Malapascua’s Shipwrecks

T

he combination of attractions at
Malapascua includes reef,
dropoffs, pelagics, great muck dives
and both modern and World War II
wrecks. Most of these war victims
can be seen without much difficulty
and they have become great
artificial reefs, attracting an array of
marine life.
The Dona Marilynwreck is one of
the more popular wrecks but it is in
open sea northwest past Gato
Island. Conditions must be fairly
calm to dive this wreck. She is a
passenger ferry that went down
more than 20 years ago in a
typhoon and is now covered in
marine life. The Dona Marilyn is
300+ ft. long (90+m) and held a lot
of passengers. The sinking was a
major disaster and many people lost
their lives. It is now lying on its
starboard side at 105 ft. (31m),
amazingly intact.
The corals on the wreck provide a
nice overswim at about 65 ft. (19m)
along the port side.
Lighthouse Wreckis a shallow
WWII Japanese landing craft and is
one of three known war wrecks in
the area and is available for long
dives and for snorkeling. It was sunk
before it could land and went
straight down with a load of cement
that was destined to be used to

solidify a land gun emplacement on

the island. The wreck is mostly in

shallow water with remnants of the

hull, which has broken in two.

The Tapilon Wreckfreighter hasn’t

been identified but the wreck at

Tapilon was hit by torpedoes and

sunk in 90 ft. (27m) of water. It’s

broken up but its still recognizable

as a large ship. The resulting

scattered wreckage has created

great habitat and the currents feed

soft corals making it very colorful.

There is another famous war

wreck at Malapascua but it’s a

technical dive only. The Pioneer

Wrecksits north of the island in

140 - 170 ft. (42m- 54m) and is in

good shape. A gunboat, the guns

are still pointing upward and can be

seen on descent. This is deep and in

open water and for mixed gas

tekkies only on calm days.