What to do to start wreck diving?

[aquanuts...]

Take cavern and intro to cave (basic). This is one of the best bang for the buck courses that can be had. It will give you a firm foundation for all future courses and you will learn how to operate in an overhead.

 

[TSandM]

Yes, you can have a lot of fun diving the outside of wrecks! The people who are really into them study the history of the boat, where it was built, what it did when it was alive, and how it died. Then, when you dive on it, you can recognize the parts, and perhaps the damage that shows how it came to be where it is. In addition, wrecks are magnets for sea life, so even critter-lovers like me enjoy diving them.

Penetrating wrecks is another business altogether. There are big hazards -- entanglement, getting lost, loss of visibility due to silt and percolation, and even unstable structure and collapse. Going inside requires extensive training in solving problems underwater, and generally also requires the diver to be using equipment with significant redundancy (eg. double tanks). I took a wreck workshop on the way to my cave training, and the exercise of following a line while blind (something you'd have to do to get out of a wreck if you stir up the silt) was enormously sobering.

Enjoy the outside, and build your diving experience and savvy over time. The inside will still be there when you're ready for it.

 

[Sas]

Hi, I am kind of in the same boat as judestudio as far as wanting to get into Wreck diving (one of the reasons why I have started scuba diving) so thought instead of starting a new thread I'd ask some questions here

Anyway, I am a newly certified OW diver (Feb 08) and have just started my specialties for AOW - so far I have Night and am planning to do Drift, Navigation and Deep to 39m to complete SSI AOW, so will be done in about October this year. I only have basic equipment so far (mask, fins, wetsuit, boots n gloves!). Basically I wanted to know for wreck diving (some of my questions have been partially answered already though~~ ):

-What other specialties should I look into besides what I have planned?

-What equipment do people recommend? Don't want to waste my money getting stuff that is completely inappropriate for the type of diving I want to do long term.

-How much and what kind of experience should I have before starting the Wreck course? I was thinking of doing the Wreck course in mid-late 2009, so yes, a long way away but wondering if that will leave me with enough experience. At the moment I dive once a fortnight around Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne...

-I am pretty sure the SSI Wreck course I plan on doing is an intro one, what should I expect from that course? And what should I be thinking of doing after I finish the intro course? Are there 'intermediate', 'advanced' and so on type courses? I have not heard of the courses people have mentioned here so some more info would be great Also don't have much idea about what DIR vs non DIR means...

-Any general thoughts people have about how they got into diving wrecks, like problems you faced and things like that, and other thoughts. Just to give me an idea what I am in for.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these are stupid questions... I will be talking to my AOW instructor soon too about it but thought I'd check out what people have to say here as well

 

[Gilldiver]

Thanks again, very constructive advises. Yes, the person who tells me to lurk outside is actually the person who's training me on AOW, it'll be ideal if he would train me into wreck diving. From what I gathered, wreck diving is another learning curve here. Good to know how to get started, so thanks!

Now you are on the right track, a person who has been in the water with you knows a lot more about you then anyone on a board such as this. The biggest thing is to just go diving, only from time in the water will you become a better diver no matter how many classes you do and there is plenty to do on the outside of a wreck. Get comfortable with your gear and the water, then figure out what you want to do with it all. Eventually diving will become only a tool to let you do what you want to do under the water be it wrecks, caves, photo, science. Figure out what you want to do.

I'd also like to point out that just about every wreck that is over 50 years old (and all old wood ones in salt water) have mostly outside as they have fallen apart. There are exceptions of course for some wrecks in protected waters such as at Truk or much stronger built such as warships and subs. But, you avg. freighter just falls apart.

 

[Gilldiver]

Hi, I am kind of in the same boat as judestudio as far as wanting to get into Wreck diving (one of the reasons why I have started scuba diving) so thought instead of starting a new thread I'd ask some questions here

Anyway, I am a newly certified OW diver (Feb 08) and have just started my specialties for AOW - so far I have Night and am planning to do Drift, Navigation and Deep to 39m to complete SSI AOW, so will be done in about October this year. I only have basic equipment so far (mask, fins, wetsuit, boots n gloves!). Basically I wanted to know for wreck diving (some of my questions have been partially answered already though~~ ):

-What other specialties should I look into besides what I have planned?

-What equipment do people recommend? Don't want to waste my money getting stuff that is completely inappropriate for the type of diving I want to do long term.

