The El Capitan

It is a very cool experience to watch your expired air bubbles snake their way up the walls and between corals and clams on the wreck of the El Capitan. Even more cool to surface inside the wreck in a large pocket of trapped C02! Warning: DO NOT BREATHE!

The 3000-tonne freighter, launched in 1917 was built to transport merchandise during WWII. While it was moored in Ilanin Bay, Subic, awaiting a refit, an enemy Japanese Submarine approached and fired upon the El Capitan causing irrepairable damage. Over two full days in 1946, the El Capitan died a slow death, where I find her today on her port side in an average of 18m of water.

It is a site where I have seen more marine life than anywhere else in Subic.

Jayson found the most delicate looking ghost pipe fish lurking near some similarly fragile soft orange coral and a blue ribbon eel gaping from his cave beneath some coral starkly resembling a vintage gramophone.

Ghost Pipe Fish

Blue Ribbon Eel

I could hear a high-pitched squeaking of what I thought was my ears being squeezed but turned out to be the singing of the Dolphins next door at Ocean Adventure!!!

Just as an aside, remember to bring a torch with you for the wreck penetration; it's an easy swim-through amid shafts of light that beam down through gaping holes in the starboard side, but a little extra light can show you some hidden treasures in the way of abundant marine life.