Wreck Diving Apprenticeship

[beester]

Depending on whether you want to do go sidemount or backmount... I would also move fundies up a bit (maybe even in recreational gear). You will probably not get a pass, but that is not the short-term goal of the class (workshop). It is to give meaningfull input on where you are at that stage and where you need to be with your fundamental skills.

Having this evaluated, and having received a roadmap (what to work on) will improve your diving a lot, and you will benefit from this basic platform tremendously in all your further technical diving endeveaours (no matter what agency or speciality you end up with).

I know quite a lot of divers who just took fundies and ended up in a variety of different specialities with a number of agencies (non gue) who still state is was a very good start to their technical diving career. And I'm sure that any further instructor will be very happy when you tell him you already have a fundamentals class under your belt, because he knows he can already fast forward the basics and get on with the real stuff.

 

[DevonDiver]

I'll second the suggestion to do Fundies sooner rather than later. Build everything else upon strong foundations.

I occasionally get Fundies trained divers attend for training with me (many for sidemount, some for tech). They get a better learning experience as there's no wasted time/focus on remedial practice... it's all developmental, progressive learning.

It'll also help you to better determine future training providers... as you'll have a benchmark of diving skill to expect from your instructor. You won't pay for an instructor who had worse diving skills than you...

Just don't buy into the kool-aid mentality or get dogmatic. There's more to being a great diver than just buoyancy, trim, protocols and procedures.... Fundies is Fundamentals. The basics. Nothing more, nothing less.

An early transition into diving backplate/wing is important to your plan. Not just for familiarity pre-fundies... but because every dive will start developing an intimate familiarity with the equipment and configuration you'll eventually use in tech training.

 

[lermontov]

Ok so this might not be the place for this post but I want to here from people who have the experience that is represented within this section.

I have been diving open circuit for 10 years. The only certification I have is my Open Water Certificate. I have decided that I want to dive the wrecks of the world starting with my local wrecks (New Zealand) and then onto greater things like Truk, Bikini Atoll etc etc.

What I would like advice on is how people think I would be best to go about it. My plan at this stage is to use one of the local tech dive shops and progress through their training system and ending up with the CCR courses run by Pete Mesley here in NZ. Below is the order of courses I have so far that I plan on completing over the next three years.

- Advanced Open Water Course (including)

Dry Suit Diver
Rescue Diver
Deep Diver
Enrich Air Diver​

- Emergency First Response
- Emergency Oxygen Provider Course
- Equipment Specialty
- Wreck Diver
- GUE Funamentals Part 1
- GUE Fundamentals Part 2
- TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures
- TDI Trimix
- TEC REC 40 CCR
- Advanced Wreck Diver Course (Pete Mesley)
- TEC 60 CCR (Pete Mesley)
- TEC 100 CCR (Pete Mesley)

I am also going to start swimming in the pool a few times a week and entering local open water swim races just to help with my breathing efficiency and improve the safety of my diving.

I would appreciate any input from people with experience and if there is anything you would add.

Thanks guys.

contact brent (snr) at 'go dive' in picton he's the mikhail lermontov wreck diving guru in NZ -go for a dive with him and see if wreck diving is for you he will point you in the right direction -hes also one of the contact coordinators for the techfest in taupo this year, if you can comfortably dive on the wreck in the cold water in low vis on a very big wreck you'll be comfortable most places

 

[Oldbear]

No.9,

I like your list of courses, except for AOW. For an AOW (speaking as a PADI instructor) I would take the required Deep and Navigation adventure dives, along with Wreck, Peak Performance and Search & Recovery. These dives will lend themselves nicely towards your goals. Than instead of looking for courses to take look for good instructors. The instructor will make or break a course in a heart beat. Ask Pete for suggestions...

 

[KevinNM]

Why not start with Fundies? It takes care of drysuit and nitrox in one go, and gives you a better platform to carry on from.

Fundamentals doesn't really teach you how to dive a drysuit. The drysuit primer starts that process. If you show up with a dry suit for fundies the instructor will certainly work with you as best they can, but there is so much going on that they can't teach you the basics of dry suit diving. So I suspect that showing up with a drysuit you don't know how to use will be painful for everyone.

 

[beester]

Maybe a bit silly, but I would also check if you can "stomach" it ... I don't know your local circumstances but we get quite a lot of chop on our wreck dives. So whenever someone I know wants to start wreckdiving seriously, or they are contemplating taking advanced courses I tend to take them with me on a North Sea dive.

Always special that first time... sitting on the bench equiping yourself... the boat is drifting after a buoy has been dropped on the wreck,... waiting for tide to slack a bit more... the engine in neutral so the boat is pitching, rolling and yawing... the diesel fumes are drifting over the back deck, then someone gets sick... and soon there are others when the smell of vomit get's in the air :whacky:

Of course this is a hyperbole but I know divers who are very passionate about diving but won't do wrecks because their tendency to get sick blocks this very splendid part of our sport.

So best to get out first and see if you have no issues with this before spending a lot of time and money on training you won't use