Best instruction/instructors for basic and advanced wreck diving.

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Steve was my advanced wreck instructor trainer. Someone asked about Trace. I have not heard from him in a while. He was having some eye surgery a couple months back.
 
Does anyone have any thoughts on how Adv Wreck from Trace Malinowski, on the wrecks in the Saint Lawrence River, compares to some of these world-class instructors that have already been mentioned?
As good as anyone out there. Very thorough, very detailed, and the area is great for training. Several guys on my crew took wreck penetration classes with Trace in the St Lawrence.
 
Andy where I'm at in the Great Lakes region, few instructors have the skills to teach wreck penetration let alone on an expert level. Not many penetrable wrecks lie in shallow water to practice and the ones that do are in bad shape from either storms or other non skilled divers. The deeper wrecks in and around the technical range we will do at least 8-10 dives before a basic penetration in more open areas are attempted. This is of course after scouting out weaknesses or obstructions. Anything that is sagging or pancaking is a no go. Complicated penetrations into engine spaces are of course run with lines and exit points are noted. I don't go inside tight areas as I need to videotape my finning techniques and BCY control to access myself if I'm ready for it.
 
Andy where I'm at in the Great Lakes region, few instructors have the skills to teach wreck penetration let alone on an expert level. Not many penetrable wrecks lie in shallow water to practice and the ones that do are in bad shape from either storms or other non skilled divers. The deeper wrecks in and around the technical range we will do at least 8-10 dives before a basic penetration in more open areas are attempted. This is of course after scouting out weaknesses or obstructions. Anything that is sagging or pancaking is a no go. Complicated penetrations into engine spaces are of course run with lines and exit points are noted. I don't go inside tight areas as I need to videotape my finning techniques and BCY control to access myself if I'm ready for it.
This is a good point for those thinking that they want to get into wreck diving and are looking for expert instruction.

I have done hundreds of dives on wrecks, and I have 6 such dives scheduled over the next 4 days. Very few of those hundreds of dives required advanced skills. For most people, you will have to work very hard to find a wreck that requires that you run a reel, etc. For most people a basic recreational wreck course is all you will ever need.
 
I'll be doing my basic rec wreck class as part of Advanced rating this season on Lake Michigan. I think many folks are satisfied with doing it at the local quarry (33' cabin cruiser sunk in it), but I'm not, especially since I got certified so I could dive Great Lakes wrecks. So I've already started the wheels in motion for wreck on the lake. I'm so excited.
 
This is a good point for those thinking that they want to get into wreck diving and are looking for expert instruction.

Expert instruction isn't limited to advanced level courses.

As is often advised for other overhead environment diving... it pays dividends to seek instruction from someone qualified above the level being trained.

Just as you'd do recreational cavern training with a cave instructor.... there's equal logic to doing recreational wreck training with a higher-level wreck instructor.

Agencies, including PADI, necessitate cavern courses to be taught by, at least, instructors who full cave divers themselves. Most are cave instructors.

But wreck courses are an agency cash cow... and technical wreck instructors (full cave instructor equivalent) are quite rare... so "different rules" are applied to wreck penetration and any instructor can self-certify to teach this aspect of overhead environment diving.

I see absolutely no reason to view recreational cavern and wreck training differently. They have the exact same limits, the same hazards (wreck arguably has more) and require the same skills and procedures.
 
I see absolutely no reason to view recreational cavern and wreck training differently. They have the exact same limits, the same hazards (wreck arguably has more) and require the same skills and procedures.
I do.

If you are doing a cavern dive, you have to enter a cavern, at which point you are in a, well, a cavern. If you are doing a wreck dive, you can have a wonderful experience without doing any sort of penetration whatsoever. If you decide you want to do some penetration, there are all sorts of levels for that. In some wrecks, particularly cargo ships, the only overhead is a small area where you are at most a couple seconds from the open water. A popular wreck dive in South Florida, the Tracy, has a large, wide open deck area filled with schools of fish. At the most, you are 5 seconds away from open water, and you can get there going almost any direction. The possibilities increase in difficulty, challenge, and danger. A recreational wreck course can easily focus on the most benign of these and teach the dangers of and skills required for the more complex penetrations that 90% of the people will never do.
 
And yet the (PADI) wreck course "qualifies" divers to penetrate wreck to the same limits applicable to cavern divers.

So.... no penetrations necessary, no instructor experienced in wreck penetrations necessary..... but the student walks away from the course with a card allowing equivalent penetration limits to that of a cavern diver.

Also... actual penetration on dive #4 or not... dive #3 supposedly teaches guideline skills.

Apparently a 'wreck instructor' can self-certify on having expertise running guidelines... even if they've never done a penetration dive in their life.

Doesn't it all reek of 'quality'? LOL

But hey... cash cow. :)
 
I always remembered this that was said to me many times... This is just a start, it's just a licences to learn... I'm a big believer in mentoring ... And Baby steps....

Jim....
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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