About the Course
Whether purpose-sunk as an artificial reef for scuba divers, or lost as the result of an accident, wrecks are fascinating windows to the past. Ships, airplanes and even cars are fascinating to explore and usually teem with aquatic life. Each wreck dive offers a chance for discovery, potentially unlocking a mystery or spying something others have missed. The PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course is popular because it offers rewarding adventures while observing responsible wreck diving practices.
If you're at least 15 years old and have earned a PADI Adventure Diver certification or higher, you can enroll in the Wreck Diver Specialty course.
Take This Course If You Want to
Learn How to
How to Become a Wreck Diver

1
PADI eLearning®
Complete the independent study part of your course whenever, wherever it’s convenient for you. Learn about different types of wrecks and common wreck diving hazards.
Work at your own pace, online or offline, using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor for inwater training, or whenever you have a question.
- eLearning time commitment: 2-4 hours

2
With Your Instructor
- Prerequisites: PADI Adventure Diver (or qualifying certification)
- Total time commitment: 2-3 days (dives must be completed over a minimum of two days)
- Minimum age: 15 years or older
More Info
Want to share the experience or give the gift of endless adventure? You can now purchase PADI eLearning® and share it with a recipient of your choice! Whether you are purchasing the course as a gift or need to assign the it to family members – it’s super easy.
- Once you purchase your eLearning course, you can log-in to your PADI account to access the course.
- From your Dashboard go to Student Details and Manage Your Courses.
- You can then decide to Start the eLearning yourself or ‘Share the course’.
- To share the course, simply click on ‘Share the Course’ and enter the email address of the recipient you wish to share the course with.
- The recipient will receive an email to create or log-in to their PADI Account to start the course.
Scuba diving requires a minimum level of health and fitness. Chronic health conditions, certain medications and/or recent surgery may require you to get written approval from a physician before diving.
Avoid disappointment, download and review the Diver Medical form to ensure you won’t need a physician’s approval to dive before enrolling in a scuba course. Instructors, divemasters and dive shop staff are not physicians and should not be asked for medical advice; only medical professionals can give medical clearance to dive.
If you (or your physician) have questions about medical fitness to dive, contact the experts at Divers Alert Network (DAN).
Minimum age: 15
Course prerequisites: PADI Adventure Diver (or similar from another training organization)
You can complete this course locally or while travelling.
Choose a dive shop close to home to:
- Support your local diving community
- Meet dive buddies in your local area
- Learn about your local ecosystem
Choose a dive shop away from home if you:
- Plan to travel to a dive destination on holiday
- Like to meet new people when travelling
- Have the time to complete your course while on vacation
This course requires both knowledge development and inwater training for certification. When you purchase PADI eLearning from our website, the cost covers the knowledge development portion only.
There is an additional cost to complete your certification with a PADI Instructor. The cost is set by your independent PADI Professional and may be influenced by class size, environment, equipment, boat fees, etc. Contact a PADI Dive Center or Resort for more information and pricing.
In addition to scuba gear required for the environment, during this course you may use:
- Dive lights
- Slate and underwater compass for mapping and navigation
- Line and reel (for practicing wreck penetration)
Other equipment appropriate for wreck diving in your area (ask your instructor).
PADI eLearning: 2-4 hours
Entire course: 2-3 days (dives must be completed over a minimum of two days)
English, Espanol, Português, اللغة العربية, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, 한국어, 日本語, 中文繁体, 中文简体, Русский язык, ไทย.
For information on other available languages please contact your PADI Dive Center.
PADI’s online courses are designed to work on the browsers listed below. For the best experience, make sure your browser is up-to-date.
Chrome
Safari
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Firefox
If you plan to be somewhere without internet access, use the PADI Training app to download course content and study offline. Content can be downloaded in small sections with a total file size of approximately 185 MB. When you get back online, upload your progress so you can resume your training right where you left off.
The PADI Training app is available for Android™ and Apple® iOS devices. For the ideal experience, devices should be no more than three models old and running with the most current OS (operating system).
The first dive of the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty course may count toward your Advanced Open Water Diver certification – ask your instructor about earning credit.
An Enriched Air Nitrox certification can help you spend more time diving inside wrecks and the Peak Performance Buoyancy course can help you avoid ruining the visibility and making unnecessary wreck contact. Each PADI Specialty you complete gets you one step closer to becoming an elite Master Scuba Diver™.