Karl’s Corregidor Trips.

[Karl Welteke]

This is a new thread dedicated to all my visits to Corregidor in a complete album form. Each visit, if I have time to upload the images will be in this form. This is in addition to many other replies with different subjects at all the other different threads in this forum.

Corregidor Diary
2013, 14th to 18th Jan. w. AJM

Places visited: Cine, Crockett Ravine, Battery Cushing, SL. No. 6 & 7, Defense Positions near Battery Cushing and on Geary Point.

Day Four, Thursday the 17th Jan. 2013

Since we failed to reach Geary Pt. yesterday on foot via the coastline we decided today to go via Crockett Ravine. We arranged to get a ride with the workers jeepney to go Topside and proceeded to the entrance to C1 tunnel.

First we noticed the restoration work on the cine, Topside, and looked at it closely. We took many pictures. Also a new road had been built on one of its sides.

From the C1 tunnel we proceeded straight down and like the last two times we came to the thick bamboo thicket near the South Shore Road culvert crossing the ravine. AJM and I took turns to cut our way thru that. And again like my last 2 times we reached a point about 20 feet up-stream from the dislodged culvert.

Down the Crockett creek we went, at the beach we decided to proceed to Battery Cushing first. Next to the Searchlight Point we entered a ravine and found a way up to the South Shore Road. Gun #1 position of Batt.-Cushing we visited first, then #2. #2 gun position is hanging over the cliff and will fall one of these years. The South Shore Road inland of Battery Cushing is still in fair shape.

Next was VIII F 2; only the steps to gun positions are left, everything else has dropped down to the beach. On our way here we seen all the concrete pieces on the beach. SL #6 is still much intact but like in almost all SL shelters the scrappers have done their thing. But the walls are still standing.

From the SL 6 we went straight down to the beach and proceeded to Geary Point. Went up without too much problem. Defense position VI M 3 on the beach is now completely gone. SL 7 was my first target, then VI F 3 and its magazine. Then it was to VI M 4, it is almost completely gone. The last target for me was VI F 2 which is an impressive long trench with two gun positions, one at each end. In the middle of the trench was what appears to have been a magazine but the concrete ceiling is destroyed.

After we went down to the beach we asked some fishermen to give us a ride to south Bottomside. They asked for 200 pesos, we gave them 300. We called it a day.

The weather has been great, the strong NE winds keeps this island cool and I didn’t use the aircon or a fan in my room at MacArthur Café. Tuesday and Thursday were particular sunny, Wednesday it was cloudy. We had a 800 peso a day discount price for our rooms, each room. And we consumed our meals here at the café. The resident American couple had visitors by the husband’s two sisters.

The next, on Friday, I wanted to go home. Since I had parked my car in Mariveles and took the Sun Cruises ferry to Corregidor on Monday. Coming from Olongapo that is ideal for me. On this trip, I learned, that the Sun Cruises ferry go to Mariveles only on Mondays. Last year it was Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Going back to Manila with the afternoon ferry was not ideal, since I also had to go back to Mariveles to pick up my car. I asked Villa Carmen for a boat that cost me 3000 peso. The NE winds were strong all week but today the North Channel looked even rougher. But Villa Carmen has good boats and good crews and they showed up promptly. 3000 pesos is just a little too much for me.

Here is more I learned about the boat story. Again it hard to get precise info from Sun Cruises or FAB. FAB is the Freeport Area of Bataan in Mariveles. They have this website in regards to the ferry.

(this URL is dead, 28th Dec 2021, Karl)

What I learned, Mondays the Corregidor Sun Cruises ferry will continue to Mariveles and in the afternoon about 1345 Hours will go back to Manila via Corregidor. On Friday another boat and maybe another company runs a ferry from Manila direct to Mariveles and back in the afternoon, direct!
Here is a related story. On Corregidor someone operates a big boat, 40 passenger I believe, which is really a good deal if one has a large party to visit the island. But now the Coast Guard enforces a law that that size of boat needs a properly licensed boat skipper (elaborate to achieve). So, for right now, that boat service is not available right now.

