Awesome! Cool "hidden" lake where you have to walk a bit all geared up, just to find a paradise-type inland lagoon where you can actually dive with some interest. There are underwater thermoglydes, resulting to different water temperature layers. You start with the typical 27 degrees or so, but around 10 meters depths the temp increases suddenly to 30+++, closer to 40 to be exact. Wetsuit is absolutely unnecessary here, all I had was a pair of shorts. Below 18 meters you get back to the "cool" 27 degrees. At least one underwater cave connects the lake to the sea, around 50 meters depth. Diveable, but not this time. Great visibility. Apparently there is one barracuda here, but did't see it.
A lot of shrimps, little crayfish, catfish, rabbitfish
You can see the clouds at the sky from 30 meters deep.
Superb experience just for the pure beauty of it. Even there is not coral and not so many fish, this is as unique, special and different as it gets. It's an awesome place to visit even if you wouldnt care a crap about diving. Five star rating any time.
Monday, June 28, 2010
#109 Tangat Wreck (Olympia Maru), Coron
Three of the biggest lionfish I have ever ever seen, half a meter each.
Biggest two scorpionfish I have ever seen, half a meter each.
A crocodilefish. Giant puffer diiba daaba. Cool wreck, visibility quite lousy in the local standards that is, 5-8m. Dived with Suvi, who is really getting the crack out of wreck diving.
Directly from www.coronwrecks.com:
A Japanese Freighter sitting upright in approximately 30 mts of water and located very close to Tangat Island in Coron Bay. N11*58. 291', E 120*03. 707'S
The Olympia Maru was 122 metres long and almost 17 metres wide, displacing 5612 tons. The ship was originally powered by a steam engine but during 2 June to 2 August 1930, an oil two stroke six cylinder engine producing 582hp was installed. The ship was built for Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd and was owned by them right up till it sank. It was requisitioned by the Japanese Defence Forces during the War but was still owned by Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd.
A very good dive spot with a variety of marine life. Large shoals of banana fish, giant bat fish and giant puffer fish, especially around the mast, bow and stern. There are also specimen crocodile fish and scorpion fish so be careful where you put your hands. Easy penetration at the cargo rooms. It offers a good opportunity to discover wreck diving.
Biggest two scorpionfish I have ever seen, half a meter each.
A crocodilefish. Giant puffer diiba daaba. Cool wreck, visibility quite lousy in the local standards that is, 5-8m. Dived with Suvi, who is really getting the crack out of wreck diving.
Directly from www.coronwrecks.com:
A Japanese Freighter sitting upright in approximately 30 mts of water and located very close to Tangat Island in Coron Bay. N11*58. 291', E 120*03. 707'S
The Olympia Maru was 122 metres long and almost 17 metres wide, displacing 5612 tons. The ship was originally powered by a steam engine but during 2 June to 2 August 1930, an oil two stroke six cylinder engine producing 582hp was installed. The ship was built for Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd and was owned by them right up till it sank. It was requisitioned by the Japanese Defence Forces during the War but was still owned by Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd.
A very good dive spot with a variety of marine life. Large shoals of banana fish, giant bat fish and giant puffer fish, especially around the mast, bow and stern. There are also specimen crocodile fish and scorpion fish so be careful where you put your hands. Easy penetration at the cargo rooms. It offers a good opportunity to discover wreck diving.
#108 Kogyo wreck, Coron
30,6 m
Awesome wreck, in quite murky water, but this one isn't just put down there for the sake of divers (like Boracay, Mactan, Gulf of Mexico, etc. ) but is a direct hit in the naval battles of WW2. (check also Battleship Yamato)
text from www.coronwrecks.com:
The Kogyo Maru, located N 11*58. 782' E 120*02. 413', was a Japanese freighter carrying construction materials for building a runway for the Japanese war effort in the Pacific.
The Kogyo Maru was built in 1938 by Uraga Dock Co Ltd, Uraga, Japan for Okada Gumi KK. The ship was 6353 tons, 129 mts long, and 18 mts wide. She was powered by two oil fuelled steam turbines (517Nhp) geared to a single shaft. The engines were built by Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Tokyo. Her home port was Osaka.
Lying on her starboard side in 34 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. A small bulldozer draws your attention as you swim into the hold. Complete but encrusted, you can imagine the operator sitting in the seat and working the control levers to carve a runway out of a tropical island. Engrossed in the bulldozer you might fail to look up the incline of cement sacks and so miss the tractor and air compressor perched above it. Take the time to swim up and look at both pieces and see how many of the engine parts you can identify. It's complete. Check out the metal wheels on the tractor. Coming out of the hold swim up the front mast, now horizontal, and on your left side. At the top of the mast look at the crow's nest and imagine what a lookout would experience when perched 30 meters above the water in a Japanese winter storm. Swim back over the deck to the bridge and engine room below it. Enter both from the stern side for easier access. Swim through the cavernous engine room and look at the hardware then out through the bridge. If air is low go up to the port side of the bridge and look at the soft corals growing there and the fish life living on this artificial coral reef at 22 meters. If you have enough air continue below deck level to the stern looking at all of the deck hardware for moving cargo and working the ship. Pass around the stern and then go forward over the port side to return to the mooring line. You pass over hard and soft corals covering the side of the ship. On this dive keep your head and eyes moving like a fighter pilot's to see the school of barracuda which will swim by. If you only look at the Kogyo Maru you will miss the barracuda.
