Why i think wreck diving is awesome

I love exploring underwater wrecks. In these years, i have had the opportunity to explore a few of them, and it´s one of my favorite diving activities. Although i visited a few downed ships, wrecks can be everything man made that sank, like air crafts and cars. These wrecks vary a lot in conservation, some are near mint condition, some are just plain debris by the action of the sea.

These wrecks can be put in two categories :

• intentional – wrecks sunk in purpose to create artificial reefs, or underwater attractions.
• by accident – sinkings caused by accidents like collisions with reefs or other ships, storms, or military action.

They can have both historic significance, and/or be a home to a lot of fish and corals, who seek refuge on the debris/structures. So visiting these kind of spots is always impressive :

• the magnitude of some structures are just awesome, like swimming along one ship and admiring it´s gigantic hull, or sometimes it´s propeller. I specially like to mentally reconstruct the ship as i go along;
• as it acts as shelter to underwater species, it´s also a good opportunity to view them and take some nice pictures and videos.

Diving in these kind of structures require previous training, like a wreck diving specialty, deep diving, or nitrox specialty. The first one helps the diver manage the risks associated with wreck diving, plan the dive, and know what´s the required equipment. Deep dive, and Nitrox specialties might be very useful in wreck diving, as some are deep dives. Nitrox allows for an extended bottom time, lesser surface intervals ( some wrecks are big enough to require two separate dives ), and physiological safety ( less probability of decompression sickness ).

I have had tremendous fun in ship wrecks, and i will continue to explore these man made structures. What´s the most impressive wreck i´ve dived? The SS Thistlegorm in the Red Sea. Besides being one of the top ten in Costeau´s diving spots, it´s relatively intact, with the hull and cargo still in place, and can be penetrated safely.

Have some nice wreck diving!

Atlantic Diver