Palawan

Local Name:

Bigej Wreck

Depth:

This dive will be 120-130 feet to the deck.

Length and Orientation info:

The approximate length and approximate orientation of the ship are deteremined based on the lat and lon of the bow and stern. Typically, the lat/lon information was obtained by attaching a line with a float to the wreck and marking the position of the float with a handheld GPS receiver. We try to get the line as near vertical as possible, but there is bound to be some error. Also, the GPS position will have a certain error in it as well. So, this information will be reasonable, but not 100 percent accurate.

Stern Position:
Latitude : 8 deg 54.304 min 0 sec
Longitude: 167 deg 45.747 min 0 sec

Bow Position:
Latitude : 8 deg 54.326 min 0 sec
Longitude: 167 deg 45.769 min 0 sec

Approximate length: feet

Approximate orientation: deg mag

Anchoring:

The buoy on this wreck used to be fastened to the stern mast. However, that mast snapped and we lost our buoy. I am told that a new buoy has been fastened to the mast up near the bow and now they have added a surface buoy. The surface buoy will be great addition. I was very tempted to add a surface buoy when I was maintaining the buoys, but we never got around to it. I am a bit concerned that we have already seen one mast fail on this wreck and yet the replacement buoy was attached to the other mast. I do not know how we could determine if this mast is in any better condition than the one that snapped. I would be VERY careful trying to this myself! As a minimum, I would recommend bringing down a second means of securing the boat to the wreck!

Another comment here is that the new buoy location is at the forward end of the wreck, yet it is my opinion that the most interesting features are located at the stern, so this just makes for a long, deep swim and reduces your bottom time. For what it is worth, I'd like to suggest that the buoy be moved closer to the stern and that we not use the mast since we have already seen one fail!

Location:

Latitude			Longitude
Degrees	Minutes	Seconds	Degrees	Minutes	Seconds
8	54	18.36	167	45	45.480
8	54.30600	---------	167	45.75800	---------
8.90510	---------	---------	167.76263	---------	---------

Notes:

This is one of the nicest wrecks in the lagoon in my opinion! The water here is generally clear and the ships wheel at the stern provides a great photo opportunity. The deck at the stern will be just shy of 130'

The more interesting and "shallow" parts of the wreck are at the stern. However, at the bow there are some interesting features and nice photos can be taken there as well. You can see the communications cable that is running over the bow.

Just a quick note on the length. You'll see elsewhere on this page that we ame up with a length of 187 feet. I was surprised at how close this came to the 171 foot length that this ship is listed as having! If this is typical of the error in our length measurements, then maybe we are not doing too bad!

As you will see in the photos below, the stern most mast is now broken and laying on the deck. I don't have an exact date, I believe that this happened sometime around November of 2006. Anyone have any better estimate?

Photos:

	This is a detailed photo showing the break on the stern mast. This is where the buoy WAS attached! Apparently a new plan is called for! I am getting sketchy reports about what exaclty happened. One rumor is that a b-boat was tied up to it when it snapped! I'd love to hear the true story if anyone knows what happened!This photo was taken around 12/10/2006 or 12/11/2006 I believe. Photo by Hal Parker
Here's a good shot showing the mast having recently fallen on the rear deck of the Palawan! It's a sad sight, but it serves to remind us that these wrecks are decaying with time! This photo was taken around 12/10/2006 or 12/11/2006 I believe. Photo by Hal Parker
	I believe that this is proof that the forward mast is still present on the Palawan! Photo was taken around 12/10/2006 or 12/11/2006 I believe. Photo by Hal Parker
While not quite as clear as I'd like, this shot show a different view of the bow. You can see a couple funnels and the communications cable that runs over the bow.
	Here is my near-award-winning shot! I entered a photo contest at: http://www.wrecksonline.com. There were 1184 entries of all kinds of wrecks. I made the 50 finalists and placed about #35 if memory serves. As I look at the web version of the photo it is not terribly obvious, but there is a communication cable draped across the bow. It will be quite visible if you swim up here. I am not sure what the depth is to the bow since I usually have run out of bottom time by the time I make it to the bow!
This is a shot of the starboard side just below the main deck taken near the stern looking forward. There's an old sink attached to the rail which is about where this picture was taken from.
	Now here's a shot looking back from the bow towards the stern. We see Mark Scott just ahead heading back towards the rear mast. The mast in that you see is where the buoy is attached. You can see one set of holds in the photo. There is another set very similar below the photographer.
The ship's wheel is a very popular spot for a photograph. Here's Jim Bishop taking a turn posing for the camera.
	Madelain Westerman takes her turn posing at the wheel.
Mark Scott gets a turn.
	Here's that sink I mentioned. It's on the starboard side just a little forward from the wheel. Since most of the deck was apparently wooden, it is very open and the sink can easily been seen from the main deck. This shot was taken though the main deck.
Here's the stack that is directly forward of the infamous ships' wheel.
	This shot is taken on the starboard side right at the stern. You can see the ship's wheel and on the next level you can see the sink hanging on the rail if you look closely.
Here's a view from directly behind the ship. Our famous ship's sheel is seen on the deck. The stack is seen directly behind the wheel. The life raft davits are also visable.
	A little differnt view, but once again we have a picture of the stern from slightly above the main deck. The metal framework is clearly visable.
Janet Burki takes a turn at the wheel.
	Bob Burt gets some time at the helm.
And Linda Fluke gets a turn too.
	And here we have Lisa Shier. I suspect more shots are taken here at the wheel than anywhere else on the ship!