SDI Wreck Diver
SDI Wreck Diver at a glance
- Prerequisites
- Advanced Adventurer Diver, or equivalent
- Minimum age 18, 15 for limited penetration course with parental consent
- online materials included
- 2 Days - 4 dives
- All equipment & Diving included
Uncover the Past: SDI Wreck Diver Course
Wreck diving is hands-on one of the most exhilarating and fascinating aspects of scuba diving. Exploring sunken history underwater is an unforgettable experience, but entering these environments requires a major shift in safety, discipline, and technique.
During the SDI Wreck Diver course, you will work closely with your Big Blue Tech instructor to master the specialized equipment, advanced dive planning, and safety protocols required to navigate these incredible dive sites responsibly.
Limited Penetration (Our Most Popular Option!): Take your first steps into the overhead world. This pathway introduces you to the thrilling discipline of limited wreck penetration, teaching you how to safely enter a structure while staying entirely within the natural light zone.
Why Choose Big Blue Tech?
Diving around and inside metal structures demands absolute precision. Training with our active technical diving instructors gives you a massive advantage:
Overhead Expertise: Because our pros teach advanced cave and technical wreck diving, you will learn the exact line-handling, light-signaling, and propulsion techniques used at the highest levels of the sport.
Flawless Trim & Control: We place a massive emphasis on buoyancy, ensuring you can navigate a wreck without disturbing silt or putting yourself at risk of sharp metal hazards.
Flexible Online Learning
Get the theory sorted before you even pack your bags. With the SDI eLearning platform, you can complete all of your academics online on your own schedule. Once completed, you will have lifetime digital access to your course materials, allowing you to refresh your wreck diving knowledge at any time.
SDI Wreck Diver gallery
Itinerary
Day 1: Hazard Analysis & Exploring the HTMS Sattakut or 313 / 312
Your wreck diving journey kicks off with a focused first day, combining specialized exploration theory with hands-on diving on Koh Tao’s most iconic World War II historic wreck.
Morning: Wreck Research & Hazard Mitigation
We begin the morning by meeting your Big Blue Tech Instructor at our beachside restaurant. Over a coffee, we’ll complete the paperwork and review your online academics.
Your instructor will guide you through the fundamental principles of wreck exploration, focusing on:
Wreck Research & History: Learning how to gather background data, layout maps, and historical details about a site before diving.
Risk & Hazard Assessment: Identifying the unique dangers of wreck environments, including entanglements, sharp structures, collapse zones, and silt-outs.
Equipment & Team Planning: Streamlining your gear configuration and adjusting your dive planning to maximize safety margins around submerged structures.
Afternoon: Open Water Training on the HTMS Sattakut
Following a lunch break, we head out on the boat for your first two training dives. We take you straight to Koh Tao’s premier technical and wreck playground: the HTMS Sattakut, a historic World War II-era troop carrier.
Dive 1 (External Survey & Mapping): Your first dive is a comprehensive external survey of this 49-meter-long vessel. You will practice real-world dive planning, identifying prospective entry and exit points, and mapping out structural hazards along the hull and deck.
Dive 2 (Precision Skills & Buoyancy): This is a dedicated skills dive along the perimeter of the wreck. The focus is entirely on fine-tuning your buoyancy, horizontal trim, and specialized propulsion, ensuring you have the rock-solid control required for advanced overhead line work the following day.
Evening: Debrief & Sunset Review
With your first two wreck dives successfully logged, we head back to the restaurant. You’ll sit down with your instructor for a thorough debrief, analyze your positioning on the ship, and unwind with a cold drink.
Day 2: Line Mechanics & Advanced Wreck Penetration
This is the day everything comes together. You will transition from external surveys to mastering reel mechanics and experiencing the incredible thrill of slipping inside a historic ship.
Morning: Land Drills & Reel Mechanics
We kick off the morning by wrapping up your remaining academics. Your instructor will ensure you have a thorough understanding of advanced navigation, team communication, and line-handling protocols.
Before lunch, we step outside for essential land-based practical drills:
Guide-Line Deployment: Practicing line-laying and tie-off techniques around the restaurant grounds to build muscle memory.
Reel & Team Management: Learning how to manage a reel as a team, maintaining proper line tension, and practicing touch-contact communication drills.
Afternoon: Open Water Dives 3 & 4 (The Penetration Dives)
After lunch, we board the boat to put your new line-laying skills to the test in the marine environment on our final two graduation dives.
Dive 3 (External Line Practice & Restrictions): Under the guidance of your instructor, you will practice running a primary reel and laying a physical guideline along the outside of the wreck. The focus is entirely on maintaining flawless buoyancy and trim while navigating simulated “restrictive areas” near the hull.
Dive 4 (The Interior Penetration): This is the milestone dive where your training culminates. Working as a cohesive team, you will cross the threshold and enter the interior of the wreck, carefully laying your guideline as you go. You’ll have the chance to look around, absorb the maritime history, and experience the weightless magic of navigating inside a historic vessel.
Evening: Graduation & Celebrations
Back on land, your instructor will conduct a comprehensive final course debrief to review your success. With your technical line skills validated and your SDI Wreck Diver certification officially locked in, it’s time to grab a celebratory drink at the beachfront bar, toast your achievements, and watch the sunset with the team!
FAQs
What can I expect to lean?
Your Big Blue Tech instructor will take you through the following and more:
- Why wreck dive?
- Surface support
- Buddy system
- Buddy contact
- Navigation/charting
- Disorientation
- Special equipment
- Limited visibility diving
- Lifelines and reels
- Special emergency procedurs
- Mapping the wreck
Will I be able to dive this certification with Big Blue Tech after the course?
Absolutely, We encourage all of our newly certified students to get back in the water and enjoy their new certifications. We’ll provide you with a suitably certified Divemaster and with our own dedicated boat we can get you back in the HTMS Sattakut for some fun dives.
What's included in the course?
All the required equipment is included in the course:
- All materials and certification costs on successful completion
- Full single tank equipment.
- SIdemount or Twinset (Regs, Harness & Tanks) for certified Divers
- Fins (Students are required to have boots if they wish to use open healed fins)
- Exposure suit
- Mask and Back up mask
- Lights
- Back up bottom timer
- Primary line and 1 finger spools
- SMB
What's Not included?
Everything you need is included, no hidden extras guaranteed.
Are you fit to dive?
Scuba diving is an activity that requires a certain level of physical health. Please read this medical questionnaire. If you can answer yes to any of the questions you may require medical clearance to enroll in a diving course. Contact us for more information.
Can I see the standards for this course?
Wreck Standards
OK, let's do this... How do I book?
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