Subic

Subic is a seaside area on the west side of Luzon Island in Zambales Province in the Subic Bay region. Subic Bay is a former US naval base that was converted into a beach town in the greater proximity of Manila. The main industry is the free port and the airport which is used by transport companies.

Understand
This guide covers an area known as the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone which is commonly known as Subic or Subic Bay. The relatively developed portions of the Subic area are referred to as the Subic Freeport Zone, although the whole Subic economic zone covers portions of Bataan and Zambales provinces; specifically the city of Olongapo and the town of Subic in Zambales and the towns of Hermosa and Morong in Bataan. Olongapo, often associated with this area, is covered separately. Portions of Subic town in Zambales outside the Subic Freeport Zone is likewise not covered in this guide.

The area's history began as a shipbuilding facility by the Spaniards in 1885. After Spain handed over the Philippines to the United States at the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, Subic became a major naval outpost which existed until 1991. Volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Pinatubo also affected many buildings and facilities inside the naval facility while the American forces started to leave. Since the United States forces left, it was converted into a mixed-use area with industrial and retail zones.

Get in
Public transportation methods such as jeepneys and motorized tricycles plying in areas around the Subic Freeport Zone (SFZ) such as in downtown Olongapo, are not allowed to go inside the SFZ.

By car
From Manila, Subic is connected by expressway, the Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEx, formerly Subic-Tipo Expressway); it connects with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) onward from Pampanga.

From Bataan, you can enter from Morong, which is connected through a winding road that passes near the airport.

Vehicles entering Subic Freeport are subject to inspection at entry points. Traffic enforcement is stricter. Being a former U.S. Navy base, there are many three- or four-way stops and center two-way left-turn lanes that are otherwise rare or unusual in the Philippines. Signage is otherwise the same as in most of the Philippines, with speed limits at kilometers per hour on red circles and red triangles with a symbol for warnings.

Get around

 * Taxi - Taxis are available at the main SBMA/SFZ gates with Olongapo. They can also be booked by telephone for pickup anywhere inside Subic.

Scuba diving
The tourism office for the area calls Subic Bay the "Pearl of the Orient" and much like a pearl inside an oyster, its true value is hidden unless you know where to look.

Subic Bay offers some of the world's best shipwrecks, all within recreational diving depths, as well as tranquil coral and artificial reefs that explode with marine life. Unlike Coron, and other wreck diving locations, where you ride for hours to get to a wreck site, the majority of Subic Bay dive sites are a quick 15 minutes trip from the dive centres.

The bay is a unique "wreck heaven" because its sheltered waters allow calm year-round diving (except in the strongest typhoons), with short duration transits to the dive sites and a fantastic collection of exceptionally well-preserved historical wrecks.

Just how many wrecks are there in Subic Bay? That is a difficult question. Unlike Coron or Truk, whose wrecks occurred over a relatively short period, Subic’s World War II wrecks covered almost the entire war period. No fewer than 25 Japanese ships were reported sunk during the war years. Some of these may have been removed in the late 1950s as salvage operations were conducted to open up the bay for shipping. Additional ships were sunk after the war either as targets or victims of mother nature. It is widely believed that an additional ten large ships may lie within the bay. The area is not limited to World War II wrecks. At the entrance to the bay alongside Grande Island are the remains of the Spanish–American War wreck, San Quintin. Outside the bay in deep water lie the remains of a Spanish galleon as well as a 16th-century Chinese junk (beyond diving range).

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 did an enormous amount of damage to Luzon and the Zambales/Subic Bay area was hard hit. A meter of ash covered the area, including homes and businesses. Within days, a typhoon entered the area, turning the ash into mud. Many homes and businesses collapsed under the weight. One resident stated that the river looked just like the cement coming out of a cement mixer. A large percentage of coral was killed lying under the ash.

When the navy occupied the naval base at Subic, many of the wrecks were closed to diving. However, divers had the advantage of diving in water that was crystal clear with 40 m or more of visibility on the wrecks that were open. The bay was the home of different varieties of sharks, dolphins, and turtles. While a few turtles still nest on the beaches, sharks and dolphins are no longer here. The visibility is returning slowly and the coral is recovering. Perhaps the turtles, sharks and dolphins will return in abundance also, but this is not likely. Populatios of turtle, rays and sharks just outside the bay seem to be on the rise.

There have been increasingly more common sightings of bull sharks around the deeper wreck sites, along with Eagle Ray around the USS New York, LST, and El Capitan, and black tip reef sharks around the outside of Grande Island.

Underwater photographers have been reporting success with macro critters, such as harlequin ghost pipe fish and many species of nudibranch.

There are more than ten full-time dive operators in the bay area. These dive operators serve a variety of scuba training agencies, including PADI, SSI, ANDI, PSAI, BSAC and DSAT. They provide a collection of entry-level and specialist scuba training courses, including (of course!) basic and advanced/technical wreck diver training.



Area wrecks

 * El Capitan - A 3,000-ton freighter, about 130-m long that sunk near the mouth of Ilanin Bay. 5m below the surface.
 * Landing Craft Utility (LCU) - Triboa Bay. 5-20 m (25-60 ft).
 * Landing Ship Tank (LST) - Between Grande Island and the southern tip of the runway. 32 m deep.
 * Oryoku Maru- 400 m off Alava pier. 20 m (60ft) deep.
 * Patrol Boat - In Triboa Bay at a depth of 20-25 m (60-75 ft).
 * San Quentin - The oldest known wreck in Subic, a wooden gunboat scuttled by the Spanish in 1898.
 * USS New York - A 120-m long hull. 27 m of water between Alava Pier and the northern end of Cubi Point runway.

Sleep




Go next
Olongapo, geographically in Zambales, but is politically Independent of it, is just to the north. Part of Subic Freeport lies under its jurisdiction; the rest, including the airport, belongs to Subic also in Zambales, and Hermosa and Morong in the province of Bataan. As like with entering, vehicles leaving Subic are subject to exit inspections.


 * Pampanga, via SCTEx.
 * Zambales, via Rte 306