Seeing recreational wreck divers at work is like seeing a contemporary pirate movie. Searching for entrance points into a ship's interior, divers sweep its outside. Ruins age can make entering more perilous. Bulkheads might break, decks fall apart and corrosion seals close. Some scuba divers therefore shun wreck diving completely.
Underwater artefacts including wrecks offer interesting historical windows. Whether your hunt is seeking an old cannon sitting in sand or a colonial-era fluked anchor, there are some fundamental trade techniques that will assist in your search. The secret is to approach every wreck armed with a comprehensive study schedule. Learn about the ship's past including its cargo and passengers. View pictures of the ship before it sank and search for hints on where objects might have been kept aboard. Many wrecks are manmade reefs and support a wide spectrum of aquatic life. They are thus also rather popular fishing locations. On the outside of a wreck, fishing lines and nets always snag and cause severe entangements for careless divers. Under zero visibility, SSI's recreational Wreck Diver Speciality course offers responsible, professional methods for exploring and mapping the outside of a wreck. You will pick up other vital skills, correct zero-visibility evacuation techniques, and buddy systems.
One unique viewpoint on the undersea world is provided by wreck diving. Silent monuments of a past, sunken ships, aircraft, and other constructions teem with marine life. Serious wreck divers seem to have a natural curiosity that drives them to travel to areas few, if any, have been to before. They wish to discover possibly previous mysteries and enjoy the beauty of nature recovering manmade artefacts. Though even these sites need cautious navigation to avoid entanglement dangers, non-penetration wreck dives are rather simple and safe. Essential for this kind of diving are correct buoyancy, limited kicking to minimise silt disruption, and a redundant air source. Additionally useful are tools to chop away entangements, a reel to trace your progress over meandering hallways, and a brilliant dive light to highlight dark nooks and interiors. Like all scuba diving, good research and preparation are absolutely vital. Before you go, find out whether the wreck you intend to investigate is off limits or subject to any particular rules.
Many scuba divers prefer wreck diving out of a passion in history or a wish to see the process of reclaiming human-made structures by nature. Swimming past the superstructure of a scuttled warship or across a galley loaded with crusty old plates can bring back another age. Still, wreck diving carries natural hazards, same as any kind of scuba diving. Even the most seasoned diver may be at risk from entanglement, razor sharp edges and confusing hallways. The fact that wrecks sometimes lie on their sides or upside down will further test a diver's navigational capacity. A wrecked ship can also be more difficult to access and escape since equipment falls into place obstructing passages and ceilings collapse. For these reasons, students should enrol in a thorough wreck diving course under the direction of an experienced instructor in this very specialised sub-segment of scuba diving. This course will provide them with the correct tools and techniques to safely explore wrecks, therefore reducing their chance of harmful circumstances.