The complete album, with all the pictures of this day, the 17th Jan. 2013, is in my Photobucket Image Sharing account. They are 134 images, and have short titles only:

Name and URL:
2013-01-17 Cine Cushing Geary-Pt 

app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/011e36b9-503f-4821-9354-16f4cf30b28a

THE ABOVE LINK IS ACTIVE AGAIN AS OF27th DEC> 2021!

Here are some sample images:


The newly reinforced cine Topside.


Our GPS track for this walk down the beach via the Crocket Ravine.


These oddly shaped objects I have seen in at least 5 other places on Corregidor, nobody else seemed to have noticed them. This one in the Crockett Ravine creek.


No. 1 gun position of Battery Cushing near Search Light Point.


No. 2 gun position of Battery Cushing near Search Light Point hanging over the cliff.


No. 6 Search Light near Battery Cushing.


Those bushes at left is where we stepped onto the rocky beach coming down the Crockett Ravine Creek. We looked, but did not see the infantry trench there as indicated on the map.


VI-F-2 defense position on Geary Point.


The wide and long trench of VI-F-2 on Geary Point.


The magazine of VI-F-3 on Geary Point.

[oozlefinch]

Karl - Have you, or anyone you know, ever made it to SL No. 4? I've made it to all of the others, but never No. 4.


Karl answers on 4th Jan. 2022, yes I have visited #4, it is pretty much in tact still!

[Karl Welteke]

Corregidor Diary
2013, 14th to 18th Jan. w. AJM


Day One, Monday the 14th Jan. 2013

Places visited: The Bataan West Road, The Phil Army camp above, inland from Agloloma Point, Mt. Mauakis, Mt. Pucot above Longos Kawayan Point and the Manila-Corregidor-Mariveles ferry port in Mariveles called the Rouvia Port Complex.

Took car to Mariveles and checked Bataan West Road. From turn off to Biaan Port to entrance gate to Camaya Coast Resort, are maybe 11 km of which are now about 5 or 6 km concreted. The rest of the road is ok now as of this date. The Army camp is still there at the Camaya Coast entrance.

Parked at Mariveles landfill and walked almost to Mt. Pucot. Had a good look down to Kinalalakan Bay. Didn’t see a trail down but because of grass burn one can walk down now at one place. Because of dryness and burns, these three ridges could be walked without too much trouble: Longos Kawayan Pt., Naiklec Pt and Hornos Pt.

At FAB was told to pay for the ferry ticket to Corregidor at the ferry pier. Did so and today only the small ferry was used. At 1345departed and landed at the South Dock. Checked in at the MacArthur Café. Talked in length with Edith, the MacArthur Café manager and settled in. Only yesterday two new girls checked in as waitresses at Mac’s Café.

The three native material cottages at MacArthur Café are no more. They were in disrepair and had become unusable. Now one has an unobstructed view to the present Phil. Coast Guard Station. And the NE wind may be a bit stronger now whistling thru the café.

John Moffitt had come to C. I. this morning from Manila and did a project on Malinta Hill. After his return down, we got together, chewed the fat. We made plans to visit the Tailend tomorrow.

C. I. News: Steve Kwiecinski’s two sisters arrived on the island for a visit. Diana got three kids now and is running the former Coast Guard place as watering hole. The island Sun Cruises Manager Ed has been let go. The South, Bottomside watering hole is closed now.

Had two beers when I arrived, feel tired and retired early, 7 pm.

End

All the pictures of the walk, drive and exploration trip, this day, the 14th Jan. 2013, have been reposted in this Photobucket Image Sharing account. They are 91 images, and have short titles only:

Name and URL:

West-Rd 2013-01-14 Pucot-Mt


app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/ffcc3de0-73cd-4bb7-9a42-28fab4d53a51

Note from Karl 2022-08-29:

-The above link is active again.

- Because Photobucket changed procedures in recent years, my image descriptions don’t show anymore, but they are located in the title line. And because the image titles disappeared the pictures are no longer in the right order. In most of my albums they were original sorted, shown, in the alphabetical order but no longer so.


PS:
I beg the pardon of the frequent visitors to this forum. This particular reply has been recently covered already by my other replies in other threads. It must be boring to you and just skip it. But I feel I need to enter this reply to make this thread complete.

