Explore Sunken Treasures with Great Wreck Diving Skills
Most people think of old ships when they hear about scuba diving on wrecks. However, wreck diving includes diving on all kinds of submerged craft including planes, trains and automobiles. There are also thousands of sunken sailboats, houseboats, submarines, buses and even army tanks. That means wreck diving is something you can do almost anywhere there’s water.
There are some extra things you’ll want to know so you can have a safe dive. One of the best introductions to enjoyable wreck diving is the PADI Wreck Diver course. Here are some other points to bear in mind:
- Don’t go inside a wreck unless you are properly trained and equipped. It’s very easy to get disoriented inside a wreck and visibility can change.
- Consider completing the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality course to avoid getting scratches or damaging the life that grows on the wreck.
- Learn AWARE Fish Identification or PADI Underwater Naturalist course.
- Bring an underwater slate so you can draw an outline of the wreck. This will help you research the history of the wreck or assist you with navigation.
- Carry a dive knife or cutting tool to help you escape from any underwater entanglement.
- Use a dive light to see inside the wreck and bring out the true colors of the wreck’s life.
- Find out if there are any laws that apply to scuba diving on the wreck before you go and obey them when diving.
- Don’t always trust a compass when wreck diving. Metal on the structure may interfere with the needle’s ability to point north.