PADI Wreck Diver Course

You drift down and pass through a window into the past. As you near the bottom, a recognizable shape begins to form. First, you see a straight line, then a round window. Next, a ship materializes in front of you. As you look at the wreck, past and the present meet.

Whether sunk intentionally or tragically; whether a sunken ship, a plane or an automobile, the call of wrecks is nearly irresistible to divers. Through the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course, you get the skills, knowledge and procedures you need to answer the call of wreck diving.

The lure of exploring sunken vessels, airplanes and automobiles is something most divers can't resist.

British World War II Battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, Dutch submarines, Swedish Supertanker Seven Skies and 200+ other well-sized wrecks are just a few of them in the East Coast of West Malaysia and Indonesia.

Pre-requisite

To qualify for the PADI Wreck Diver course, an individual must:

1. Be certified as a PADI Adventure Diver (or have a qualifying certification from another training organization similar to that of a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver.)
   
   
2. Be 15 years of age or older

Orpheus Dive is the only dive centre in Singapore that organizes the Master Scuba Diver Challenge program. Every year, two divers will stand a chance to win a free trip to top destinations such as Similans Islands, Sipadan, Manado to hone their newly acquired skills.

And if that is not enough, divers who sign up for the Master Scuba Diver Challenge program earn themselves the unique and 'NOT FOR SALE" Master Scuba Diver T-Shirt and Cap.

The purpose of the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course is to familiarize divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems, hazards and excitement of diving on wrecks.

The Wreck Diver Specialty course is intended as a safe, supervised introduction to wreck diving, with emphasis on fun and safety. The goals of PADI Wreck Diver training are:

• To demonstrate practical wreck diving knowledge, including recognizing and avoiding potential hazards, and planning procedures that make wreck diving fun.
  
• Explain the historical value of wrecks, social and legal issues surrounding that value, and describe some of wreck diving’s implications, including the pros and cons of removing artifacts from wrecks.
  
• Plan and organize dives to safely explore wrecks found within depths and conditions as good as or better than those he has been trained in.
  
• Identify the hazards of wreck penetration diving and demonstrate the techniques and procedures required to minimize those hazards.

During the Open Water Dives segment, participants are required to prepare their equipment, plan the dives and demonstrate good diving skills in that environment.

The recommended training schedule for this course commences with a 3 hour theory lesson conducted in Orpheus Dive, followed by 3 open water dives (for PADI Advanced Open Water Divers with proof of Adventures in Wreck Diving) over a weekend.

Typically the course would begin at Orpheus Dive with the required theory and discussions about wreck diving followed by an introduction on the neccessary safety equipment that is needed and recommended for the weekend of wreck diving.

Dive 2

• Swim along the outside of a wreck, in a buddy team, identifying and avoiding potential hazards.
  
• With a buddy, map a wreck (or portion of a wreck), determining approximate size and marking points of interest.
  
• Survey a wreck for a penetration dive and evaluate possible entrances.
  
• Navigate on a wreck, returning to the ascent point without surfacing.

Dive 3

• Demonstrate the deployment and retrieval of a penetration line, for practice, on the outside of a wreck, while working in buddy teams.
  
• Swim along the deployed penetration line so as to maintain contact with the line without kicking up silt and holding on to a dive light.
  
• Navigate on a wreck so that the ascent point can be located without surfacing.

Dive 4

• Determining air supply and penetration limits.
  
• Swimming without causing excessive silt disturbance.
  
• Maintaining contact with the line.
  
• Using a dive light while following a penetration line.
  
• Navigate on a wreck so that the ascent point can be located without surfacing.