Subic Bay: Amazing World War II Wrecks

posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Wreck diving in Subic Bay has long been in my dive bucket list way after our trip to Coron, Palawan in 2012. And since Ling and I have spent three dive trips satisfying our macro hearts in Anilao, Batangas this 2021, I guess it’s about time to shift to wide angle and take on Subic Bay’s wreck haven by the end of November. We booked our stay with Johan’s Beach and Dive Resort situated along Baloy Long Beach road in Olongapo City. It is a 2-3 hour drive from the metro. Their affordable, beachfront deluxe room pegged at P2,500 per night took our fancy. But the resort’s reasonable P1,200 dive fee certainly cut the deal.

Johan’s is one of the longest operating dive centers in the Subic Bay area. Many of the known Subic Bay dive sites were also discovered by Johan De Sadeleir himself, a Belgian national and long-time Philippine resident. There are around 30 dive sites within Subic Bay, most of which are World War II Japanese and American wrecks such as cargo ships, patrol boats, landing ships, antique steam ships, submarines and airplanes.

We did two dives exploring the El Capitan and the Landing Craft Utility wrecks. USS Majaba, usually referred to as El Capitan, was built in Oregon in 1919 and was later commissioned by the US Navy as a cargo ship in 1942. She was placed out of service in 1946 at Subic Bay and sunk in the area due to a storm. It is 5 to 21 meters deep and has a length of 90 meters. The LCU, similarly, has a depth range of 10 to 21 meters. Its length is 119 feet with a surrounding reef. It is a versatile amphibious craft during World War II as it loads cargoes of men and equipment from ships down to the beach. What I enjoyed most during the dives were the swim throughs or the act of passing through big enough wreck partitions. Seeing what’s left of the cargo holds and engine rooms can surely give a thrill to the imagination. Visibility wasn’t as good so forgive most of my underwater photos. Enjoy viewing!

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About Mona

Certified as a PADI rescue diver. Got my first compact camera in 2011. I was simply content then to just capture a glimpse of what I see during my dives. It was only last February 2014 that I fully maximized the use of manual macro settings.

My camera skills and knowledge are still a work in progress. Enjoy browsin’!

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