Aquanauts Invades the Philippines!

Intern Field Trip Conquors the Wrecks of Coron Bay

Taking a short break from their Pattaya-based PADI instructor training internships, a group of Aquanauts interns and Course Director Roger Smith jetted off for a special Aquanauts "field trip" for a week of wreck diving in Coron Bay, Philippines.

Already seasoned wreck divers, thanks to lots of experience on Pattaya's three area shipwrecks, instructors Meg Smith, Matt Bradbury and Laura Ware joined interns David Schwiering, Andy Morris, Greg Hanigan and Cat Glashier spent nearly a week exploring this wreck diving paradise.

Part of the Calamian group of islands in northern Palawan, Coron Island has been declared a priority protected area in the Philippines national park program. Consisting of rugged limestone cliffs, it contains two lakes: Lake Cayangan (aka Barracuda Lake because of a landlocked population) and the larger Lake Cabugao. Coron Island is also the home of the indigenous Tagbanua people, semi-nomadic seafarers. Because of its protected area status and respect for the locals, some parts are off-limits to visitors, but there's lots of diving to be had.

There are eight wrecks immediately off the pier, all 120-170 meters long at depths of 24-42 meters. Two of these wrecks are aguably the best in the Philippines: the Japanese World War II tanker Okikawa Maru and Japanese refrigeration ship Irako. Read more about the various wrecks here.

See the photos below to get a taste of the fun and excitement the interns had and that you can have on future trips!