Diving Information In Subic

Hello All here Is More Information About Diving In Subic.

The tourism office for the area calls Subic Bay the “Pearl of the Orient” and much like a pearl, it value is hidden unless you know where to look. While scuba diving is becoming increasingly popular in the Philippines and more international divers are arriving, the growth of diving in Subic Bay while growing is doing so at a slower rate. As a long time diver at Subic I find this lack of respect as a diving destination a puzzle. The area offers a wide variety of wrecks to dive as well as reefs. Unlike Coron where you ride for hours to get to a wreck site, the majority of Subic sites are within 20 minutes of the dive centers. In addition, unlike most other places in the Philippines, the dive boats used are conventional boats not local banca.

Just how many wrecks are there in Subic Bay and around its entrance? That is a very difficult question. Unlike Coron or Truk, whose wrecks occurred over a relatively short period, Subic’s World War II (WWII) wrecks covered almost the entire war period. No less than 25 Japanese ships were reported sunk during the war years. Some of these may have been removed in the late fifties as salvage operations were done to open up the bay for shipping Additional ships were sunk after the war either as targets or victims of mother nature.

It is widely believed that an additional ten large ships may lie within the Bay. The area is not limited to WWII wrecks, at the entrance to the bay alongside Grande Island, is the remains of the Spanish American war wreck San Quintin. Outside the bay in deep water lie the remains of a Spanish Galleon as well as a 16th century Chinese Junk (beyond diving range).

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 did an enormous amount of damage to Luzon and the Olongapo/Subic Bay area was very hard hit. A meter of ash covered the area including homes and business. Within days, a typhoon entered the area turning the ash into mud. Many homes and business collapse under the weight. One resident stated that the river looked just like the cement coming out of a cement mixer. A large percentage of the coral was killed lying under the ash.

When the Navy occupied the naval base at Olongapo, many of the wrecks were closed to diving. Divers however had the advantage of diving in water that was crystal clear with 40 or more meters of visibility on the wrecks that were open. The bay was the home of different varieties of sharks, dolphins, and turtles. While a few turtles still nest on the beaches the visibility, sharks and dolphins are no longer here. The visibility is returning slowly and the coral is recovering. Hopefully the turtles, sharks and dolphins will return in abundance also. More turtles and rays have been seen this year than last and the number of sharks just outside the bay also seems to be on the rise.

Diving in Subic

Hello All
This Blog is for all of those people who want to go visit subic and when there there want to doing some scuba diving. the first group of people that i would like to talk about is the diver down group they have two high quality scuba stores located on base and off base. the off base scuba store is located inside the blue rock resort has a full time dive master. Dive Subic Bay with Blue Rock Dive Centre. Go Wreck Diving on a world class variety of shipwrecks or Scuba your way around our varied reefs. We offer you PADI, SSI and TDI Diver Education. There spacious New Diveshop is equipped with quality Oceanic rental gear. They are situated in Blue Rock Resort, with its unique and friendly atmosphere, offering you the best in local accommodation and food.