-How much and what kind of experience should I have before starting the Wreck course? I was thinking of doing the Wreck course in mid-late 2009, so yes, a long way away but wondering if that will leave me with enough experience. At the moment I dive once a fortnight around Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne...

-I am pretty sure the SSI Wreck course I plan on doing is an intro one, what should I expect from that course? And what should I be thinking of doing after I finish the intro course? Are there 'intermediate', 'advanced' and so on type courses? I have not heard of the courses people have mentioned here so some more info would be great Also don't have much idea about what DIR vs non DIR means...

-Any general thoughts people have about how they got into diving wrecks, like problems you faced and things like that, and other thoughts. Just to give me an idea what I am in for.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these are stupid questions... I will be talking to my AOW instructor soon too about it but thought I'd check out what people have to say here as well

As I daid in my last post, just go diving for a while.

I see almost all divers get all excited and spend the money on lots and lots of gear but they have never figured what it was that about diving that would keep them active divers for the long haul.

I first started diving about 1976 and got my OW cert in 1979 at college ($25 for the class, yes it was a long time ago) and grew up in the Northeast US wreck diving circles. What got me was when I started going out to the larger off shore wrecks and looking at the engines and saying, how in Hell did they make and machine that casting, forging, etc. That got me into the history of steam and 29 years latter I am still doing it. I have some friends who have been around for just as long, if not longer, and they are photo nuts, or wreck nuts, or cave nuts, etc.

But we all do something while diving that keeps us diving. Just check the for sale adds on this site and ebay for all the other divers who never found what they wanted to do, or found that diving was not a long term thing for them.

Diving is just a tool to do that other thing. I even know one guy who wanted to go deep to see the wrecks (Titanic and Bismark are just a few he has been to) and got into ROV's and went real deep. The last I heard from him he was now working with NASA on preliminary designs for autonomous ROV's that may one day be sent to Jupiter's Moons. So, you never know where or what this road may lead to.

So go out a dive, a lot, and figure out what your thing is and it just may be a sport you do on your winter vacation between breakfast and golf, which is absolutely fine all by itself.

 

[Sas]

Diving is just a tool to do that other thing. I even know one guy who wanted to go deep to see the wrecks

Yea that pretty much describes what I have wanted to do since I was a little kid. Had to wait until this year to get the finances (finished uni ) to start to achieve that goal though... I am basically wanting to find out more information so I don't make obvious mistakes that could easily be avoided with a bit of guidance - i.e. rushing out and buying equipment that does not suit the style of diving I want to do in the long term.

That is why I am looking more for practical advice as far as wreck diving goes. This hasn't been a rushed decision, I may be new to diving but this is what I have wanted to do for a long time! Each dive I do further confirms that for me. I do plan to take my time buying equipment and learning about wreck diving so hopefully people here can give me a bit of a hand to supplement my other learning.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

...
Anyway, I am a newly certified OW diver (Feb 08) and have just started my specialties for AOW - so far I have Night and am planning to do Drift, Navigation and Deep to 39m to complete SSI AOW, so will be done in about October this year. I only have basic equipment so far (mask, fins, wetsuit, boots n gloves!). Basically I wanted to know for wreck diving (some of my questions have been partially answered already though~~ ):

-What other specialties should I look into besides what I have planned?

Taking a classes can be good, but what you really need is time in the water. Even if you're only in an inland lake or quarry, every dive should improve your skills as a diver. Each time you go down you are practicing the trim and buoyancy that will help you become a better diver. Ultimately what you want to have in any diving environment is the skill and confidence to solve any problem that comes up. It just happens that in Technical diving environments there tend to be more possible problems and more severe consequences for not staying calm and solving the problems. As you dive more all the actions of diving become second nature and you should become more relaxed in the water. This will allow you to enjoy your dive better and be able to deal with the unexpected. That said, if you want a good class, it never hurts to take Stress & Rescue or a Rescue Diver course. It's not specifically wreck-related, but it is very valuable and most divers enjoy the class.

-What equipment do people recommend? Don't want to waste my money getting stuff that is completely inappropriate for the type of diving I want to do long term.

That is a loaded question, but likely you should have a reliable regulator. An appropriate BC, likely a backplate and wing setup (BP&W), is suitable for almost any environment. Many technical divers prefer these as they allow you to use double tank setups when you get to that point and they are often simple BCs that don't have many bells and whistles can break and cause trouble. I'm not going into any more detail, as you should spend time reading the many threads debating what gear to use.

