Description:
Wrecks attract divers for two reasons. The history sitting on the seabed: ships from any era, aircraft from wartime losses, the occasional truck or tank. The marine life that colonises them: a wreck becomes habitat quickly, sometimes within months of going down. The combination makes wreck dives some of the most repeatable and memorable in the recreational ladder. Same wreck. Different season. Different finds.
The skills are particular. Surveying means working out the structure from outside before going near openings. Lines and reels matter because once you're inside, finding your way out matters more than anything else. The recreational Wreck Diver course teaches safe-zone penetration only — you stay within sight of natural light, never go where you can't see your way back. Common problems get covered explicitly: silt-outs from kicking the bottom, snagged lines, broken access, free-flowing regulators on cold deep wrecks. Each one has a structured response taught with the rest.
Open to PADI (Junior) Adventure Divers aged 15 and up, or qualifying equivalents. Four open-water training dives across at least two days. The eLearning is 2-4 hours. If your local diving has wrecks, this is one of the highest-value specialties to add. If it doesn't, it's still worth doing before a wreck-heavy trip — Truk Lagoon, the Red Sea, Malta, parts of the UK and US east coast all reward divers who've trained for what they're going to see.
Technical
