Wreck Diving Subic Bay

Subic Bay Scuba Diving
Johan’s Beach and Dive Resort
Baloy Beach Barrio Barretto
tel 63 0 47 2248915
cel 63 0 9196471234
johan @ subicdive.com

Subic Bay means different things to different people. Some guys were stationed there back in the Vietnam war days and have some pretty wild memories of the place.

During WW2 many US soldiers died there in the sinking of the Oryoko Maru, which was loaded with around 5,000 POWs when it was torpedoed by friendly fire.

There still are a few retired navy guys living in Subic. Now days there is not a whole lot going on. The base has been closed but it is been turned into an economic zone.

There still is some pretty wild jungle there because the locals didn’t get access to cut everything down for many years.

Down by Baloy Beach there is a tourist industry but the beach itself is kind of a gray sand and not real inviting to beach bums.

Most beach seekers will head for Boracay, Palawan, Panglao, Surigao, Cebu or whatever.

There are a few Europeans that lounge around in beach chairs but not so many.

Subic has a different vibe than the rest of the Philippines. There is still a remnant of the girlie bar district but nothing like the hay day of the base days. In fact the whole area reminds me of a factory town that had a bunch of lay offs. Everything seems to be on hold.

Subic Bay is a great place for wreck divers! I am not a serious diver but had to check this out. there’s lots of history down there. There are no battleships but some transport ships, patrol boats and other junk resting on the bottom.

Most of the WW2 wrecks from battle rest in deep water off of Leyte and not accessible to divers. (Unmanned robot type of stuff or deep sea submersibles would be needed to explore them properly). It’s too deep and the current is too strong for scuba in the depths off Leyte were the big ships are.

Anyway, back to Subic where the bay is shallow and the current is light. There are basically 2 dive shops over there –Blue Rock and Johann’s.

Both places have excellent food and beverage.

Johann’s seems to me to have a more serious operation for diving as the Blue Rock guy has other business ventures in town. (Midnight Rambler)

Diving in Subic is not as cheap as other places in the Philippines. I think Blue Rock and Johann are about the same cost.

Korean and Japanese divers seem to migrate towards Blue Rock while the Europeans tend to migrate towards Johanns.

Johann has come a long way in the last 10 years and now has a nice hotel and dive shop with a restaurant that serves real good food.

Every time you go past there he is building something else on to his complex.

Blue Rock would have a few more stars as far as ratings go, with a small pool and nicer accommodation, but the atmosphere at Johann’s is more relaxing to me. Blue Rock has WiFi.

Both are right on the beach.

Johann’s dive shop seems to be a favorite for the Russians. These guys are a cool lot that don’t have any money problems. Johann told me they eat 5 times a day and dive 5 times a day. Great customers.

Most of the Russians are dry suit divers that dive in the Baltic Sea and other ridiculous locations that a lightweight like me will never go.

They use Italian equipment but it was interesting to see one guy’s Russian pony bottle set up.

It seemed to me that these guys didn’t partake too much in the girlie bar scene, but took their sweeties  with them from Russia instead – and let me tell you these were some absolute dolls.

Even the Filipinas, beautiful by most peoples standards, could not direct their gaze away from them.

These guys were some cool customers and some were huge, 150 kilos plus. They all had a certain style and class about them. They grooved on Johann’s jukebox, a real one in fine working order.

For the most part, Subic Bay is not a backpacker scene, as wreck diving and nightlife are an expensive combo not conducive to the banana pancake crowd.

The water seems to have a lot of plankton globs in it so the visibility was not that good when I was there.

People have mentioned there were a lot of whale sharks in the bay years ago but I think that is a thing of the past.

My favorite dive is the F-4 out in the channel in 43 meters. A little current keeps you on your toes. It is really a neat feeling to descend and all of the sudden there is a plane appearing out of the murky water there on the bottom. I’m told the pilot had to bail out due to a malfunction.

Some tech freaks dive Subic and are forever trying to make the dive more complicated. I am a very inexperienced diver but could not understand why a guy would take a pony bottle of nitrox with a real high oxygen mix on this dive.

At depth you would be well below the max operating depth and could run into big problems if you accidentally took a hit of it. Highly unlikely to do that, but weird stuff sometimes happens, and my theory is to minimize risk. (The idea was that the pony bottle was to be used at the 5 meter safety stop on the way up).

The New York, an old battleship that was scuttled in the bay in 1942, is a favorite of a lot of guys. It’s an old armored cruiser that had already lived out it’s useful life sailing around the world. The big guns are still intact.

It’s a great dive. Johann occasionally leads wreck penetration dives for those who are qualified and really into it. He is a pro wreck diver and doesn’t take chances. Wreck divers, who live a long time, take penetration dives seriously especially in areas with tight restrictions.

