San Quentin
On the morning of April 27, 1898 the gunboat San Quintin and two merchant ships were scuttled to block the eastern entrance to Subic Bay....
31.05.2011 - 31.05.2011
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In a futile attempt to stop the invading Americans, Admiral Montojo of the Spanish Navy, thought that by blocking the eastern channel between Grande and Chiquita Islands, he could concentrate his land-based cannons on the western entrance. Coming ashore at Grande Island to inspect the defense works, Montojo was disappointed to find that four KRUPP 6 inch guns had not been installed due to lack of cement. A defense disaster for Montojo but a blessing for divers a century later.....
Since Brian and his team discovered the wreck, it has deteriorated significantly; with it's guts strewn about the sea floor, but with the two large boilers still visible from the surface, as too the bow, stern and many of the ribs. 
There's very little current and plenty of young coral and tropical species of marine life. As a wreck dive, it is historic and doesn't have the hazards of modern shipwrecks. There are no areas to penetrate, but also no silt to stir up as the area is almost entirely covered in young coral growth. The San Quentin was the location chosen for me to test out a super groovy new wetsuit; significantly thinner than my previous one which requires me to carry only 4 pounds of weight now and has a large, reflective V down the middle which makes me feel like a Power Ranger. Unfortunately Jayson made a point of telling me I actually had it on backwards...... Dive Master FAIL!
Once I got my act together, I discovered The San Quentin is in my opinion, exactly what diving was meant to be... fun!
The visibility is so great here because it actually lies just outside the bay, with a good variety of marine life. It was also where we gave Mara her first un-official diving experience. 
For a first try she was amazing! Connar came along and is starting to scare us a bit with his confidence and tends to stray off on his own....
Fortunately Gianne and I were there to keep things under control! 
It was a dive of 'big things.'
Big visibility (10-12m)
Big pipe fish
Big clownfish
Big (I mean GIANT) clams and other shell fish
Big nudibranch 
Big hermit crabs
Big blue-spotted stingray
Big blue-painted lobsters
And one iddy-bitty baby lion fish... so cute!
It is allegedly one of the best night dives in Subic, so I am dying to try that out!
Posted by VascoDiveMaster 15:52 Archived in Philippines Tagged turtles fish diving ocean philippines big tropical marine sharks asia scuba_diving whale subic lionfish clams dive_master subic_bay dive_centre
good descriptions Nat and big photos keep up the good work and yeah night dive at that place would be sensational
by pop