-How much and what kind of experience should I have before starting the Wreck course? I was thinking of doing the Wreck course in mid-late 2009, so yes, a long way away but wondering if that will leave me with enough experience. At the moment I dive once a fortnight around Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne...

I'll return to my previous comments that you need to be skilled and calm enough to deal with anything that could happen. Don't think in number of dives or classes, think about how you handle yourself underwater. As mentioned above it really is something that is best judged by the divers (or instructors) that are accustomed to the type of diving you want to do. As a general rule, Technical classes require 50 dives for an into class and closer to 100 for a "real" class. That said a good instructor will make his own evaluation if just the number of dives you have has really prepared you for the training.

-I am pretty sure the SSI Wreck course I plan on doing is an intro one, what should I expect from that course? And what should I be thinking of doing after I finish the intro course? Are there 'intermediate', 'advanced' and so on type courses? I have not heard of the courses people have mentioned here so some more info would be great Also don't have much idea about what DIR vs non DIR means...

First the easy stuff: DIR is "Doing It Right" and is a technical diving philosophy and methodology that came out of cave divers in Florida. It has a relatively rigid set of rules and standards for gear, training, and procedure that is intended to make diving in hazardous environments safer. For me it's a bit too rigid, but that's just my 2 cents.
Anyway, most "Advanced" courses are from a Tech diving agency such as DSAT, TDI, GUE, IANTD and the like in the US (I don't know about Australia). Since you cannot go directly from the inside of a ship to the surface if there is something wrong, you must be trained in how to deal with many more issues that a standard recreational diver. Also you need to learn what type of redundancy you need (multiple dive lights and doubles for example.) Finally, since wrecks tend to be deep and it takes time to penetrate a wreck, decompression training is often necessary.

-Any general thoughts people have about how they got into diving wrecks, like problems you faced and things like that, and other thoughts. Just to give me an idea what I am in for.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these are stupid questions... I will be talking to my AOW instructor soon too about it but thought I'd check out what people have to say here as well

For me, I tend to stay outside wrecks despite having taken a class on limited penetration. To be realistic, you see a lot more outside the wreck than in it. Ships are small and dark inside. You can get a lot of enjoyment from diving around a ship rather than in it. I don't mean to discourage you, there is a satisfying thrill to being inside a great fallen shipwreck, but there is still stuff to see outside (where is it nice and bright) At some point I'll likely go back to wreck penetration and get my Tech diving certs, but I'm happy enough being underwater.

 

[Sas]

For me, I tend to stay outside wrecks despite having taken a class on limited penetration. To be realistic, you see a lot more outside the wreck than in it. Ships are small and dark inside. You can get a lot of enjoyment from diving around a ship rather than in it. I don't mean to discourage you, there is a satisfying thrill to being inside a great fallen shipwreck, but there is still stuff to see outside (where is it nice and bright) At some point I'll likely go back to wreck penetration and get my Tech diving certs, but I'm happy enough being underwater.

Yea those were my thoughts. I would be happy enough staying on the outside~ Penetration diving is not something I have started thinking about at all in the near future, I'd be jumping the gun a bit there given my limited experience. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that point. Where I live there are a bunch of easier wrecks according to divers I know who do wreck diving so I would be planning on just diving around Melbourne for the moment. And hopefully by the time I get to my Wreck training they will have sunk the HMAS Canberra!

Thank you for your other advice. I am in the process of investigating different types of gear - lots of threads to read ahead of me.

Edit: I should mention as well with my first point: I have been looking into the Wreck classes offered around my area, and they don't seem to involve penetrating wrecks. I am gathering that I would require separate training for penetration diving where I live.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Yea those were my thoughts. I would be happy enough staying on the outside~ ...
Edit: I should mention as well with my first point: I have been looking into the Wreck classes offered around my area, and they don't seem to involve penetrating wrecks. I am gathering that I would require separate training for penetration diving whe re I live.

A non-penetration wreck class is likely to be a class on wreck appreciation. For example, the class I had a while ago included common wreck hazards, mapping/evaluating a wreck and reiterated diving precautions common to wrecks. We discussed things like watching out for sharp metal, fishing line, and live ammunition to name a few things. Typical dive concerns include depth and current normally associated with wrecks. Note that many of these things are covered in OW classes and just reviewed in a wreck class. My class also talked about researching the history of a wreck and preserving wrecks as historical sites.

