Experience the new feeling of moving back in time during wreck diving. Learn how to plan and conduct wreck dives with penetration of a maximum linear distance of 40 meters.
The Advanced Wreck Diving course is designed for experienced divers seeking to safely explore shipwrecks in overhead environments, with depths extending up to 30 meters. Participants must demonstrate good buoyancy control and master various movement techniques to prevent disturbing silt or sand, which can reduce visibility.
If you do not feel fully in control of your buoyancy underwater or are unfamiliar with proper frog kicks, back kicks, or helicopter turns, please let us know. We can organize an additional pool session to refine these skills before the course begins!
To ensure high-quality instruction, each group is limited to a maximum of 2 students per instructor. This personalized approach allows our instructors to focus closely on your individual needs, ensuring thorough preparation for safe wreck penetration.
The program consists of theory, dry land skills, and 4 dives during which you will learn how to:
∙ Select, locate, and explore shipwrecks up to 30 meters
∙ Prepare a dive plan and navigate the dive
∙ Identify, avoid, and react to potential hazards
∙ Improve your kicking techniques and streamline your position
∙ Use special equipment on the shipwreck: reels, lines, lights
∙ Safely enter, move through, and use a penetration line inside a wreck
Safe diving begins with acquiring appropriate knowledge and applying it in practice. During this program, you will review basic scuba information to ensure a strong foundation before moving on to more advanced topics.
You will learn how to identify, avoid, and react to potential hazards such as panic, entanglement, and entrapment.
Wrecks are often located in deep water, which increases gas consumption and accelerates nitrogen saturation. You will need to understand decompression theory and learn how to plan dives while considering no-decompression limits and gas consumption.
You will also learn how to read a map, prepare a dive plan, and conduct a briefing for other divers. This will include detailing objectives, duties, time, depth, route, gas limits, equipment, NDL, and emergency scenarios.
Wreck dives require special equipment such as safety lines, lights, wet notes/slates, cutting tools, a buoy, and a safety tank.
You will learn how to secure your equipment and where to place tools so they are easily accessible while maintaining a streamlined position.
A very useful tool for wreck dives is a diving map of the sunken wreck, allowing for more detailed and safer dive planning.
Penetration of the overhead environment requires the use of safety lines to avoid getting lost. You will learn how to use various types of safety lines and perform safe line-laying inside the wreck.
You will also learn how to communicate with other divers using lights, line pulls, and voice.
Proper buoyancy control and kicking techniques are essential for this type of dive to prevent stirring up silt or sand, which could reduce visibility, cause entanglement, or lead to injury from sharp parts of the wreck. During this program, we will help you improve these skills. Additionally, you will practice buoy deployment, out-of-gas procedures, and no-mask swimming to enhance your preparedness and safety.
Comfort comes through repetition, so you’ll first practice key skills on land to build proper muscle memory for underwater use.
The course includes 4 open water dives, during which you’ll learn all the necessary skills for wreck diving with penetration.
You’ll start by exploring the wreck to understand its structure, identify hazards like sharp elements, and practice basic safety skills such as lost mask and out-of-gas procedures. Navigation around the wreck will help you get familiar with its layout before moving on to penetration.
As you progress, you’ll learn to use safety lines, practice advanced kicking techniques like frog kick, back kick, and helicopter turns, and navigate to depths of 30 meters while maintaining buddy contact and using light signals.
You’ll also practice laying and recovering lines, deploying buoys in low visibility, and managing emergencies such as lost buddy scenarios. Finally, you’ll plan and execute a dive that includes laying a guideline inside the wreck, managing gas supply using the Rule of Thirds, and practicing emergency procedures in an overhead environment.
By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills and confidence needed for safe and effective wreck diving with penetration.
Completing the course gives you a lifetime certificate allowing you to penetrate the shipwreck with a dive buddy with a maximum linear distance of 40 meters [if the wreck is at 25m, then you can swim through the overhead environment for another 15 meters].
The SSI Advanced Wreck Diving course combines theory, dry land skills, and 4 dives to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed for safe wreck exploration. During this course, you will learn how to:
∙ Select, locate, and explore shipwrecks up to 40 meters
∙ Prepare a dive plan and navigate the dive
∙ Identify, avoid, and react to potential hazards
∙ Improve your kicking techniques and streamline your position
∙ Use special equipment on the shipwreck, including reels, lines, and lights
∙ Safely enter, move through, and use a penetration line inside a wreck
This course provides the essential skills for confident and safe wreck diving, even in challenging environments.
The Advanced Wreck Diving course includes theory, dry land skills, and 4 dives, requiring a minimum of 2 days of training. However, we recommend spreading the course over 3-4 days to allow more time for thorough knowledge and skills development.
Yes, during the wreck diving course with us you will learn how to plan and conduct no-decompression dives with limited penetration in an overhead environment of the wreck.
The Rule of Thirds is ideal for back-and-forth dives along the same route, making it perfect for wreck diving.
If the tank is filled to 210 bar, the first 70 bar is used for the route in one direction.
The second 70 bar is used to return.
The final 70 bar is reserved for the safety stop and as a backup.
This method ensures a safe dive by maintaining a sufficient gas reserve for unexpected situations.
Yes, open-water divers can do non-penetration wreck dives, but their exploration options are very limited.
Exploring the inside of a wreck gives you a unique sense of stepping back in time—it’s an experience worth trying! Keep in mind that most wrecks are deeper than 18 meters, so make sure you complete your Deep Diver first.
Most wrecks accessible to recreational divers are located at depths of 15 to 40 meters. To explore some of them, it’s essential to first complete your Deep Diver course.
Advanced Wreck Diving
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