I post a few pictures in this reply:



2013-01-14 The Biaan River bridge under minor repair, looking up river.




2013-01-14 Just north of the Biaan Bridge, work continues slowly on the Bataan West
Road.



The map for this section of the Bataan West road.



2013-01-14 The Bataan West Road, this is how it may have looked in WWII.



2013-01-14 The trail between Mt. Mauakis to Mt. Pucot above the Longos Kawayan point. It can be walked!



The map of the Longos Kawayan Point area.



2013-01-14 Mariveles Town from the Mt. Mauakis Peaks




2013-01-14 Just entered the trail to Naiklec Point which is between Hornos Point and Longos Kawayan Point. I looking back towards Mariveles Town and Mt. Mariveles.



2013-01-14 at the Rouvia Port Complex in Mariveles Town, this is where I catch the ferry to Corregidor. The name of this vessel got my attention, I used to live just south of the Danish border in Germany.




2013-01-14 A view from the Rouvia Port in Mariveles towards the Cochinos Point.


Notes:
The activities of this day are covered in more detail in this thread called:

Walk to the Battle of the points.

corregidor.proboards.com/thread/667/page/2/walk-battle-points#scrollTo=11964

And this is not the only thread we have about the Battle of the Points area. Chadhill took an adventure tour in 1986 to Quinauan Point and has some good descriptions of the point and enriched it with battle graphs from different books about these battles. This is the URL:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/793/quinauan-point-1986

Bob Hudson recently visited Quinauan Village and was able to attain BAR from village chief who had gotten it from the battle field. Here is the URL:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/793/quinauan-point-1986

[sherwino]

Good post, Karl. The West Road rehabilitation seems to take forever. My old car's underneath got some scratch near that bridge. I had to pile up stones for me to get back to the concrete surface. I bet you have a taller ride. That's a good update for me.

[Karl Welteke]

92nd Garage area 2013-01-15 on Corregidor Island

With John went to the Tailend, even around Hooker Point and on the way back we went thru the 92nd Garage area. It seems that during the 10 years I have known Corregidor everything that has been tried here has failed. It seems the ghosts of the 10,000+ Allied POWs the Japanese herded here for almost 3 weeks under inhuman condition are haunting this place. This album is about the 92nd Garage area and has 37 images:

s74.beta.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Corregidor%20by%20subject/Tailend%20of%20Corregidor/92nd%20Garage%202013-01-15#/user/PI-Sailor/library/Corregidor%20by%20subject/Tailend%20of%20Corregidor/92nd%20Garage%202013-01-15?&_suid=1362904843586037731884792991565

Actually all the 317 pictures of this walk with John (AJM) are uploaded here!
2013-01-15 Tailend etc.
s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Corregidor%20at%20Random/CI%20Random%20Subalbum%20No%202/2013-01-15%20Tailend%20etc?sort=4&page=1

With John (AJM) went to the Tailend, short-cut down on the south side, even went around Hooker Point and on the way back on the Tailend ridge line we went over the Kindley Airfield, the Mindanao Peace Garden the Japanese Peace Garden and the 92nd Garage area. It seems the ghosts of the 10,000+ Allied POWs the Japanese herded here for almost 3 weeks under inhuman condition are haunting this place. We also looked at the two Panama gun rings for the155mm Gun at Monkey Point.
THE ABOVE LINK/URL, THE ALBUM WITH 317 PICTURES IS ACTIVE AGAIN AS THE 13TH AUG. 2013.

Here are some sample images from the 92nd garage area:



347. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage Club House which is not presently used and is beginning to fall into neglect.


348. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage Club House, the beach in front and Malinta Hill in back.


349. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage. These concrete blocks and steel channel irons only got exposed in the last year. Neither John or I seen these before. A foundation for?


350. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage breakwater at right which was repaired a few years ago but that repair job got destroyed in one year.


351. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage area. Three shades have been built at the 92nd Garage area a long time ago.


352. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage area, a close-up of a shade.

.
353. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage area. These cottages have been renovated last year for no avail. It seems all enterprises at the 92nd Garage have failed.


354. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage area. A walkway from the cottages to the Club House.


355. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage Club House, a function room, the false ceiling is going.


356. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage Club House, the engineering is stripped.


357. 2013-01-15. The 92nd Garage Club House, it had a great and well equipped galley.

[Bob Hudson]

It's a shame to see all these seemingly nice structures going to hell. It would be much cheaper to maintain these buildings to some extent than to have to completely overhaul them in the future. Are these supposed to be maintained by the Corregidor Foundation?

[chadhill]

Karl,

Here's a repost of your photo from the 92nd Garage beach area:





For comparison, here's a pic of the same area I took on a trip in 1985. I was under the impression that these were parts of the old seaplane ramp. The 1936 map shows structure # 623, the South Air Service Dock, to be about here.
 

[Karl Welteke]

Chadhill-the pieces in my picture seem to be ones on the right of your picture. The other thing I like to note is that the pieces on the left side of your pictures are permanently gone. Than on the other hand the pieces in my picture were buried most of the time again in the last 10 years as John and I had not noticed them before and we were frequently here during the last 10 years.

@ Bob Hudson. I don’t really know who is responsible for or claims them as their own, those structures at the 92nd garage area. I thought or understood that Sun Cruises built them there. Last year it was Sun Cruises which renovated the cottages.
The year before it was foreigners who were behind some work being done there and I only caught a rumor from the MacArthur Café staff that their plan was to attract visitors. But I don’t know who sanctioned it, Sun Cruises or CFI.
6 to 8 years ago when they stripped out all the galley equipment it was stored in the big concrete Coal Power Plant and that structure belongs to CFI.

[Karl Welteke]

The Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor 2013-01-15

These images were shot on the 15th Jan. 2013 when fots and I walked to the east end of Corregidor and visited this place on our return trip.

The Japanese Peace Garden is certainly a unique place. This album tries to show most of the things that can be seen there. The way it got established is a most interesting story itself. I understand, an American found a picture of the WWII Japanese cemetery that was established here by the US Army. By then the cemetery was completely forgotten. The recovery of the picture got Japan interested in their dead and so it went.

I put all these 53 images of the Japanese Peace Garden in this album with Photobucket. Photobucket has changed, the images are harder to view, can’t be zoomed anymore, doesn’t have a slideshow option anymore etc and worse they scramble the picture and so they are not in the order I want them.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND PHOTOBUCKET ANYMORE TO ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is the album:
One hint to help is -click on “Media Info” at right and you will see a description of the image.

s74.beta.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Corregidor%20by%20subject/Tailend%20of%20Corregidor/Japanese%20Peace%20Garden%202013-01-15

Here are some sample images: The 3 digit number in front help me find the image in the album where I uploaded them, they are scrambled and hard to find.



348 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. I don’t know the name of this stature but I’m sure it symbolizes peace! It stands at the SW corner of the garden.


349 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This Google Earth map is unsatisfactory coverage of Corregidor but it das indicate the Japanese Peace garden.


350 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This US anti tank gun was added in later years.


351 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. There are a number of memorial markers, a few are also in English.


352 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This is the Corregidor Foundation Incorporated (CFI) map of Corregidor. The garden is indicated on the south side, 3rd from the right.


353 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. I’m not sure are those little plaques names of individuals?


354 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. In the garden are four Japanese guns.


356 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. The peace stature again at the SW corner of the garden.


357 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. At the bottom of the stature is this typical Japanese arrangement.


358 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This marker lists most of the Japanese units who defended Corregidor in 1945. In my album you can find a close-up.


359 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This marker is all in Japanese, on the opposite side. We are looking north, towards the Philippine Heroes memorial.


360 2013-01-15 Japanese Peace Garden on Corregidor. This marker is dedicated to all The Fallen but in particular to the Japanese 4th Div. who captured Corregidor in 1942.

[Bob Hudson]

Can't deny soldiers some honor. Wars are waged by governments and fought by soldiers. They died for their country and should be afforded some kind of memorial even though some may disagree with this point. Had they a choice, they would have stayed home and raised families.