D_Fresh
Contributor
You've named the biggest and best wrecks (<40m) in Subic, but there are more opportunities...San Quintin, Landing Craft and Barges can be interesting.
My upcoming trip to Subic Bay, Malapascua, and Coron
- Thread starter ryanoceros
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
A wee bit of walking on the main road between Mango's and Arizona.
Griffo
Contributor
In Malapascua we dove with Evolution who were great. We stayed on the other side of the island though, but it's not a long walk.
For Coron, we loved Sangat dive lodge. Lots of nearby wrecks, the guides were excellent, the food good for the Philippines. They also organised some cool activities for non dive days. Oh and you get the chance to dive in a thermal lake at 40C
The only "downside" was that the showers were briny and for my wife that was a nightmare with long hair.
Here's a quote from a previous review I wrote (the article was about how badly the next op was, so that might explain some of the comments below):
After three weeks diving in the Solomons, my wife and I had spent a week and a bit staying and diving with Sangat dive lodge near Coron in the Philippines. We had a wonderful time diving with Georgio on wrecks such as the Irako, Kogyo Maru, Olympia Maru, Taiei Maru and several gunboats. They had a great setup including membrane Nitrox system which is pretty impressive for a remote eco-island dive resort. It was also obvious by how he dived that Georgio was an experienced tech diver, not just a resort diver taking people on wrecks.
Georgio took us into progressively more challenging penetrations, and we managed our way through the dives quite well I thought without any kind of incident. At all times we had clear instructions on the layout of the wreck and I always felt that we could extract ourselves alone given a worst case scenario.
For Coron, we loved Sangat dive lodge. Lots of nearby wrecks, the guides were excellent, the food good for the Philippines. They also organised some cool activities for non dive days. Oh and you get the chance to dive in a thermal lake at 40C
The only "downside" was that the showers were briny and for my wife that was a nightmare with long hair.
Here's a quote from a previous review I wrote (the article was about how badly the next op was, so that might explain some of the comments below):
After three weeks diving in the Solomons, my wife and I had spent a week and a bit staying and diving with Sangat dive lodge near Coron in the Philippines. We had a wonderful time diving with Georgio on wrecks such as the Irako, Kogyo Maru, Olympia Maru, Taiei Maru and several gunboats. They had a great setup including membrane Nitrox system which is pretty impressive for a remote eco-island dive resort. It was also obvious by how he dived that Georgio was an experienced tech diver, not just a resort diver taking people on wrecks.
Georgio took us into progressively more challenging penetrations, and we managed our way through the dives quite well I thought without any kind of incident. At all times we had clear instructions on the layout of the wreck and I always felt that we could extract ourselves alone given a worst case scenario.
OP
ryanoceros
Registered
D_Fresh
Contributor
Those wrecks are all on my list as well, not only from research but also from local's recommendations. I actually live in Manila, but don't get up to Subic very often. My last two trips to Subic were with non-divers, so I didn't have a chance to get wet .
.
zenvagabond
Registered
I've dived at all three places, some thoughts -
Malapascua: the obvious highlight is the thresher shark diving, but don't write off the day/reef diving because I think it's pretty good too, so long as you're broad minded. The reefs aren't pretty, but the biodiversity in Malapascua is really interesting - esp. lots of bizarre crabs, different coloured frogfish, the mandarin fish mating ritual, turtles and sharks.
Coron: I dived with Reggae DC too - generally a good op with solid DMs, although they did take inexperienced divers into wreck penetrations at sub 30m on numerous occasions, as do virtually all other ops I saw. Loads of poor practice industry wide in Coron. I did all 9 'diveable' wrecks, except Kyokuzan which wasn't offered (due to distance) - they're all great for different reasons; all the swim throughs are freaky, so long as you're on the wreck early and it isn't silted out. Okikawa Maru was a highlight, with a slightly complex swim through - all are good for different reasons though.
RDC were often the first out in the morning, so you should be in good shape. I would recommend Two Seasons resort - it's more expensive, but a lot of the accommodation in Coron is crap, and it's became a backpacker/tourist trap - avoid the town. Dive yer butt off and enjoy the hotel - you only need 3-4 days there maximum. Again, the wreck diving is awesome.
Subic Bay: one of my favourite places to dive - loads of different types of wreck diving, and don't go there just for the USS New York (imo the consistently worst dive of the area, due to it's unfortunate location). There's at least another 10-15 other dive sites including a couple of outer reefs, with increasing levels of marine life, which make SB a unique and reasonably diverse dive location.
I dive exclusively with Arizona Dive Shop (Kent Simmonds is the owner; an excellent dive operator and very customer focused). IMO, Arizona is one of the most competent and responsible dive shops in the area, with good boats, crews, DMs and refreshments. The nightlife is Barreto is fun too ...
You've got a great schedule with some brilliant diving ahead of you - enjoy the Philippines
Malapascua: the obvious highlight is the thresher shark diving, but don't write off the day/reef diving because I think it's pretty good too, so long as you're broad minded. The reefs aren't pretty, but the biodiversity in Malapascua is really interesting - esp. lots of bizarre crabs, different coloured frogfish, the mandarin fish mating ritual, turtles and sharks.
Coron: I dived with Reggae DC too - generally a good op with solid DMs, although they did take inexperienced divers into wreck penetrations at sub 30m on numerous occasions, as do virtually all other ops I saw. Loads of poor practice industry wide in Coron. I did all 9 'diveable' wrecks, except Kyokuzan which wasn't offered (due to distance) - they're all great for different reasons; all the swim throughs are freaky, so long as you're on the wreck early and it isn't silted out. Okikawa Maru was a highlight, with a slightly complex swim through - all are good for different reasons though.
RDC were often the first out in the morning, so you should be in good shape. I would recommend Two Seasons resort - it's more expensive, but a lot of the accommodation in Coron is crap, and it's became a backpacker/tourist trap - avoid the town. Dive yer butt off and enjoy the hotel - you only need 3-4 days there maximum. Again, the wreck diving is awesome.
Subic Bay: one of my favourite places to dive - loads of different types of wreck diving, and don't go there just for the USS New York (imo the consistently worst dive of the area, due to it's unfortunate location). There's at least another 10-15 other dive sites including a couple of outer reefs, with increasing levels of marine life, which make SB a unique and reasonably diverse dive location.
I dive exclusively with Arizona Dive Shop (Kent Simmonds is the owner; an excellent dive operator and very customer focused). IMO, Arizona is one of the most competent and responsible dive shops in the area, with good boats, crews, DMs and refreshments. The nightlife is Barreto is fun too ...
You've got a great schedule with some brilliant diving ahead of you - enjoy the Philippines
Hey ryanoceros, have you gone yet? I just finished writing my review of a trip to Coron a month back and saw your post! Are you staying close to Coron downtown or somewhere else on Busuanga Island? If it's on the south western part of the island I dove with Busuanga Bay Lodge Divers and they were amazing. It's attached to the resort, but they take non-guests as well. Diver to divemaster ratio will also be much better than shops in Coron. My wife and I ended up with all private dives due simply due to low volume of guests that go so far to find a shop! They only have 4 guests minimum requirements for sites further away (Okikawa Maru & Akitsushima are considered close). If you're close enough, they may even offer to pick you up! They did for a few divers staying at nearby hotels while I was there. The Okikawa Maru and Akitsushima are very close to them, so even if they're a bit far from where you're staying it might be worth checking this shop out! I dove both of these sites plus Morozan and Okikawa Maru is far and away my favorite.
Similar threads
