The Anthony Bell

Here in the Bahamas there are many wrecks. Most of these wrecks are not challenging and are accessible to open water divers as they don’t lie much deeper than 18m (60ft). I have dived most of the wrecks here (on both backmount and sidemount) and I enjoy it more than reef diving.

My only issue comes when divers start to penetrate wrecks without the appropriate training. None of the wrecks that the dive shops  take you to are what could be considered complex wrecks. However, because the wrecks are easy to dive many divers decide to penetrate them without thinking about the consequences and the dangers inside wrecks. A lot of the divers are vacation divers and that means that their skills are probably not up to scratch, it also means that the equipment that they are carrying doesn’t include a reel, a torch or a knife.

The majority of the wrecks here have been sunk for divers, most of them have not been sunk with penetration in mind. This means that inside these wrecks there are cables and wires that a diver could easily become snagged on. There are openings that have been cut into the side of the boats so that they would sink but are just the right size for a diver to become stuck in, or certain areas that should have been blocked off have not been.

Wreck diving is a skill that that divers have to be trained to do. Most training agencies offer wreck courses and can be done within a couple of days. TDI even offers an Advanced Wreck Diver course, but that is probably beyond the scope of what most recreational divers require. So pop down to your local dive shop or get in touch with your friendly neighbourhood dive instructor. Get the proper training and make yourself a safer diver.