Photo: Karl Callwood / Unsplash
Coron, Palawan
Coron is a wreck-diving destination on Busuanga Island in the Calamianes, northern Palawan. The draw is a cluster of Japanese naval and supply ships sunk by a US carrier strike on 24 September 1944 and still lying in Coron Bay. The best-known are the Irako, Okikawa Maru, Akitsushima, Kogyo Maru, Olympia Maru and Morazan Maru. Depths run from about 10m on the shallow hulls to 43m at the bottom of the Irako, so the diving ranges from Advanced-friendly to technical. Most of the good sites involve some penetration, and silt inside the holds and engine rooms can drop viz to nothing, so wreck training matters here. This is a wreck trip first: marine life is the soft coral, lionfish, batfish, snapper, groupers and moray that have colonised the hulls, plus the odd turtle, not schooling sharks or pelagics. Barracuda Lake is the local novelty, a landlocked dive with a sharp thermocline where a salt layer can hit around 38C. Diving runs year-round; December to February can be windy (northeast monsoon), while the June-to-November rainy season is when runoff cuts viz.
What makes it special
- A tight cluster of Japanese WWII wrecks (Irako, Okikawa Maru, Akitsushima, Kogyo Maru, Olympia Maru, Morazan Maru) sunk 24 September 1944, most diveable as day boats
- Depths from about 10m to 43m in one bay, spanning Advanced-friendly hulls to a deep, technical Irako
- Wreck-encrusting soft and hard coral, lionfish, batfish, snapper, groupers and moray colonising the hulls
- Barracuda Lake, a landlocked freshwater-over-saltwater dive with a sharp thermocline where the salt layer can reach around 38C
Price range
$
Trip length
3–7 days
Diver level
Advanced open water
Trip type
Land based, Day trip, Liveaboard
Price is per person for a typical trip, excluding international flights ($ = under $2,000).
Coron is a budget-to-mid destination. A day of 3 guided wreck dives commonly runs about 5,000 to 6,000 pesos (roughly US$85 to 105), and multi-day wreck packages are cheaper per dive (for example around 16,000 pesos for a 3-day, 9-dive package). Barracuda Lake carries a separate fee of about 300 pesos per diver, and some sites add small local/marine fees on top. A week of land-based diving typically stays well under US$2,000 per person excluding flights; a handful of liveaboards also run the area at higher cost.
Best time to dive
- Current
- Mild
- Water temp
- 26–30°C (coldest Jan, warmest May)
- Visibility
- 5–20m — Commonly 5 to 15m on the bay wrecks, up to about 20m on the best dry-season days and at open-water sites. Silt inside the wrecks and rainy-season runoff are the main viz killers; visibility is often worse after high tide in the bay.
- Getting there
- Moderate — Reachable but with some friction: 1 domestic flight.
- Experience
- Advanced Open Water is the practical minimum for the signature wrecks. Shallower hulls like the Okikawa Maru (deck 10 to 16m) and East Tangat gunboat, plus Barracuda Lake, are within reach of Open Water divers, but the celebrated wrecks sit deeper and reward AOW plus deep and wreck training. The Irako (28 to 43m) is a deep, penetration-heavy dive best treated as technical; several holds and engine rooms are true overhead environments with silt-out risk and need wreck-penetration training.
Nearest airports
- USU — Francisco B. Reyes Airport (Busuanga) (Reached by roughly 1 to 1.5 hour flights from Cebu (CEB) and Clark (CRK); as of March 2026 Manila NAIA turboprop restrictions and the short Busuanga runway have curtailed direct Manila flights, so many route via Cebu or Clark. Airport is about 30 to 45 minutes by road from Coron town, where the dive boats leave.)
