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Floating above the sand, more than 120 feet under the ocean's surface, you look up at the World War II era warship that towers above you. Its three-story rudder is turned hard to port and the railing around the stern of the ship reaches towards the air above the South China Sea as if it were clawing its way back to the warm water’s surface. You are preparing to penetrate the propeller shaft of this shipwreck. It will be a long, tight penetration that will demand complete mastery of precise buoyancy, silt-friendly kicking and an almost Zen-like mental state. You think back to your training and flick your fins outward, propelling yourself into the shaft. There is no turning back now. Even in the event of a complete silt-out, you have to continue on to the boilers that are over 100 feet away. You are in a steel cave that has resided at the bottom of the ocean for over sixty years, with hanging cables and sharp metal edges beckoning you to stay forever.

This is seriously advanced wreck diving...

-- Adapted from the Article Diving into Coron

Introducing the

Advanced Wreck Diving Program

Ocean Planet Scuba has developed a training program like none other that you have ever encountered. We are the ONLY dive center in the State and probably Country to offer such a course. The program provides the experienced recreational diver with the skills and training that are required to explore shipwrecks and dive sites that require specialized techniques and equipment that are not covered under standard PADI training.This included the ability to extend bottom time up to 50% without violating no decompression limits or PADI guidelines.

What is it?

The Ocean Planet Scuba Advanced Wreck Diver program prepares divers to enter the next level of recreational diving by teaching the skills that are required to safely enter, navigate, enjoy and return from a dive on a deep wreck or complex environment. The program teaches students to deal with the cramped, confusing and hostile wreck environments while staying calm and making the best choices possible.

While concentrating the majority of time on dive skills, the program also addresses the additional equipment and tool requirements and configurations that are needed for such dives. It covers diving with Independent Twin cylinders as well as redundant, failsafe equipment that reduces risk while diving wrecks

What are Independent Twins?

Independent Twins are exactly what the name implies. They are a pair of tanks (usually standard aluminum 80's) that are strapped together into one solid unit. Their valves remain seperate from one another and have a regulator, pressure gauge and inflator hose on each valve. This means that the diver now has twice the gas that he or she had with the single tank setup and now also has redundancy with respect to air sources. For more information on diving with Independent Twins, visit the IDS Website.

What does the training involve?

The program is structured in a single classroom and two pool sessions. During the classroom session, the students will review nitrox and wreck diving procedures and will instruct the students on the use of Independent Twins and safety procedures. The instructor will dive deeper into techniques and procedures for advanced nitrox and wreck diving and will provide the student with the risks and responsibilities associated with Independent Twins diving. The student will then be instructed in basic decompression diving theory and will review the operation of their computer, should a decompression event be encountered.**

During the first day, the student will be instructed in the following topics:

  • Set up and configuration of Independent Twins systems
  • Advanced bouyancy control with the added weight and bulk of independent twins
  • Gear requirements and configurations for extended range diving
  • Safety Procedures
  • Basic decompression theory and procedures (for safety purposes)
  • Advanced Wreck diving procedures
  • Advanced Nitrox procedures and guidelines

The students will then move to the pool area where they will set up their gear and suit up for their first dive with multiple tanks. They will experience, first hand, the feeling of the increased weight and decreased buoyancy sensitivity first hand. This is a critical part of the training as most students take several dives to become comfortable with the Independent Twins system. The instructor will work buoyancy and task management as well as safety procedures and drills.

On the second day of pool instruction, the student will learn advanced wreck diving techniques. These techniques include:

  • Finning techniques that minimize silt disturbance inside of wrecks
  • Silt-out procedures
  • Line placement and recovery
  • Equipment removal and replacement
  • Safety procedures
  • Advanced underwater communication
All of these lessons improve the students ability to operate in and around a wreck environment and reduce the risk of diving in such conditions.

What do I need to get started?

Diving with Independent Twins requires some specialized equipment. There are some BCD systems out there that can convert back and forth between single and double tank configurations - such as the Dive Rite TransPak harness system. These are the easiest to use since the diver dows not have to bring additional equipment on a dive trip. The following equipment is also required or suggested when diving with independent twins in a wreck environment:

  • Backplate - either Stainless steel, aluminum or ABS plastic
  • Additional regulator for the additional tank
  • Additional pressure gauge for the new regulator
  • Reel
  • Independent Twins Bracket Kit
  • Advanced duty lighting system - HID or Canister system is recommended
  • Nitrox compatible computer
  • Harness System (if the student's BCD is not capable of handling a backplate)
  • Wings (if the student's BCD is not capable of handling a backplate)
  • Nitrox Specialty Certification
  • Wreck Diver Specialty Certification

If students do not have their Nitrox and Wreck Diver certification, Ocean Planet Scuba will assemble a package to provide a cost effective way to accomplish this in conjuction with the program.

So what are you waiting for? Come experience what few divers have ever seen. There is a world of wrecks and reefs waiting for you. Stop in to Ocean Planet Scuba today and talk with them about the program, its benefits and how you can get started!

** Ocean Planet Scuba is not training the student to perform decompression dives - they are simply educating the student in the proper operation of their computer and procedures, should an event beyond the diver's control result in a decompression scenario.