Awesome wreck, in quite murky water, but this one isn't just put down there for the sake of divers (like Boracay, Mactan, Gulf of Mexico, etc. ) but is a direct hit in the naval battles of WW2. (check also Battleship Yamato)
text from www.coronwrecks.com:
The Kogyo Maru, located N 11*58. 782' E 120*02. 413', was a Japanese freighter carrying construction materials for building a runway for the Japanese war effort in the Pacific.
The Kogyo Maru was built in 1938 by Uraga Dock Co Ltd, Uraga, Japan for Okada Gumi KK. The ship was 6353 tons, 129 mts long, and 18 mts wide. She was powered by two oil fuelled steam turbines (517Nhp) geared to a single shaft. The engines were built by Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Tokyo. Her home port was Osaka.
Lying on her starboard side in 34 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. A small bulldozer draws your attention as you swim into the hold. Complete but encrusted, you can imagine the operator sitting in the seat and working the control levers to carve a runway out of a tropical island. Engrossed in the bulldozer you might fail to look up the incline of cement sacks and so miss the tractor and air compressor perched above it. Take the time to swim up and look at both pieces and see how many of the engine parts you can identify. It's complete. Check out the metal wheels on the tractor. Coming out of the hold swim up the front mast, now horizontal, and on your left side. At the top of the mast look at the crow's nest and imagine what a lookout would experience when perched 30 meters above the water in a Japanese winter storm. Swim back over the deck to the bridge and engine room below it. Enter both from the stern side for easier access. Swim through the cavernous engine room and look at the hardware then out through the bridge. If air is low go up to the port side of the bridge and look at the soft corals growing there and the fish life living on this artificial coral reef at 22 meters. If you have enough air continue below deck level to the stern looking at all of the deck hardware for moving cargo and working the ship. Pass around the stern and then go forward over the port side to return to the mooring line. You pass over hard and soft corals covering the side of the ship. On this dive keep your head and eyes moving like a fighter pilot's to see the school of barracuda which will swim by. If you only look at the Kogyo Maru you will miss the barracuda.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
#89 - #91 Hilutungan, Talima, Tambuli around Mactan
A three dive daytrip inc Hilutungan island, Talima and Tambuli off Mactan. Good stuff. A crazy old French fart called Bernard spotted a good sized octapus who soon escaped into a small hole. Bernard just sticks his hand into the black and tries to grap the poor creature, without gloves etc. Eventually he pulls the whole octapus out of its cave...
During the process my regu gets tangles with his ascend flag system so when he takes off, my regu is pulled off from my mouth with quite a force. Interesting!
Dive goes on, lots of "lapu-lapu"s, (groupers), sweetelips occupy the area. A giant triggerfish totally snaps and starts to charge on me some viscious attacks. Kicking it away it keeps on launching until it sees the next diver as an easier victim or a bigger threat to her eggs. Some serious underwater bouncing taking place, its hilarious to see a 40cm creature causing so much havoc in fully grown men.
But yeah, so much talk about triggerfish attacks and never really seen one, so it was an educating experience. Lesson: do not mess with a triggerfish, she will fcuk you up.
Funnily the aggression seemed to have spread among other fish, since after exiting from the triggerfish range, a small black usually harmless reef fish launches and bites my hand. Totally hilarious!
Good dives overall. Stingrays, nudey branches, lionfish, boxer shrimps, sweetlips, groupers, octapus, trumpetmouths, reef fish, all about 27-30meter depth range 45-55min each` using nitrox EANx33, EANx35 / reg air.
Talima has a small shipwreck, Tambuli has an artificial airplane wreck.
Dives with MSDC
During the process my regu gets tangles with his ascend flag system so when he takes off, my regu is pulled off from my mouth with quite a force. Interesting!
Dive goes on, lots of "lapu-lapu"s, (groupers), sweetelips occupy the area. A giant triggerfish totally snaps and starts to charge on me some viscious attacks. Kicking it away it keeps on launching until it sees the next diver as an easier victim or a bigger threat to her eggs. Some serious underwater bouncing taking place, its hilarious to see a 40cm creature causing so much havoc in fully grown men.
But yeah, so much talk about triggerfish attacks and never really seen one, so it was an educating experience. Lesson: do not mess with a triggerfish, she will fcuk you up.
Funnily the aggression seemed to have spread among other fish, since after exiting from the triggerfish range, a small black usually harmless reef fish launches and bites my hand. Totally hilarious!
Good dives overall. Stingrays, nudey branches, lionfish, boxer shrimps, sweetlips, groupers, octapus, trumpetmouths, reef fish, all about 27-30meter depth range 45-55min each` using nitrox EANx33, EANx35 / reg air.
Talima has a small shipwreck, Tambuli has an artificial airplane wreck.
Dives with MSDC
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