What is the draw of wreck diving?

[WhiteSands]

Cave I can understand. Caves are such beautiful natural structures and I love diving in swim-throughs.

But after diving more than a few wrecks from the outside and having gone inside of a few very small ones where you can see the exit from the entrance (like a swim-through), I am starting to dislike wrecks.

Other than the population of fishes which seem to love them, and occasionally the rich macro found on them, wrecks almost always seem so gloomy. They seem to have death written all over, with many sharp protrusions ready to rip you to shreds. Urchins also seem to love growing around them.

I would like to understand the appeal of wreck penetration or even wreck diving, in the hopes that I may learn to appreciate it.

 

[Redshift]

People don't need to like the same things. So if you have dived wrecks and don't like them, don't dive them. You don't have to learn to like it.

But for some people gloomy is fascinating, seeing a ship where it doesn't belong is fascinating, exploring it is fascinating... knowing its history, seeing it change, noticing the life around it... also the technical aspects of diving a wreck can be interesting for some divers, the challenges...
Different divers will have different reasons, the same way you have your reasons for not appreciating them and others for not liking caves, which you do.

 

[NAM001]

For me , that is the atraction of wrecks. For some, ships were once as much of living beings as those who sailed them. I was a NAVY SUbmariner, when my first ship/boat (Clamagore ss 343) gets put to pasture on the bottom, I one day will be there, trip down memmory lane if you will. Although the ship is just steel, to function, it needed the guts, us sailors to make her work. The hull , is just that now, a carcus stripped of its organs. To visit her or vessels like her has special meaning to those who made them what they were. Many have no idea what history is still attached to these hulls. To some they are goldmines for souveniers, for others it represents years of ones life. (In my case 21 of them) I know I look foreard to a penitraiting her. Sitting at the same lunch table s i did so many times. Although I dont think I can get through her because of passage limitations in the manuvering room. Just knowing what is around every corner on your first diving visit makes it feel like old home week. For other wrecks one can only imagine what they were like when they were hot running operational machines. Picture if you will diving a carrier wnd looking inthe hanger bay to see a plane or fire hoses on the bulkheads adn wondering how many times they were used. Diving to the flight deck adn touching the deck where who nows how many take offs and landings occured. Not to mention the lives saved and lost on her. for some ships they are just scrap, others are tributes and portals to another time. There are other ships that have suffered major damage from storms and are gradually just breaking up a litle at a time. To visit some of them are akin to watching a family member some one getting old and falling apart.

Caves as you say are monuments to nature and what natures forces leave behind. Wrecks are the testiments of what man has created and have left in thier wake.

Each to thier own i guess I like them both.

Cave I can understand. Caves are such beautiful natural structures and I love diving in swim-throughs.

But after diving more than a few wrecks from the outside and having gone inside of a few very small ones where you can see the exit from the entrance (like a swim-through), I am starting to dislike wrecks.

Other than the population of fishes which seem to love them, and occasionally the rich macro found on them, wrecks almost always seem so gloomy. They seem to have death written all over, with many sharp protrusions ready to rip you to shreds. Urchins also seem to love growing around them.

I would like to understand the appeal of wreck penetration or even wreck diving, in the hopes that I may learn to appreciate it.

 

[kwinter]

History and mystery.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I love the rich marine life found on wrecks. To me, wrecks are an underwater oasis full of life, while caves are lifeless holes in the ground. I've never had any urge to dive caves. To each their own.

 

[Diver0001]

Cave I can understand. Caves are such beautiful natural structures and I love diving in swim-throughs.

But after diving more than a few wrecks from the outside and having gone inside of a few very small ones where you can see the exit from the entrance (like a swim-through), I am starting to dislike wrecks.

Other than the population of fishes which seem to love them, and occasionally the rich macro found on them, wrecks almost always seem so gloomy. They seem to have death written all over, with many sharp protrusions ready to rip you to shreds. Urchins also seem to love growing around them.

I would like to understand the appeal of wreck penetration or even wreck diving, in the hopes that I may learn to appreciate it.

