Coron Wrecks in 3D
- Philippines Underwater
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
Sunken memory: when Holger Buss digitized the shipwrecks of Coron Bay in 3D
Off the coast of Coron Island lies a silent museum. In the depths of the bay, dozens of World War II shipwrecks lie on the sand, frozen in time. For a long time, they were accessible only to divers lucky—or brave—enough to descend and explore them.
Today, thanks to the patient work of German diver and photogrammetrist Holger Buss, these sunken ships can be explored in a different way: in three dimensions.
His project is at once scientific, artistic, and profoundly poetic.
A legendary bay for divers
Coron Bay is one of the world's most famous diving sites. It is home to a fleet of Japanese shipwrecks sunk in September 1944 during an American air raid. These cargo ships, oil tankers, and military vessels now lie at depths of between 10 and 40 meters.
Among the most famous:
Akitsushima
Okikawa Maru
Irako Maru
Kogyo Maru
Olympia Maru
Lusong Gunboat
Morazan
Over time, these metal structures have transformed into spectacular artificial reefs, covered in coral and inhabited by schools of tropical fish.
But shipwrecks age, become fragile, and some parts gradually disappear.
This is precisely where technology comes into play.
Scan the wrecks like historical monuments
During an expedition in 2025, Holger Buss set himself an ambitious mission: To dive and 3D scan the main shipwrecks of Coron .
To do this, he uses a technique called photogrammetry .
The principle is simple on the surface:
The diver takes thousands of photographs from different angles around the wreck.
The images are then assembled by computer.
Software reconstructs an extremely accurate 3D model of the ship.
The result is a complete digital twin of the wreck, which can be viewed from all angles, zoomed in on, measured, or even 3D printed.
Each scan requires hours of diving… and weeks of computer processing.
Difficult work underwater
Scanning a wreck is not as simple as photographing a building.
Underwater, everything becomes more complicated:
Visibility can change in a matter of minutes
light disappears quickly with depth
Currents can move the diver
Typhoon season makes conditions unpredictable.
When Buss went to Coron , it was in the middle of storm season, with rain, winds and sometimes very limited visibility.
Despite this, he managed to capture the data needed to model several of the bay's historic ships.
An example of Holger Buss's work is shown here with Akitsushima.
See more here
or athttps://dive3d.eu/
When archaeology meets technology
The resulting models are not only spectacular.
They also have genuine scientific value.
3D scans allow, among other things, the following:
to accurately document the condition of the shipwrecks
track their degradation over time
study their architecture
preserve a digital record if they disappear
The models can also be used in museums, archaeological research, or historical reenactments .
In 2026, several models of Coron shipwrecks were even given to the National Museum of the Philippines to become part of its permanent collection.
A new way to dive
But beyond science, there is also emotion.
Thanks to these 3D models, someone who has never dived can now virtually explore the holds of a World War II cargo ship, observe a rusty cannon or follow the silhouette of an oil tanker lying on its side.
This is another way to visit these places steeped in history.
A digital dive.
The fragile beauty of shipwrecks
There is something fascinating about these sunken ships.
They are both:
war machines
historical monuments
living reefs
and sculptures shaped by the sea.
Holger Buss's work captures exactly that: the present moment of a fragile heritage .
Because the wrecks keep changing.
The metal crumbles, the corals grow, the sea slowly transforms everything it touches.
Thanks to these scans, part of this underwater memory is now preserved — not only at the bottom of the ocean, but also in the digital world.
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