Marine life
Sightings are never guaranteed — the bars show typical likelihood by month.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Trevally and jacks patrol the deeper wrecks, notably the Irako, hunting the resident baitfish. Present through the year but not in large schools.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Moray eels, including large individuals, live in the wreck recesses and holds. Seen year-round on most sites.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Barracuda pass by the deeper wrecks such as the Kogyo Maru; the animals that gave Barracuda Lake its name are now rarely seen there. Occasional rather than reliable.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Mandarinfish are reported around the shallow East Tangat gunboat, typically at dusk in the coral and debris. Resident but shy and site-specific.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Batfish hang around the wrecks year-round, often in small groups near the Okikawa Maru, Kogyo Maru and Irako.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Snapper school around the wrecks, particularly the larger hulls like the Okikawa Maru. Reliable year-round; the exact snapper species varies.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Turtles are seen occasionally around the wrecks, most often on the Irako and the Japanese freighter, but they are a bonus rather than a reliable feature.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Lionfish are on essentially every Coron wreck, sheltering in the structure and holds; scorpionfish share the same spots. Reliable year-round.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Nudibranchs are found on the coral-covered hulls, especially the Kogyo Maru, for divers who slow down and look. Year-round.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Ornate ghost pipefish are reported on the Olympia Maru and other wrecks; a macro find that depends on a good guide's eyes rather than a guarantee.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Soft and hard corals have colonised the shallower wrecks and the shallower structure of the deeper ones, densest on the Okikawa Maru and Olympia Maru. Present year-round; growth is a wreck-encrusting community rather than a reef.
Dive sites
Worth knowing before you book
- This is wreck diving, not a big-animal destination. Expect soft coral, lionfish, snapper and the odd turtle, not sharks or pelagic aggregations.
- Visibility is often modest, roughly 5 to 15m, and disturbed silt inside the holds can cut it to near zero in seconds.
- Penetration into engine rooms and cargo holds is a real overhead environment with silt-out and entanglement risk, and needs wreck-penetration training.
- The Irako and the deeper areas of Akitsushima and Kogyo push toward or past recreational limits, so the best wrecks are effectively for experienced or technical divers.
- December to February can be windy with rougher boat rides, and rainy-season runoff (roughly June to November) lowers visibility.
Sources & last checked
Checked July 2026
This is a researched draft, not yet human-verified. The seasonality and logistics are drawn from the sources below — confirm specifics (permits, fees, closures) with an operator before you book.
- Coron Wreck Diving - Philippines — Dive The World
- The Shipwrecks of Coron - Wreck Diving Philippines — Scuba Tech Philippines
- Diving in Busuanga & Coron — PADI
- Scuba diving in Coron, Palawan — ZuBlu
- The Ultimate Guide To Wreck Diving In Coron, Palawan 2025/26 — Extreme Island Adventure
- Coron Diving Prices — Pirates Diving Center
- How to get to Coron and Busuanga - flights and ferry — Coron Busuanga Palawan
- Coron Airport Transfers — Guide to the Philippines
Note on the data: Wreck depths corroborated across Dive The World, Scuba Tech Philippines and PADI. Site coordinates are approximate bay-level positions, not surveyed dive-site GPS. diverLevelMin set to advanced_open_water because the signature wrecks sit deeper and involve penetration, with a note that some shallow hulls and Barracuda Lake suit Open Water divers and the Irako is effectively technical. Water temperature is interpolated from a cited 26 to 30C seasonal range, not measured per month. Prices from operator sites (Pirates Diving Center and others) in pesos; USD conversions approximate. Fee structure is per-site/local rather than a single park fee. Water temperature: Sources cite a year-round range of roughly 26 to 30C, warmest around June and coolest around February; monthly values here are interpolated from that seasonal range rather than measured per month. Barracuda Lake is a separate case, with a salt layer that can hit about 38C below the thermocline. Access: Fly into Busuanga (USU) on a domestic hop from Cebu or Clark, then about 30 to 45 minutes by road to Coron town. Wrecks are day boats from town within sheltered Coron Bay, with rides of roughly 20 minutes to a couple of hours and no open-ocean crossing; Barracuda Lake is about a 20-minute boat ride plus a short walk over a rocky ridge with gear. Independently verified 2026-07-20 (confidence medium).