The Tangat Wreck A.K.A. Morazan Maru |
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Most of the shipwrecks in and around Coron Bay are freighters or other varieties of none fighting ship, the exception being the Akitsushima. The so called Tangat Wreck is yet another freighter, and of considerable size yet again. Recent research has given her the name of Morazan Maru but she has also been called the Taiei Maru! Even the Japanese got confused over what ship was called what and where it was... no wonder they lost the war! Tangat Wreck - Morazan Maru - whatever... was bombed so comprehensively that in places her cargo decks have been crushed down until they touch. There is an interesting area towards the bow containing loads of big oil barrels though it's not certain, even after close inspection what they held. A similar wreck in Truk Lagoon carries similar barrels and divers leave the water there with their skin seemingly on fire. Fortunately that's not happened to either of us on the Tangat Wreck! The bridge area is still just about ok for limited penetration and did not seem to suffer quite as badly as the decks and holds during the bombing though it is clear that this area was heavily targeted from the number of immediately adjacent near misses. The stern on the other hand has an area which is still practically intact. It never ceases to amaze me how the instantaneous release of hot gas which is the explosion of a bomb can twist and tear inches thick steel so comprehensively; and of how such a devastating device is little more than a telling monument to man's ultimate stupidity. So all philosophical pontificating aside, she's big and she's absolutely covered in fish, coral and assorted sea critters, especially those pesky scorpion fish you never see until you have all but sat on one. I hate that particular fish mainly because of the number of frights they have given me and the number of times Tan Tan's hand has dragged me up out of harm's way!!! On one occasion Tracy "climbed" up a ladder between decks to try to get a deck hand's perspective and came eyeball to eyeball with a very large scorp just as she reached the top deck - he was lying right on the edge of the deck at the head of the ladder and his snout can't have been more than two inches from her face. Seriously though, this wreck seems to positively teem with life, especially around the netted AA gun mount at the bow. We have even seen tiny seahorses in their nests amongst seaweed growing on the walls of the wreck. A great dive to begin your trip, she's not got too many nasties, the ubiquitous scorpion fish aside that is, and penetration is easy - unlike on the Irako! More of that on another page though! And when you've done a dive there's nothing more restful - no... positively soporific - than to lie back on the bench in the boat above this wreck listening to the sounds of the jungle coming from the island close by. We have seen sea eagles fishing here and monkeys running along the beach... or were they just the tourists staying at the resort hotel on the island? I think not though knowing the Brits abroad I wouldn't have been surprised
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Our January 2007 visit... |
Our July 2007 visit... |
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