Penetration dives require more serious training in all but the easiest locations. You need to learn to lay and follow a line and procedures for problems. Often in dive-resort areas with wrecks there are a few easy penetration locations that dive tours use. Theses are typically something like a short straight swim through the bridge of a boat. These locations are generally "cleaned-up" so that some of the problems of normal penetration are not an issue.

One last though.... if you aren't going into a wreck, there isn't much need to take classes about wrecks if you don't want to. I've not met a dive boat operator who wouldn't take someone to a recreational wreck dive without a wreck C-Card.

 

[sharky001]

Hi, I am kind of in the same boat as judestudio as far as wanting to get into Wreck diving (one of the reasons why I have started scuba diving) so thought instead of starting a new thread I'd ask some questions here

Anyway, I am a newly certified OW diver (Feb 08) and have just started my specialties for AOW - so far I have Night and am planning to do Drift, Navigation and Deep to 39m to complete SSI AOW, so will be done in about October this year. I only have basic equipment so far (mask, fins, wetsuit, boots n gloves!). Basically I wanted to know for wreck diving (some of my questions have been partially answered already though~~ ):

-What other specialties should I look into besides what I have planned?

-What equipment do people recommend? Don't want to waste my money getting stuff that is completely inappropriate for the type of diving I want to do long term.

-How much and what kind of experience should I have before starting the Wreck course? I was thinking of doing the Wreck course in mid-late 2009, so yes, a long way away but wondering if that will leave me with enough experience. At the moment I dive once a fortnight around Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne...

-I am pretty sure the SSI Wreck course I plan on doing is an intro one, what should I expect from that course? And what should I be thinking of doing after I finish the intro course? Are there 'intermediate', 'advanced' and so on type courses? I have not heard of the courses people have mentioned here so some more info would be great Also don't have much idea about what DIR vs non DIR means...

-Any general thoughts people have about how they got into diving wrecks, like problems you faced and things like that, and other thoughts. Just to give me an idea what I am in for.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these are stupid questions... I will be talking to my AOW instructor soon too about it but thought I'd check out what people have to say here as well

1] As many have suggested already: just go and dive. Building-up a comfort level using SCUBA is key. Dive a variety of sites. Find-out if there are any shallow wrecks in your area, in reality, you don't require any special skills to dive on a shallow wreck [as long as you STAY on the outside]. A shallow wreck is no different than any other dive site - assuming that there's no adverse environmental conditions.

2] Equipment. I say this to everyone: beyond the basic gear [which you have], I think the most important thing to purchase first is a BC. The hardest thing for a new diver to master is buoyancy. When you rent gear, you always get a different type of BC and they all have different buoyancy characteristics. It's also rare to be able to rent a BP/W type set-up [at least in my experience]. Also, you'll want a BP/W system [like a Halcyon Eclipse wing and stainless backplate]. You're buoyancy will become consistent if you use the same consistent gear. The next piece I'd get would be the regulator ... a critical piece of gear and you'll want a reg that you can grow into just like the BP/W setup [i.e. get a reg that is known for deep water performance]. You won't be able utilize all the regs capabilities now, but once you have the training to go deeper, you'll be happy to know your reg is designed to handle it. Consider your gear purchases carefully. Think about where you want to be [in terms of diving] in five years and buy the kind of gear that's going to help you achieve that. For example, don't bother buying cheap, warm water regs if you want to be diving in deep, cold water - that's a waste of money.

3] Don't rush-it. Get really comfortable with your gear [as you acquire it], decide if you want to follow the DIR practice and act upon it accordingly. Dive a lot and take a few courses in between, read, but most importantly dive! Once you have your AOW ... then maybe take a Nitrox course. Then dive a lot more and move towards the more advanced courses. I see you're from Australia, you have some of the best diving in the world very close at hand - go enjoy it. In the mid 1990s [with a basic OW certification in hand] I did the most rewarding diving that I've ever done - in the Coral Sea [Bougainville Reef]. We were diving on 1000 m walls in 32 degC water, infinite vis ... ahhh it was spectacular. Anyway, all I'm saying is get comfortable with diving and then branch-out into the more complicated areas such as wreck diving.