Fort Wint/Grande Island Photos

[Carlos]

Grande Island was an US Army Fort (manned by US Army Philippine Scouts), a US Navy recreation spot, a refuge for the 'Boat People' than nothing and now it is a big resort. I knew Grande Island from my Navy days but only as a recreational visitor. Only now did I get interested in its history. Living in Subic Bay, after I did a little research, I visited the island 3 times in 2004-06.

Here is some history from the web page ’corregidor.org’
corregidor.org/chs_bogart/bogart1.htm

1st Visit this was on 14th Feb 2004.Thru the help of SBMA Personnel (Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, the present management of the former Base) we were able to visit it. At that time the development for the new resort was still in progress and not finished yet. This album has maps and pics from 4 of the 5 gun Batteries especially from Battery Warwick (10 inch battery), the new resort being build, the former Navy cottages, views of the ex Base shore, the Zambales shore and views of the island.


This is an active link again as of 20th June 2011. This album has been shifted to a more accommodating image sharing account, away from Kodak:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Grande%20Island%20ex%20Fort%20Wint%202004-02-14/

Here is an image from the Navy times:


I'm sorry that it took this long to correct it but it will take longer to correct the others below here.




2nd Visit on 22 Sep 2004 at this time the new resort was open for day visitors. The Resort facilities were almost completed and many pictures are of the progress. Some of the previous Navy pathways were cleared. Also there are pics of the ferry trip, the South-Mine-Casemate, especially the Combined Command Fire Control Station, West-Shore Defense Remnants and the south and west shore.
This is an active link again as of 20th June 2011. This album has been shifted to a more accommodating image sharing account, away from Kodak. But now this 2nd visit will have 4 albums and this is the 1st one covering the ferry trip to the island:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/P....0%202011-09-22/

Here is an image of the reception area:


Army-Navy remnants 2004-09-22 second visit

This is the 2nd out 4 albums from the 22 Sep 2004 2nd visit to Grande Island. I had original posted the images on my Kodak account but they don’t let me post them on the bulletin boards anymore, so I’m finally getting around in shifting the images to a friendlier account. This album is about all the Army-Navy remnants on the island. On my 3rd visit I found more but it will be posted later:

s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Army-Navy%20remnants%202004-09-22/

Here is the image of the Fort Wint Battle Command station:



Views of Grande Island away from the batteries and the resort

This is the 3rd out 4 albums from the 22 Sep 2004 2nd visit to Grande Island. I had original posted the images on my Kodak account but they don’t let me post them on the bulletin boards anymore, so I’m finally getting around in shifting the images to a friendlier account. This album is of views of Grande Island away from the batteries and the resort:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Island%20Views%202011-09-22/

Resort on Grande Island 2004-09-22

The resort is just now open for business so I took a daytrip and took a lot of pictures. This is the 4th of 4 albums and shows the resort facilities. This album used to be in the Kodak image sharing account but is now being shifted to this account on 2011-06-21. I am getting feedback that the resort isn’t doing that good. It needs maintenance. And in my view it was too high priced as what is being offered. There is nothing to do but look around for one day:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Resort%20on%20Grande%20Island%202004-09-22/

This is the Grande Island Resort Inland Lagoon:



My 3rd Visit to Grande Island on the 27th and 28th Feb. 2006, it has two (2) albums!
This visit was together with the Coastal Defense Study Group (CDSG) and I took pictures of course. This first album covers only the military remnants, one is still able to see of this date and I consider this a detailed look. It has maps to help you. All images have titles and or descriptions:
Attention!!!! The dates on the pictures are wrong because I could not operate the menu on the camera anymore. They were shot in Feb. 2006.
These albums are active again as of 2011-06-23, they have been shifted to this account, away from Kodak!
This is the first album about the military remnants, 167 images:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Ft-Wint%20Details%202006-02-27%20w%20CDSG/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ28

This is an image of one of the 4 big coal bins:



Grande Island Resort details.
On the 27th Feb. 2006 I visited Grande Island, the ex Fort Wint for the 3rd time after the Base Closure. The Coastal Defense Study Group (CDSG) went there and I went along. This is the 2nd out 2 albums from this visit and is about the resort only. The 1st album was about the military remnants. The dates on the pictures are wrong because I couldn’t use the camera menu anymore. Here are 93 images:
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Fort%20Wint%20and%20Grande%20Island/Resort%20Details%202006-02-27/

Here is an image of the recreational vehicles at the Grande Island resort:

[VeeVee]

Thanks for the pictures! I'll visit it someday on one of my trips home.
How do you get to the island from the mainland? Is there a regularly scheduled public ferry or do you have to go through the resort's own ferry accomodations?

[Carlos]

First of all, here is the web page of the resort.
www.grandeislandresort.com/

As you can see the prices are high. You might consider a day tour only, I would be happy to be your guide.
The two times I went there when it was open they had a 9am boat and one could leave as late as around 5pm. In that time frame you could see every thing.

Just stay in touch and I find out, the day tours ( a round trip) cost about 600 Peso.

Yes, the resort runs their own boat and you can see on their web page the ‘transfer’ is inclusive. It leaves from near the big Philippine Flag in front of the SBMA Administration Building..

But if you would like to enjoy a romantic sunset and sun rise and you don’t mind the cost, by all means stay one night.

What amazes me that they are not promoting the Coastal Defense Battery Positions at all. Also that they are not using the swimming pool; they should have got it back in operation.

[VeeVee]

Thanks Karl, on one of our trips home we'll visit. Maybe by then they'll have a nicer pool in operation and a more established historical tour.

[Carlos]

Just came across a grand pic of Grande Island from the US Navy DVIC outfit. See link below.


s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Images%20to%20be%20linked/Link%20subalbum%20No%201/Battleship-Grande%20Island/

If any one would like a high resolution copy, let me know.


MOD EDIT: I'm having a hard time fixing the link for the cropped version. Just paste the whole address into your browser to see.

Answer from Carlos:
Yes,this is Carlos, I couldn't fix it either, the link for the cropped version is now my whole Corregidor Album.

[VeeVee]

The warship on the left in the distance looks like a New Jersey/Missouri class battleship.

Beautiful shot!

[VeeVee]

Here's a satellite shot of Grande Island. I don't know how recent this one is but it looks like they turned the baseball diamond into a man-made lagoon or swimming pool with "beaches" and cabanas.



The island is indeed Subic's version of Corregidor looking at it's location in the bay. It's too bad that they abandoned the fort without putting up a fight. It would have prevented the attrition that resulted from the Battle of the Points in Bataan in 1942. The Japanese seaborne forces that landed on the western shore of Bataan had assembled in Subic. They also turned Subic into a resupply depot.