Tri Bird airplane before sinking off Boracay Beach

Image courtesy Martyn Willes

Some three years ago a three–engine jet airplane suffered a heavy landing (only the airplane was hurt) at Caticlan airport – the closest airport to Boracay Beach. Unable to repair it with the facilities available at Caticlan and being unable to fly the aircraft out again without repair, the airplane waited patiently at the airport for a solution.

The Boracay Island Scuba Diving Association – an organization made up of all of the dive shops on the island – acquired ownership of the aircraft with the intent of sinking it off the reef, so that it may become a subterranean attraction for both marine life and scuba

Photo courtesy Nautik Recovery Asia

Until recently Nik was one of the most popular dive instructors in Puerto Galera and then he just disappeared. Some said the Coral Cove thresher shark got him, others spoke of sirens. In fact he was one of two chief divers for Nautik Recovery Asia, a private company headed by Klaus Keppler on a secret mission to unlock the treasure and history of the Forbes – an English flagged privateer – that hit the then uncharted Discovery Reef off Belitung Island, Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1806. The wreck of the Forbes was discovered laying in 36-40 metres of water.

Today, Nik telephoned with the story of his work as part of the team who uncovered the treasure-filled wreck of the Forbes. In his first interview since the Forbes discovery became public knowledge, Nik described the moment the first treasure was recovered from th

Photo courtesy Sea Dive Resort

Scuba Diving Coron wrecks: northern Palawan is known for dramatic limestone cliffs and thermal lakes, but it might be said that it took an act of war to turn scenic Coron on Busuanga Island, into one of the best scuba diving destinations in the World.

Early in the morning of 24th September, 1944, a wave of Hell Diver bombers burst out of a cloud bank, high above Coron Bay and commenced their rapid descent towards an unsuspecting quarry. The American fast carrier force, in the Leyte Gulf of the Philippine Sea, launched a daring long-distance aerial raid on a Japanese supply convoy hiding