Wreck diving for under 18s

[Hooked_on_diving]

Hi people,

I have always been interested in diving, especially wrecks. I was wondering if there were any Technical diving authorities that opperate in the UK that do a wreck diving course for under 18s. I used to dive just abroad but now I have joined a club in the UK I am hoping to be able to dive on a regular basis and get my experience up. I am qualified to 40m with PADI (please no PADI bashing, my instructor has been great and always puts lots of influence on safety aspects and doing things right - which includes having nothing dangling) and I have my wreck diver speciality. However I did feel that the wreck speciality was not quite vigerous enough. What I would love is to do a more vigerous wreck penetration specialty that is not quite the level of TDI's Advanced wreck penetration but it is beyond that of PADI's.

All responses are appreciated,
Thanks in advance,
Matt.

 

[texdiveguy]

Matt.... hey dude congrats on your interest in scuba and wreck diving!

I guess you are under 18 as I read from your thread. I know of no agency that offers a program geared to wreck penetration diving for your current age....BUT there is a ton of stuff you can be doing to prep yourself!

Keep asking questions....read books and diving magazines.
Keep up with your PADI instructor and any support he can give you---good source.
Be active in that dive club you joined.
DO THE DIVES....keep diving as much as you can....they all build experc..
Be patient!!
For most all advanced level overhead wreck penetration courses you will want and need in most cases to have some additional training such as: Rescue//Adv. Nitrox//Deco Proc.//boat diving experience/course as a few examples of min. training. Also most advanced wreck instructors will require evidence of some extensive diving experience and appropriate gear to support this type of diving. The process of searching out the 'right' instructor can be time consumeing at times. The cost of going into this form of diving is expensive also as it adds up (training-gear-travel-charters-gas-blablabla). Most all the technical training agencies offer this adv. training....most are well programed and designed,,,your relationship with your instructor/mentor is of the greatest importance when getting started.
Keep the fire lite while your age catches up...and it will....keep up the dives and gain the experience overtime that will aid you in your goal!!!!

There is more I could add,,,,but be safe--have fun and good luck!!!

PS--- wish I was 'young' again.

 

[Hooked_on_diving]

Thanks for the reply, its a shame there is no halfway house for the younger diver.

I would in the future like to do some more advanced nitrox and do decompression procedures training along with advanced wreck etc. I would also consider rebreather training to a point. Basically I would like to go as far as I can on good old air with a little tweaking of the oxygen content.

I think I will do a bit of reading on decompression diving theory and just generally interesting diving books.

Could anybody recommend any?

thanks again,
Matt

P.S. - I'm just 16 so iv got 2 years to wait
Also il be doing my PADI rescue course soon enough

 

[texdiveguy]

Matt..... there is nothing wrong with a young fellow reading and studying.....you can do a search on Decompression Diving/Theory and come up with many titles. You might ask your PADI instructor if he can get you a copy of the first DSAT Tec Deep manual to look at. If you can get hold of a copy or 2 of Wreck Diving Magazine I think you would find it interesting.
BUT most important for you is to continue to dive with other experienced divers within your training and experience level for now,,,,you have a whole diving career ahead so you got plenty of time to grow into the next levels!

The PADI Rescue course is very good,,,has alot of important skills you will find interesting and bentefital.

 

[MattL]

The PADI wreck course is great class I'd take it to get the basic down and then take an intro to tech with a set of dubles both your can do under 18 but over 16. This two class will be a great start towrds your full wreck course.
I took a padi wreck class with my nitrox course and trust me the frist few dives your sac rates going to blow anyways so theres no need for deco and the other advanced course. I do dive with a 17 year old that is what she did and she has a blast with use.

 

[MattL]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2021646519983214241
this is a link for some guys that took there wreck class from AG this is a very advanced class that takes lots of dives but they all started with the basic crad frist one step at a time my friend

dive safe matt

 

[covediver]

Thanks for the reply, its a shame there is no halfway house for the younger diver.


I think I will do a bit of reading on decompression diving theory and just generally interesting diving books.

Could anybody recommend any?

Sounds like you have a pretty good game plan. Since you ask, I can recommend a few recent books on diving, many with a wreck twist, as it is a preoccupation of mine (as well as a former career). None of these books are "technical" or "instructional" but I do find them informative and in some cases inspirational.

Into the Abyss: Diving into Adventure in the Liquid World. Rod McDonald. Includes quite a bit on diving in the UK and Scapa Flow although it can read like someone's log book.
Lost on the Ocean Floor: John Christopher Fine
Treasures of the Deep: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Captain Mike Hatcher by Hugh Edwards
Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archaeology, and Greed of the Coast of Vietnam by Frank Pope. Also provides and interesting and different picture of Captain Hatcher.
The Unpredictable Mistress: Intimate Glimpses of an oceanographer's long time affair with the sea. Harris Stewart
Underwater to Get Out of the Rain: A Love Affair with the Sea. Trevor Norton. Probably the best written book I have ever read on someone really into diving.
Adventures of a Sea Hunter, James Delgado.

The following books are about deep wrecks and technical diving and what I call the anthropology of deep wreck divers or "brassaholics" as they are derisivley called.
I have learned a lot from reading these, although you need to read them objectively
The Last Dive by Bernie Choudhury. Book about the Rouses a father-son dive team and the last dive they made togehter. Probably started off the whole list that follows.
Deep Descent, Kevin McMurray
Fatal Depth, Joe haberstroh
Dark Descent Kevin McMurray.
Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson

There are lots more, including many on the Atocha, the shelves of the bookcases of my study sag under them.

Drop me a line if you want to discuss any of these. I enjoy corresponding on these things. Good luck with you diving. By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, while I do not do penetration or techinical diving for personal reasons, mainly related to getting older.