Over the last couple of days our PADI Divemaster interns, Chris and Gonzalo, have been learning how to safely penetrate wrecks, under the watchful eyes of two PADI Wreck Specialty instructors !! Grainne is at Thresher Shark Divers following a ‘Learn To Teach‘ programme and has been involved in the wreck course along with myself…
Our first dive was completed on the Tapilon Wreck, and Chris and Gonzalo excelled at pointing out hazards under water. The hazards they spotted included sharp metal edges and ammunition !! The wreck dates back from the second World War and was also a perfect opportunity for Chris and Gonzalo to use their newly acquired Nitrox certifications…
Our second and third dives both took place at the shallower Lighthouse Wreck – an un-named vessel that lies between 8 and 6 metres below the surface in front of Malapascua’s lighthouse. This wreck is perfect for the required skills from dives 2 and 3. Dive 2 involved Chris and Gonzalo mapping the wreck – a valuable skill for exploratory dives on wrecks when searching for hazards and possible penetration points.
On dive three of the course, Chris and Gonzalo were busy practising how to use a reel. This is an essential piece of any wreck diver’s equipment, and penetration should not be attempted without one !! The guys seemed to find the reel/line work to be a little easier when practised in Oscar’s Restaurant than it was underwater. But after some perseverance and practise they did extremely well.
The next dive will take place on the Doña Marilyn wreck in the next few days… The Doña Marilyn was a Cebu-Manila passenger ferry that sank in a typhoon over twenty years ago. She now rests intact on her starboard side on the seabed in 33 metres, with the shallowest part at around 17 metres. The wreck is covered in beautiful soft-corals and often houses white-tipped reef sharks and marble rays under the bow section. On this dive, we will be using the newly acquired skills to penetrate the wreck in a safe manner, to go where very few have been before !!!
