Diving Guide to the Philippines 2015

(Barry) #1

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.
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