There are some wrecks with great big holes in the sides that even novices can comfortably swim through but true wreck penetration is not something to be taken lightly and certainly not on a lark.

Both the LST sunk in 1948 and a Japanese patrol boat sunk in 1944 are pretty good dives. Good old one arm Steve led us on a few dives. He’s a divemaster with a hook, and was really smooth in the water. Cool guy. Everyone had a lot of respect for him. He earned it.

The San Quentin was an enormous sailing vessel that had seen action in the Spanish American War and was scuttled between Grand Isle and Chiquita Island.

It is pretty well rotted away but it is a nice easy dive with some fish-  including the last remaining giant clams that had been seeded there as a reef rebuilding project. For those really into reefs and clear water and fish photography, Subic might not be the place for your holiday. There is a lot of plankton chunks that catch the light of a flash and there is not the variety you get in other places.

The Seian Maru and Oryoko Maru are there too. I got a sad feeling diving the Oryoko Maru.  If you do a little research you realize how many US prisoners of war died in that ship as it went down due to friendly fire.

The conditions the prisoners were in is really a wretched story and I don’t think that I will ever dive there again.

It’s kind of like talking to guys that had been through the Bataan death march. What a horrific experience that was. To me this place is a sacred graveyard.

There are a number of expats that live in the Subic/Olongapo area that can help you find cheaper lodging if you choose to stay there a month or longer. For short term, Barts hotel in town is about 1000 peso a night.

I think that Johann has a few rooms for 700 but they go to 1000 plus.

There is some higher end places along the beach road back to the main highway including Blue Rock and others. Some houses along the beach road rent by the month pretty reasonably.

There are a few other things to do in the area. I think there is some kind of zoo and there is a dolphin show that is pretty well organized. We had to drop off some paperwork there after a dive on the way back and watched the synchronized jumping and training of the dolphins while we waited for the boatman.

They can organize a swim with the dolphin thing for about 100us. To me it is kind of cheesy but one German guy that we dived with tried it and it was the highlight of his whole trip.

Subic Bay 2008 update

I took a quick trip to Subic from Angeles City today. I don’t spend much time in either place but I wanted to see what changes have been made in the past few years.

There is a Swagman “Fly the Bus” that makes the trip between the 2 cities for 400 peso, which is probably ok for many guys but it is a bit steep for me. They leave Angeles City at 10am on Sun,Mon, Wed, and Fri and make the return trip at 12:30. If you are packing a lot of gear and are not used to Filipino transport that might be the best way to go.

I enjoy traveling on local transport but it took a while to learn the system. The first time it can be confusing. If you are short on time and have plenty of money the tourist bus is a lot less hassle. For example it took me two jeepney rides at 7 peso to get to the Dau terminal. then a 26 peso bus ride to the terminal in San Fernando. Then an 84 peso ride to Olongapo followed by a 10 peso jeepney ride to Baloy Beach.

From there I walked down to the Blue Rock and had a talk with Lyle, one of the partners in the new operation there. The Blue Rock Dive Center has a completely new management and they seem like a great group. There were 4 Korean students finishing their lessons when I was there. The switch began on Aug 6 2007 and was finalized at the beginning of 2008.

I believe the former management now operates out of the “Midnight Rambler” but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him in person.

Blue Rock’s fun dives are 1500 peso with rented gear or 1250 if you have your own equipment. If you make 6 dives you get the 7th one free. They dive the Capones Islands and the F-4 but there is a 250 peso fuel surcharge on the plane wreck and the Capones dives are 2000 peso. They also offer tech diving.

I saw a bunch of porterhouse steaks coming out of the kitchen at Blue Rock and they did look good but I wanted to get over to Johann’s before it got dark.

As usual, there was a few additions since I’d seen them last. The dive briefing area has tripled in size and there were a few more hotel rooms. It also looks like Johann got pretty heavy into those jet skis. I still think that he has the best dive master in the area. Forgot his name but he is a friendly Filipino man that really is very skilled.

I don’t know if Johann does much diving anymore but he is an authority on the diving in Subic and knows a great deal of the local history about the bay.

The food in Johann’s restaurant is still outstanding so I enjoyed a meal of shrimp and peas and then headed back to Angeles. He business seems to be growing and I am happy for him. I neglected to get the dive prices but diving Subic does tend to run a bit higher than other places in the Philippines.

Johan’s Beach and Dive Resort
Baloy Beach Barrio Barretto
tel 63 0 47 2248915
cel 63 0 9196471234
johan @ subicdive.com

Blue Rock Dive Center
Baloy Beach Barrio Baretto
tel 63 47 224 7802
cel 63 919 664 2875

If anyone has updated info – feel free to add it in the comment section below.

Subic Bay wreck diving