Go ask a bunch of cavers if they'd take you inside on the basis of a wreck-diving cert. There's your answer....
---------- Post added June 29th, 2014 at 10:54 PM ----------
...a cave certification would give you the ability to penetrate a wreck, but a wreck certification may not necessarily prepare you for cave, but I'm only basing that on the fact that some cave diving instruction seems to be more highly developed than some wreck diving instruction.
I agree and disagree.
Many entry-level wreck courses are a complete and utter waste of time. I'd judge them nearly criminally negligent, in that they qualify the diver to "dive in the overhead environment, within the light zone".... because, frankly, they don't....
They simply DO NOT equate to equivalent cavern/cave level courses..... AND THEY SHOULD.
That said, there are some magnificent entry-level wreck courses available. I teach the ANDI Wreck course...and it's virtually identical to the ANDI Cavern courses. 1 OW skills practice dive (lost line, lost buddy, guideline deployment/retrieval, signals, touch-contact etc etc), then further practice on 3x overhead environment dives (
light zone).
Likewise, progressing beyond the entry-level wreck, the similarity between courses/syllabus/protocols/skills in cave & wreck becomes increasingly identical.
Between cave and wreck... training skills/protocols maybe near-identical...but their application in a specific environment IS DIFFERENT. It's wrong to think that a caver is fully educated to enter a wreck, or vice-versa.
I wrote an article covering the issue of effective wreck training, in comparison with cave, in depth:
The Anatomy of an Effective Wreck Diving Course
Cave divers constantly practice line drills, lost line, lost buddy, lights out etc., and I don't think most wreck divers really practice drills the way cave divers do... but I could be wrong)
Wreck divers will practice these also.
I just don't count someone wielding a 'PADI Wreck Diver' c-card as a 'Wreck Diver'. It's a novelty course... that completely fails to achieve it's stated goals.