September 1944. The US Third Fleet began moving toward the Philippines Islands. In the early morning of 24th Sept. 1944, 05:50 am, Task Force 38 took off on a flight, for a target area 350 miles away from their Aircraft carriers. A total of 120 aircraft, F6F HELLCAT fighters and SB2C HELL DIVER bombers, on their way to CORON BAY. This was at this time the furthest carrier air raid in history. At 9.00 am the Planes reached Coron, found 15-18 large enemy ships anchored in CORON BAY & only 45 Minutes later they left CORON BAY, leaving behind a hell of burning oil, manganese and exploding, sinking ships. Today, 14 Wrecks are located in dive able depths (between 5-40m). Most of the sunken vessels are between 100-200m in length.
Japanese Seaplane Tender 118 m long. The Akitsushima is a very big warship that lies on her port side. She was hit near the stern where the flying boat rested on the metal tracks and sank immediately. The ship was almost torn into two pieces. The flying boat disappeared. Only half of the metal on the starboard side and half of the metal on the bottom of the ship kept the stern from separating from the rest of the ship. The internal damage is impressive. She now lies at a depth of 35m and is a fantastic dive.
Japanese freighter approximately 160-180 meters long. Due to it's distance from Coron this wreck is dived by a one hour jeepney ride to the north end of Busuanga and transferring to a rented dive boat. This is a beautiful wreck dive experience. More or less intact, this huge sunken ship usually offers good visibility of about 20 meters and ideal diving conditions. Japanese staff cars and trucks can be found in the cargo rooms. She rest in a depth of 40m but the deck level lies between 22 and 28 meters.
Japanese refrigeration ship, displacement 9,570 tons, length 147 meters. Probably the best wreck dive in the Philippines. The Irako is quite intact and because of the good visibility you know you are on a big shipwreck. Big groupers, schools of tuna and yellow fin, lion fish and scorpion fish live around this wreck. There is a beautiful deep penetration through the engine room. She lies in 43m with the deck level at 28 to 35m.
Kogyo Maru was a Japanese freighter carrying construction materials for building a runway for the Japanese war effort in the Pacific. Kogyo Maru was built in 1938 and is 158 m long with a displacement of 6,353 tons. Lying on her starboard side in 36 meters of water the Kogyo Maru offers swim throughs into all six holds and through the engine room and bridge area. Kogyo Maru's second hold contains an incline of cement bags which tumbled as the ship sank and a small bulldozer. The port side of the wreck is in about 22m.
Photos taken using a Nikonos V with 15mm Nikonos lens and dual Sea&Sea YS-120 strobes on Aquatica TLC arms. Film used - Fujichrome Provia 400F 135 (RHP III)
