PADI Wreck Diver Course - worth it?

[TSandM]

I really do think it comes down to the instructor. For example, the wreck classes taught out of one of our local shops consist of swimming out to a wreck in our local dive park and looking at it. They are not taught by people with specific interest in or experience on wrecks.

My guess is that there are instructors out there who are really into wreck diving, who can take you through researching a wreck, looking at deck plans, recognizing the various things of interest (personally, I can barely tell the difference between an engine and a prop) and can make the whole thing worthwhile.

I did a wreck workshop about four years ago. It included a lecture on the specific hazards of diving wrecks, and on ways to locate and put divers on a wreck (anchored boat, shot line, etc.) We spent the rest of the evening practicing running line (which is not a bad skill to have, even if you never intend to do any penetration, because just getting from the downline to the wreck can sometimes require a line, if you intend to get back to the upline to do your ascent).

We did a day of critical skills dives, including line running and following and simulated zero viz, and bag shoots and green water ascents. This was to be followed by a day of experience dives on real wrecks, but we got blown out and did a second day of critical skills instead.

That workshop was fabulous, and the guys who ran it weren't even certified instructors -- rather, they were very experienced cave and wreck divers who shared a bunch of great information with us, and imparted useful skills. THAT kind of class would be well worth your time; I'm not sure how you find one.

 

[SailNaked]

My instructor was a trimix wreck diver and my Padi wreck course was well worth it. we learned to run lines and to penetrate within the 130ft (cavern) limit. we learned about hazards and mapping the wreck. Fining and buoyancy. I would highly recommend my course to anyone, no idea about others in the world.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Probably half of the instructors on our staff are wreck diving enthusiasts. They fight over who gets to teach the wreck courses. They are incredibly passionate about it, both as divers and instructors. Our course is pricey -- we have a charter out to some high quality wrecks as part of the course, and keep the class size small so we can really take time with students.

Other shops around here run the course on a small boat sunk in a local quarry. Quality really does vary a lot with this one.

 

[Saucy Sailoress]

I'm not into card collecting, but if you have cash to burn, I say go for it. You might not find it very challenging, cosidering you already have cavern knowledge, but all the knowledge you can absorb has to be good. If you're gonna dive for two days anyway, how much would it cost you? You'll only really be spending the difference for the certification, and knowledge.

However, for technical specialties (like this one), I would also recommend doing TDI if it's offered.

 

[Akimbo]

As in most "advanced" course, it depends on who is teaching it and what real world experience they have. Find somebody else as an instructor, buddy, or mentor if all they are doing is teaching from a course outline. Otherwise, just read a few books written by people who do that type of diving a lot and engage your analytical skills.

 

[Crush]

Again, thanks all.

Now I know that I should NOT do this, but...

How different are Cave and Wreck diving? The only major differences that I see are that Wrecks are more likely to have restricted water flow rates therefore perhaps more prone to silting than most caves (no flames, please, I know that there are many nasty-silting caves out there), wrecks are perhaps more prone to having sharp edges/entanglement hazards, and wrecks may offer multiple points of egress, so you may want to take your extra air with you rather than staging it...

Thanks again to all.

 

[TSandM]

There are a lot of similarities, and some significant differences.

Obviously, they share an overhead environment, silt, and dark, as well as navigational difficulties.

Wreck diving includes a component of open water diving, so finding the wreck in the first place and getting back to the dive boat are significant components to wreck diving. Wrecks are inherently unstable -- more so than caves, I think, and you never know to what degree the wreck you are diving is compromised by corrosion. Wrecks have sharp points but also can have cables and wires that are entanglement hazards and not easy to cut; your big entanglement hazard in a cave is your line, which is a much easier issue to solve -- but of course, if you cut it, you cut your lifeline.

Wreck penetrations are limited in length -- you're never going to be half a mile from air in a wreck. Navigation is done on your own guideline, so intersection protocols and jumps are irrelevant. Lights out exits are possible, but will be relatively brief compared the mess you can get into in a cave, and if you have run a guideline, the likelihood of losing it is pretty low, unless it gets cut on wreck structure.

As you said, all the gas for your dive gets carried with you on a wreck (if you're smart) whereas it is both feasible and reasonable to drop spare gas in a cave.

Wreck deco is open water deco and wreck profiles are usually limited in their up and down (or at least you can plan them that way). Caves impose their own profiles and some of them are wacky, and figuring out deco can be quite a bit more complicated.

Speaking as a cave diver and not a wreck penetrator, cave formations are more fragile and truly require a deep commitment on the part of the diver to do as little damage as is possible. If you kick something in a wreck, you haven't ruined a feature that took 10,000 years to make

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Two years ago a NAUI technical course director publicly stated that wrecks are inherently more dangerous than caves. Caves are unlikely to have rusting beams fall, wires and cablesd that reach out and grab you, and while caves may change over 10's or perhaps 100's or even millions of years, wrecks can change literally overnight. A deck collapses and the entire wreck ca nbe affected. A passage that was open and appeared solid the day before can be closed by one above it falling in. Divers have died when things changed during the dive. Squeeze through a cave restriction and you may silt things up a bit. Do it in a wreck and it may collapse behind you or even on you. I love wrecks. My PADI wreck course was done by the book and was a waste of time and money. I learned more from watching deep sea detectives, reading Gary Gentile's books, and actually diving wrecks on my own after making sure my OW skills were down pat. Of course mine was not taught by an actual wreck diver. He just had the specialty instructor card. he was also the one who told me I did not need a long hose, BPW, or a good cannister light. Of course he did not sell these either so that may have been a big factor. Any more wreck training I do wil be done with someone who actually is as passionate about them as I am. Or more. King is lucky to have the guys around him that he does. I'll bet that proper configurations and techniques as well as gas management are covered. It wasn;t in mine. I learned that stuff here on SB, TDS, and the previously noted sources as well as my NAUI tech classes. MyPADI wreck course- done by the book- should have been called "very basic wreck survey discovery dives". It was not much more than that.

 

[Buoyant1]

I think it would be better appointed if they called it something like INTRO to Wreck diving IMHO... I took it with a great instructor in the Keys a few years back, and while I learned a lot, it wasn't the "end all" to wreck diving, but it was a good way to get INTO it.


Now, since it entails two days of diving (i.e. 4 dives) figure out what it would cost you to just do 4 wreck dives there...if it's even just a LITTLE more $$$, the information is worth it....

 

[AndyNZ]

What is a "good" place to do a wreck course? Not having any wreck experience I define "good" as excellent instructors + nice things to see.

I hate to blow my own trumpet..... but I will.

Come to New Zealand, we have some excellent wrecks for training and experience. We also offer an Advanced Wreck course which has either a Wreck or Cavern prerequisite. The current course is really "intermediate" wreck, but I'm in the process of writing an "exploration" course for wreck penetration.

Some details of our current course here: http://www.techdivenz.com/pdfs/courses/adv-wreck.pdf

We tend to teach the course on HMNZS Waikato, which kinda looks like this:

She is an ex-navy frigate sunk ten years ago, is about 100m long and broken into two parts. I've got a few other photos here: http://www.techdivenz.com/gallery.html

We can then offer some experience/guided dives on the Mikhail Lermontov, which is one of the largest accessible shipwrecks in the world that sank in a cloud of intrigue 25 years ago. Take a look at Pete Mesley's photo gallery and deck plans:

Mikhail Lermontov wreck diving



Obviously we are a long way away from you.... so the chances are slim, but if you did want to come down then we'd sort you out. It's only an 11 hour flight from Hawaii....!


If you hunt around, you'll find people who offer similar courses closer to home I'm sure.