
and photos of the Marine Life: Subic Bay Marine Life Gallery
OP
cleung
Contributor
For me, it would be the marine life first, wrecks second. If Cebu or another location in the country would consistently offer superior diving based on this criteria, I would probably be willing to fly to it from Manila if I have to.
Karl_H
Contributor
Cleung,
Have you considered Anilao or PG? Both are short trip by road from Manila and both have excellent marine life. There's plenty of other threads on this board about both and the pros/cons of each.
Anilao is easy to get to if you have private transport (it's closer to Manila than PG or Subic), but without private trasport it's not easy to reach. PG has a few more logistics than Anilao (ferry crossing) but is easy to reach by both public and private transport.
Karl
Have you considered Anilao or PG? Both are short trip by road from Manila and both have excellent marine life. There's plenty of other threads on this board about both and the pros/cons of each.
Anilao is easy to get to if you have private transport (it's closer to Manila than PG or Subic), but without private trasport it's not easy to reach. PG has a few more logistics than Anilao (ferry crossing) but is easy to reach by both public and private transport.
Karl
OP
cleung
Contributor
Karl_H
Contributor
Anilao and Puerto Galera (PG) are very close together. My opinion is the diving is better in Anilao than PG, but there's very little to do in Anilao other than diving and you are pretty much confined to the resort, whereas in PG it's easy to walk around on the shore and visit other restaurants/bars. PG has a seedy side of town (Sabang) but if you stay at the other end of the beach (big la laguna or small la laguna) you'll be well away from this.
I'd suggest Arthurs Place in Anilao (their main website is down, Arthur's Place Dive Resort (Mabini, Philippines) - Specialty Resort Reviews - TripAdvisor has more details). In PG I'd suggest La Laguna Beach Club in Big La Laguna or El Galleon (Asia Dives), their websites are www.llbc.com.ph and www.elgalleon.com.
Anilao is very easy to get to if you have your OWN transport. An arranged private transfer from Manila airport to Anilao is around US$100.00 each way!!
Puerto Galera requires land and sea trevelling so private transfer is the most expensive(P6,000.00) each way.
Subic Bay is best to travel from Clark Airport which is only an hr away. but do expect to pay around P3,000.00 for the short transfer.
However, all those places are accessible by public transport and Subic is by the far the easier and least expensive to get to even travelling from Manila.
Would you consider Coron which is only a short flight from Manila? All the wrecks(big) are intact and with better vis than Subic.
Puerto Galera requires land and sea trevelling so private transfer is the most expensive(P6,000.00) each way.
Subic Bay is best to travel from Clark Airport which is only an hr away. but do expect to pay around P3,000.00 for the short transfer.
However, all those places are accessible by public transport and Subic is by the far the easier and least expensive to get to even travelling from Manila.
Would you consider Coron which is only a short flight from Manila? All the wrecks(big) are intact and with better vis than Subic.
DevonDiver
N/A
Cebu locations will certainly offer more spectacular marine-life, especially if you are looking for pelagics (sharks, mantas etc): Malapascua, Moalboal being stand-outs.
If you like smaller, rarer marine life (muck/macro stuff), then you can't get better than Anilao (especially 'Secret Bay'... which is on a par with locations like Lembeh, Indonesia or Mabul, Borneo...
Here's my article on Anilao: Scuba Diving in Anilao
also see: Anilao diving and underwater photography|Underwater Photography Guide,
This website has good directions for public (bus) transport options to Anilao/Batangas: Portulano It is a convoluted trip though...
As others have said, the cost of private transport (car/taxi/mini-bus hire with driver) is exorbitant. It's okay if you are travelling in a group - but far from cost-effective for a couple or single-traveler.
Public transport to Subic is convenient and cheap from either Clark DMIA or Manila NAIA airports. As Centrals said - Clark is geographically much closer to Subic and they are linked by a modern expressway (SCTEX). It takes about hour. Manila is a further distance, but also linked by modern expressway (NLEX). It takes about 2 hours, from North Manila. The big problem with travel from Manila is simply Manila itself.... it can take as long to get out of the city/onto the expressway... as the rest of the trip combined!
Whilst a private car remains an option, there is ample public/semi-public transport to Subic (Olongapo City). A reliable and safe bus service runs from Manila (EDSA Pasay, nr the airport) and Clark (DAU/Dagupan). Also, from Clark/Angeles, there are a number of tourist-focused mini-bus transfer services, direct to Baloy/Barretto in Subic.
I've got detailed info on all options for getting to Subic here: Travel to Subic Bay
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