Wreck training/gear?

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I recently finished my intro to cave course and it does not teach deco. That is held off until full cave. I feel that cave training will help a lot in wrecks as you learn gear streamling, line skills, and gas management.
 
I think that cramming everything into one course would lead to information overload. To me it seems that part of the reason you should take the classes seperately and over time is to have time for all the information to sink in and for you to get some dives in using what you have learned.

At least that is what I am doing. I am starting IANTD Advanced Nitrox next week. My instructor found someone else wanting to take the class so now we can go forward. The current plan, at least for me, is to do this class and get in at least 20 dives before I move on to other technical training. DIRF will probably be done during that 20 dive time period, but I do not consider that a technical diving course. My instructor's advice and the advice of several cave divers I know is "Take it slow and get in a lot of dives. All the training does you no good if you don't practice it".
 
Wreck diving, like any overhead diving is an extremely hazardous venture. You should not do it, that is, unless you know in your heart you have to.
For me - wreck diving and penetration is my love - I have to.
To get started in wreck diving - my humble advice:
Get your nitrox, advanced nitrox, deep air, and tri-mix (though trimix is not for everyone).
Get full cave certified, learn about DIR, go diving - make friends - tag along - learn everything you can - ask questions - use your head - dont be punked into doing anything you think is unsafe.
Wreck diving is about mitigating your risks - that is lessening the probablility the situation will occur, and lessening the impact if it does.
It is very gear intensive and doing it right will set you back a few paychecks. There are alot of camps on gear selection and configuration. The south east cave divers are very precise, the north east wreck divers are very practical. Learn from both.
Get a good instructor and make friends with them, observe their style, and above all never forget the risks - know when to turn, when to call it, and when to just say no.

Wreck diving to me implies overhead diving - penetration diving. Get with some folks who have many dives, not the same dive many times.

Start with a good instructor and get cave'd.
 
Good points...
Maybe an all-in-one-wonder might not be a great idea...
I do have what I think corresponds to advanced nitrox (I get to dive mixes of 50%).
I could get deco-training locally so maybe focusing on the stuff I can´t get ie wreck/cave instruction makes sense...

What do you (who have taken the courses) think that a diver needs, in terms of experience befor doing for example intro-to-cave, IANTD wreck training and full-cave?
I know x number of dives may/may not mean anything but just a general idea would be good. The formal reqs as I understand it is just AOW? (doesent seem like much of a requirement to me)

Is it possible to do intro-to-cave and full cave back to back?

As I wont be doing weekly trips (maybe not even annual) to florida (if I decide to go the cave-route) I´m looking to get as much instruction as possible in the time available (propably a week, 2 at the most).

My goal (after the week or 2) is to have the certs that will allow me to penetrate wrecks and the knowledge and skills to make feel comfy doing it...

Thanks for all the input so far

I´m not interested in DIR (let´s not get into why) right now. That may change or it may not but right now DIR is not an option.
 

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