Pampanga: More slots opened for Hot Air Balloon Fiesta tour!

Due to public clamor, we added eight more slots to our Valentine's Day tour to the 14th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! First eight to book and pay get the last slots. E-mail us at info@ivanhenares.com to book. As part of the tour, you'll have a sumptuous breakfast at C' Italian Dining, a hearty Kapampangan lunch at Abe's Farm and optional spa treatments at Nurture Spa. Click here for more information.

Ultimate Batanes Heritage Tour from March 21 to 24! Book Now!
Slots for our Batanes tour are going, going gone as well! Remember, we'll be staying for three nights at Fundacion Pacita, the hotel with the best views, and the only first class accommodation in Batanes! No other Batanes tour offers that and so much more! Click here for more information.

Corregidor Island: Battery Grubbs

Battery Grubbs is another of Corregidor's heavy seacoast emplacements one will get to visit on the regular guided island tour. Work for this battery was done from 1907 to 1911 at a cost $212,397.86. It had two 10-inch disappearing guns making the battery the only battery with 10-inch gun emplacements in the Manila Harbor Defenses. These were 1895M1 guns on Model 1901 Disappearing Carriages (#25/#14 and #22/#16) and were apparently never changed during the battery service life. It was named in honor of 1st Lt. Hayden Y. Grubbs, 6th U.S. Infantry, who died during the Philippine-American War in 1899.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies

Corregidor Island: Battery Hearn

Battery Hearn is another of the relatively intact Corregidor artillery batteries one visits during the regular island tour. Constructed from 1918 to 1921 at a cost of $148,105, Hearn and companion Battery Smith were the last major caliber sea coast artillery built on Corregidor before the Washington Disarmament Treaty of 1922.

Battery Hearn was part of Battery Smith (Battery Smith Gun No. 2) until 1937 when it was renamed Hearn in honor of Brigadier General Clint C. Hearn who commander the harbor defenses on Manila and Subic Bay in 1919.

It was armed with a 12-inch (305mm) gun model 1895A2, mounted on a Barbette Carriage Model 1917, which with a maximum firing elevation of 35 degrees, could fire a 1,000-pound (454.5kg) shell propelled by a 270-pound (122.7kg) separately loaded bagged charge to a range of 30,000 yards 17 miles or 7.4 km.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies

Corregidor Island: Battery Way

Battery Way is said to be the most intact of Corregidor's artillery batteries. And it's no surprise that it's one of the most visited and most photographed attractions on the island.

Construction for this battery began in 1904. It was completed in 1914 at a total cost of $112,969 and named in honor of 2nd Lt. Henry N. Way, 4th U.S. Artillery, who died in service in the Philippines in 1900.

Armed with four 12-inch (305mm) M1890 mortar carriages which were capable of lobbing a 1,000-pound (454.5kg) deck piercing shell or 700-pound (318kg) high explosive shell 14,610 yards (8.3 miles or 13.35 km) in any direction.

On May 6, the day Corregidor surrendered, Battery Way continued firing all morning. Only when the breech block of its last gun froze at 11 a.m., warped by the heat from constant firing, did it stop firing. It was the last of Corregidor's "concrete artillery" to cease fire before the surrender at 12 noon.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies

Northbound Magazine, your free travel guide to North Philippines!

After several months in the making, the maiden issue of Northbound Magazine, a free quarterly travel guide to North Philippines (Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, the Cordilleras and Central Luzon), will be available in hotels, restaurants and information centers around the region beginning next week. This magazine is a publication of the North Philippines Visitors Bureau. You can download the online version from www.northphilippines.org.