Palawan – Wreck Diving Sites – Coron

One of the most famous diving places in the Palawan Philippines is the Coron bay. This place is famous for its wreck diving site in the world because of the historical Japanese ships that have sunk during World War II. This has now became a tourist spot. It has also been enlisted in the Forbes Traveler Magazine’s as one of the top 10 scuba diving spots in the world where great transparency can be seen due to the cleanliness of water.

There are 12 Japanese wrecked ships that can be found at the diving site.  The ships sank on September 24, 1944 due to the massive air strike of American forces.

There are many wrecked ships that have been discovered in Coron Bay – some of the ships are as huge as 160m in length. Tourists can watch the remaining history of World War II here.

By diving in, one can see amazingly beautiful coral reefs which are now being reestablished with its natural beauty by fish. These fish use it as shelter and some interesting wrecked ships that have a huge blast hole in it. Luckily, the hole allows the diver to explore the ships easily with the natural light, making it a fascinating experience. You will never ever find another diving secret like this!

Famous Wreck Diving Site Sites in Coron Palawan Philippines

Irako Wreck:

Irako is a Japanese refrigeration ship that has a length of 147 meters, weighs 9,570 tons and lays upper right of the bay. This must be the best wreck dive in Coron Palawan. Currently the ship is still a whole where you can still see the pots, pans and wiring but it has a big wreck in the body. The best place to explore is under the ship. Impressive marine life can be seen like scorpion fish, lion fish, big groupers, school of tuna fish and yellow fins living and reestablishing nature with the coral reefs around the ship wrecks. Sometimes you can also find sea turtles, but they usually live in the creased and bended metal of the ship.

Note: It is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 28-40 meters.

Okikawa Maru Wreck:

Okikawa Maru is a Japanese tanker that has a length of 168 meters which sank near Coron Bay, south of Conception. The site is also called Conception wreck. The ship was completely covered up with gorgeous coral reefs, sponges and marine life like soldier fish, tang, lionfish, surgeons, wrasse, sweet lips and grouper. It has a 10 – 16 meter of deck and is a good practice place for beginners to learn diving. However, advanced or professional divers can easily access the way from outside to the inside of the engine room.

Akitsushima Wreck:

Akitsushima is a Japanese Seaplane Tender that has a length of 118 meters; it also weighs 4724 tons and was the only warship that sunk exactly at the Coron Bay. The ship was hit near the stern and sank immediately, almost torn into 2 parts, the engine was damaged extraordinarily and only the flying boat was missing. Again much marine life you will encounter like yellow fin tuna, yellow fish, grouper, snapper, batfish and a huge mixture of smaller reef fish, can be found here. Due to the depth and metal exposure, diving is not allowed without a diver’s certification.

Note: It is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 35-36 meters and an average of 26-28 meters.

Kogyo Maru Wreck:

Kogyo Maru is a Japanese cargo ship that carries construction materials for the construction of an airfield for the Japanese and was sunk into Coron Bay. You can still see the cement bags and even pass by a bulldozer, air compressor and tractor which are still intact. The length of the ship is about 158m long, weighing 6,353 tons. Sponges and coral are also grow while barracuda, wasp fish and puffer fish can be detected there.

Note: it is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 34 meters and an average of 24-26 meters.

Olympia Maru Wreck

Olympia Maru is a Japanese army cargo ship which also sunk in Coron Bay, which has a length of 120m long, weighing 5612 tons and is located at the south of Busuanga and west of Tangat Island.

Due to the unbelievable marine fish like banana fish, scorpion fish, giant bat fish and giant puffer fish can be located near the flagpole, duck and stern, loaded of corals can seen, can also be considered a very good diving spot.

Note: it is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 28-30 meters and an average of 18-24 meters.

Kyokuzan Maru Wreck

Kyokuzan Maru is a Japanese army cargo ship, which is approximately 160-180 meters long. It sunk in the Northeast part of Busuanga Island. You can still see various cars and trucks from the cargo room and it offers a good visibility of about 20 meters, which makes for an ideal diving state. The ship is still intact. It is a beautiful diving experience but because of the far destination and long travel time it is not often visited by tourists and divers.

Note: it is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 40 meters and an average of 22-28 meters.

East Tangat Gunboat Wreck:

East Tangat Gunboat is a Japanese gunboat or a submarine hunter, which has a length of 40 meters and is located at the inclined coral reefs on the eastern part of Tangat Island. This wreckage is ideal for beginners or novice divers, it is only 3 meters deep. Even snorkeling here is possible. There are also beautiful coral reefs that can be observed and it is a good experience for underwater photographers.

Nanshin Maru Wreck:

Nanshin Maru which is also called the Black Island Wreck is a Japanese oil tanker; it has a length of approximately 50 meters and is located close to Black Island Beach where it can be reached within a day’s travel through Coron. This is a good experience for beginner’s going to advanced levels and for night divers; it is also rich in marine life like scorpion fish, batfish, groupers, lionfish and trumpet fish. The unusual clear visibility in the water makes the place become another good underwater photography site.

Note: it is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 32 meters and an average of 21 meters.

Japanese Freighter – might be Taiei Maru, Morazon Maru or Mamiya Maru

There is an unknown Japanese Freighter ship but experts conclude that the ship might be Taiei Maru, Morazon Maru or Mamiya Maru, but until now no one is still certain what exact the name of the ship is. This ship is located not really far from the west part of Tangat Island in 25m of water and has a length of 140 meters or more. The enormous boilers in the middle of the ship are still intact and that is a big appeal to the divers. Divers can pass at the back of the boilers and see the damages made by the bomb strikes that destroy the ship. The wrecked ship will light up like a cathedral if you have time, it lightens perfectly about 10 am – 2pm. The impressive wrecked ship is covered with hard corals particularly a very large lettuce coral, approximately about 12- 16 meters below. Sponges are can be seen also and a mixture of marine life can be experienced like groupers, school of fishes, snappers, bat fish, sweet lips, sea snakes, occasional turtle and more.

Note: it is recommended that you have an advance diver level or higher before you dive into the site. The maximum range is about 25 meters, an average of 15 meters.

Lusong Gunboat Wreck:

Lusong Gunboat is a Japanese gunboat or a submarine hunter, which has a length of approximately at 35 meters. It is located lying in 11 meters deep in the east part of Lusong Island, at low tide, the stern breaks the surface. Based on the position of the large size engine and large fuel tanks that have been mounted, it appears to have been a tugboat for the wreck of the ship. This wreck site is good for snorkeling and is paradise for underwater photographers – both can easily observe the good variety of hard corals and marine life. It is also suitable for inexperienced divers. It is one of the more noticeable wreck sites in Coron. It is also rich in huge sponges, corals and marine life like cuttlefish, eels and etc.

Note: it is recommended that you have a skin diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum range is about 11 meters.

Skeleton Wreck:

Skeleton ship is a hulled steel boat and only the keel, ribs and stringers remain; it has a length of 25 meters and is located at the Northwest corner of Coron Island. The hull at 14 meters permits tourists to swim from the inner part of the ship out over the coral reefs. I believe you can see the wrecked ship even by snorkeling but the ship might look a little creepy but the water is very clear, beautiful corals are all over the place and a variety of fish are loaded, but beware of the sea urchins.

Note: it is recommended that you have a skin diver level or higher before you dive into this site. The maximum depth is about 22 meters, slopes range from 7-22 meters.

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