SSI Wreck and Deep specialties on the Canterbury and the Rainbow Warrior

Most dive centres have to travel a long way to teach a wreck course on a real shipwreck. We have two of them on our doorstep: the navy frigate HMNZS Canterbury in Deep Water Cove, and the Rainbow Warrior at the Cavalli Islands. That makes the Bay of Islands one of the best places in New Zealand to do your SSI Wreck Diving and Deep Diving specialties.

Here’s what each course involves, which one suits you, and how they fit with the rest of your training.

Which specialty is right for you?

If you love the wrecks themselves, the history, the structure and the life that has settled on them, start with Wreck. If you want to go further down, reach deeper dive sites and see the lower parts of the Canterbury, choose Deep. Plenty of divers do both, because the two courses fit together naturally on these sites.

All you need to start any of these courses is an Open Water certification, and the minimum age is 15.

SSI Wreck Diving and Advanced Wreck Diving

SSI splits wreck training into two courses, and it’s worth knowing the difference before you book.

Wreck Diving runs over two days with four dives: two wreck dives for the course and two reef dives. The course covers how to plan a wreck dive, how to map a wreck, and the buoyancy control and finning techniques that keep you from stirring up silt or disturbing the marine life that lives on the wreck. Good buoyancy is what makes wreck diving enjoyable, and it’s what keeps these wrecks looking the way they do for the next diver.

Advanced Wreck Diving runs over three days with six dives: four Advanced Wreck dives, plus two shallower reef dives where you practise the skills in calm, shallow conditions before taking them onto the wrecks. It takes your wreck mapping and technique further.

We dive both wrecks, the Canterbury and the Rainbow Warrior, so you see two very different ships with very different stories. The Rainbow Warrior part depends on the weather, as the Cavalli Islands are more exposed than Deep Water Cove.

Our approach to diving inside the wrecks is set out on our wreck diving in New Zealand page, and our guides to the Canterbury and the Rainbow Warrior are a good read before you come.

The SSI Deep Diving specialty

The Deep specialty extends your range to 40 metres, the limit of recreational diving. It runs over two days with four dives: three deep dives for the course, where we build up your depth gradually rather than all at once, plus a reef dive.

Along the way we cover how depth affects you and your air, how to plan a deeper dive, and the use of hang tanks and pony bottles. It’s a good course if you want to explore the deeper parts of the Canterbury or reach some of the deeper dive sites around the Bay.

Doing Deep and Wreck together

The two fit together well on these sites, and combining them saves you a day:

• Deep and Wreck Diving: six dives over three days, $1,349
• Deep and Advanced Wreck Diving: eight dives over four days, including the shallower reef dives for skills practice, $1,599

We plan the days around the weather and the conditions on the wrecks.

What you need and what it costs

You need an Open Water certification and to be 15 or older. Every price includes your SSI digital learning and certification.

• SSI Wreck Diving: $749
• SSI Deep Diving: $749
• SSI Advanced Wreck Diving: $999
• Deep and Wreck Diving combined: $1,349
• Deep and Advanced Wreck Diving combined: $1,599

If you need to hire gear, it’s $100 for a single course or $150 for either combined course.

How it fits with the rest of your training

If you haven’t done your SSI Advanced Open Water yet, that’s a good place to start. It’s five adventure dives, and two of them, the Deep dive and the Wreck dive, are done on the Canterbury and the Rainbow Warrior. That extends your depth limit to 30 metres and gives you a taste of both specialties before you commit to the full course.

Open Water divers can already dive both wrecks with one of our instructors as a Deep Adventure Dive, and that dive counts towards your Advanced Open Water. Our first wreck dive post explains how that works.

Specialties also count towards the SSI Master Diver rating, if that’s where you’re heading.

When to come

We run specialties through the season, from October to the end of April. Autumn usually brings the clearest water of the year, which makes it a lovely time for wreck work, while summer visibility varies from day to day. Whenever you come, we pick the days and sites to suit the conditions.

You can book on our Specialty Courses page, or call the shop on 09 402 7551 to talk through which course suits you.