R. George Klemperer
During the winter of 2022/23 I travelled to the Phillipines (where I was born, in Cotabato City) for 10 weeks to travel around and learn more about the country. While there I spent a week in Coron Bay where I learned to scuba dive and dived my first wrecks. I trained to dive to 30m depths, which gave a penetration time of around 15 minutes or so for the average Coron Bay wreck depth on an 11L tank of air.
There are at least 12 shipwrecks in Coron Bay. The vast majority of the wrecks were the result of a single surprise attack on the Japanese navy on the 24th September 1944 by the aircraft of Task Force 38. For scuba divers, 6 of the wrecks are of particular interest due to their colossal size, accesible depth, and formidable beauty. These wrecks are grouped into the local colloquialism the "big 6".
The only wreck in the big 6 I did not dive during my time in Coron was the Irako, a well preserved Japanese Navy refridgerated supply ship that is perhaps the bay's most famous wreck. She sits upright at 45 m deep, is reserved for very experienced wreck divers, and is referred to by local divemasters as "DDD" (deep, dark, and dangerous). For context, 45 m is well over the height of a 10 story building and far below the maximum depth a solo emergency swimming ascent can be safely made in the event of equipment failure (9 m by PADI guidelines). As a further complication, below 30 m gas narcosis is inevitable (a mild delirium caused by the pressure forcing more nitrogen from your air into your bloodstream). Therefore, The Irako's depth, combined with its narrow labrynthian interior, means it is treated especially cautiously, as well as reverently, out of all the wrecks.
The "big 6" wrecks in Coron Bay:
- Olympia Maru - auxillary supply ship, 122 meters long, 30 meters max hull depth
- The Morazan - freighter, 93 meters long, 25 meters max hull depth
- Kogyo Maru - freighter, 129 meters long, 34 meters max hull depth
- Akitsushima - seaplane tender, 115 meters long, 35 meters max hull depth
- Okikawa Maru - oil tanker, 168 meters long, 26 meters max hull depth
- The Irako - refrigerated supply ship, 147 meters long, 45 meters max hull depth
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