I have the exact opposite. I've been on some walk-through tours of dry caves but nothing in a cave makes me think, "wow, I want to spend loads of time and loads of money so I can dive in flooded caves on a regular basis." After an hour in a cave I find it boring. The only thing that would get me interested in diving in a cave is if they were generally full of stunning archaeological artifacts.

Wrecks, on the other hand, have a story. With the exception of purpose-sunk wrecks, which I tend to see as "training objects" every wreck has a history. It has a name, a date of manufacture... it had a crew, a mission, a purpose.... there was an accident.... it sank. Sometimes everyone survived. Sometimes it went to the bottom with man and mouse.

The story, for me, is like reading about history (another of my hobbies).

Another reason I like wrecks is because the main reason I dive is to enjoy nature. Wrecks are natural magnates for life. On the North Sea, I've been in a wreck of a submarine (one which had previously not been identified, which is a story in itself) that was full of cod more than a metre and a half long. Fishermen on the North Sea haven't seen a cod that big for 100 years.... because they live inside wrecks and never venture off of them.

Finally, I like the technical challenge. I can't compare wrecks to caves because I don't have the experience in caves (aside from dry ones) but wreck diving involves certain challenges that are unique, as you pointed out. They're snaggy, twisted, sometimes unstable and can be highly restricted. Diving a wreck can be a puzzle (I assume this is like cave diving) and I like the puzzle. I like the planning of how we can fill in the next piece of the puzzle and complete the picture.

There is another element to wreck diving that people around me seem to get immense pleasure from, which is the treasure hunting. Finding artifacts that they can take home and look at in order to maintain some connection to the experience or to the history, the story. Personally I'm not like that. I've recovered artifacts from many wrecks but I have nothing in my house. I give it all away. For some people, however, this is a passion.

R..

 

[sheeper]

I am the opposite. I'm not a cave fan. Caves are just wet rocks (apologies to my TDI cave friends )
I understand the attraction though.

Wrecks however I find fascinating. There is story behind every wreck. Some dramatic, some mundane. There is sea life....lots of sea life. There is mystery inside of every wreck. There is the lure of the sea and the history of man.
The wreck we dove yesterday was over 100 years old. A dramatic story and tons of tropicals including 8-10 huge Snook. That's why I love my wrecks!

 

[AfterDark]

History and mystery.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

This sums it up nicely! There are stories for each wreck on the bottom. Part of the fun of wreck diving takes place in front of a PC or in a library (that's a place where books are found; books are an ancient method of data storage) learning about the ship, the crew, and the end. Most people don't like history so where's the fun again? Part of my dive log when I dive a wreck is story of the sinking and or any other usual facts I may uncover.

Cave diving always impressed me as a lot of work.

 

[shoredivr]

When you live around the Great Lakes you have thousands of wrecks to dive (check a Great Lakes wreck guide book, I'm not exaggerating).
It is a slice of history. Wooden barques, schooners from the 1800s preserved in the cold fresh water. Some still have masts, rigging and dead eyes in place. Old styles of wooden ship construction can be observed. The deeper technical wooden wrecks can be jewels. Some have carved figureheads. Google the Gunilda, or the Cornelia B. Windiate, or the Dunderburg for some examples of beauty in the deep.

Looking at a 170 ft long wooden ship that was built before Canada was a country, that sailed from the Great Lakes over to Glasgow, Scotland all the way across the Atlantic with nothing but a compass and a sextant reminds me what wimps we are today: GPS, radios, etc.

Then there are the steel ships: freighters that are hundreds of feet long, dwarfing you on the dive. The great storm of November 1913 where dozens of ships sank, and one was discovered a couple of years back near Grand Bend, Ontario, lots of artifacts still on board.

Thats why I dive wrecks. The history.

 

[Kharon]

My nephew has been haunting (creeping) abandoned very old buildings (mostly insane asylums) taking pictures of them. I don't see the point of that either. Give me reef and sunshine (or reef and a good light for night) everytime. Dove the Hilma Hooker, saw everything that interested me and my computer said 18 minutes of dive time - I think the SPG said 1900 PSI. First time I ever surfaced with more than 300-500 psi.