Who this course is for:
Individuals who wish to know more about the wreck diving including:
- Researching wrecks
- Mapping wrecks
- Proper use of lines while wreck diving
- Exploring underwater history
Course prerequisites:
- SDI Open Water Scuba Diver, or equivalent
- Minimum age 18, 15 for limited penetration course with parental consent
- Minimum age 10 with parental consent for a non-penetration course
- Junior Open Water Divers may not participate in any penetration activities or dives deeper than 18 metres/60 feet
- Divers must have a deep diver specialty certification or be able to provide proof of experience in order to dive deeper than 18 metres/60 feet in this course
What you can expect to learn:
The SDI Wreck Diver course takes an in-depth look at all of the following and more:
- Why wreck dive?
- Surface supports
- Communications, when and if necessary
- Back-up procedures
- Buddy system
- Buddy contact
- Contact with varied visibility
- Buddy lines
- Line signals
- Buddy positioning in close proximity
- Navigation/charting
- Usage of the slate
- Larger than normal
- Pre-dive marking
- Pre-planning the dive using charts, other information
- Directional determination
- Disorientation
- With/without buddy
- Lost buddy
- Light failure
- Emergency procedures
- Special equipment
- Lights: primary and backup, size, burn time, and usage
- Knifes and cutting devices
- Limited visibility diving
- Silt-out
- Psychological considerations
- Light usage
- Importance of light and backup
- Dark vision, don’t shine light in buddy’s eyes
- Life lines and reels
- Type of line
- Tie-offs
- Directional markers
- Line handling and reeling must be practiced on land prior to performing this skill underwater
- Special emergency procedures
- Safe Wreck
- Hazardous or otherwise unsafe wrecks
- Mapping the wreck
- Vertical, horizontal, and feature identification
What’s in it for you?
Upon successful completion of this course graduates may:
- Dive wrecks that are similar to the type of wrecks they were exposed to during training
- Plan and execute a wreck dive
Also, the SDI Wreck Diver certification counts towards a single specialty rating to achieve the SDI Advanced Diver Development program.
SDI Wreck Diver minimum requirements:
- Open Water Dive 1
- Pre-dive review of dive computers
- Plan dive
- Test lights
- Familiarization with areas
- Basic charting outside wreck
- Usage of lines outside wreck, optional
- Surface and log dive
- Open Water Dive 2
- Plan dive
- Figure surface interval
- Descend
- Team complete mapping
- Usage of lines outside wreck, optional
- Surface and log dive
- Open Water Dive 3
- Plan dive
- Descend
- Usage of lines inside wreck, optional
- Surface and log dive
- Open Water Dive 4 (Optional)
- Plan dive
- Planned dive explained
- Dive/explore as determined
- Surface and log dive
