Coron Bay is a well-known recreational diving region in the

Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...

in the western

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, between the islands of Coron and Busuanga in the

Calamian Islands The Calamian Islands or the Calamianes is a group of islands in the province of Palawan, Philippines. It includes: * Busuanga Island * Coron Island * Culion Island * Calauit Island * Malcapuya Island * Banana Island * Pass Island * Calumbuyan ...

. Most of Coron Bay is in the Coron Island Protected Area and is a traditional fishing area of the indigenous

Tagbanwa The Tagbanwa people (Tagbanwa script, Tagbanwa: ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Philippines, indigenous people and one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Philippines, mainly found in central and northern Palawan. Research has shown that the T ...

tribe. Coron Bay is famous for diving on ten

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese shipwrecks. The ships , ''Okikawa Maru'', , ''Kogyo Maru'', ''Olympia Maru'', ''Taiei Maru'', ''Kyokuzan Maru'', East Tangat Gunboat and Lusong Island Gunboat were sunk on September 24, 1944, by the third air fleet of US

Task Force 38 The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet) was a group of ships in World War II. It was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through th ...

. The wrecks can be reached in a one-hour drive from Coron by dive boat. With the exception of the Lusong Island Gunboat, which partially breaks through the water surface and is therefore suitable for snorkelers, and the East Tangat Gunboat, which is suitable for beginners at a depth of 5 to 20 m, all other wrecks lie at depths of 20 to 45 m. Some of the wrecks are over 100 m long and have decks, corridors, galleys, and other sights that can be dived. Some equipment has been salvaged from some of the wrecks (e.g. the engine blocks removed), but there are still various equipment and some grenades there. Because of the depth and size of the sunk ships,

nitrox Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. It is usually used for mixtures that contain less than 78% nitrogen by volume. In the usual application, underwater diving, nitrox is normally distinguished ...

is usually used for diving because of the longer no-stop time and shorter decompression stops.

References

Further reading