Underwater Archaeology Vacations

The sport of scuba diving is all about underwater adventure, with wreck diving in particular attracting considerable attention from thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. Many divers in search of greater challenges and adventure seek them by diving deeper, but this is not the only way to take diving up a notch. Another route is to try to accomplish something useful on a dive vacation, such as reef research. For wreck divers, the best way to combine volunteer diving and a dive vacation is through underwater archeology.

Planning such a vacation entails drawing up a list of where you might want to work on an underwater archaeological project and researching organizations that are working in that area. Such organizations are invariably short handed and in search of volunteer divers to help with their underwater workload. After selecting the right group, vacation plans must be synchronized to when that group is diving.

Internationally, two countries that can always be counted on to provide opportunities for volunteer divers in search of work are the United Kingdom and Israel. There are also numerous organizations in need of volunteer divers in the United States.

Every coastal state has at least one group engaged in professional or amateur underwater archeology, including states bordering on the Great Lakes. Examples include the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, dedicated to surveying and preserving the shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. South Carolina holds a special place for traveling divers in search of archaeological adventure, since it is the only state in the US that licenses individual or small groups of divers to retrieve artifacts from state property through its Sport Diver Archeology Management Program.

Ultimately, being a volunteer diver means volunteering. The underwater archaeological group will naturally handle the existing expenses of their program, such as the costs of running the dive boat, providing specialized equipment, and filling air cylinders. What they will not do is pay for the transportation costs or room and board of their volunteer divers. Just like on a normal dive vacation, traveling divers must pay for that themselves. Underwater archeology is a way to add some spice and a sense of accomplishment to dive travel, not to make it pay for itself.

Sources: www.mahsnet.org; bbc.co.uk/history/archaeology/excavations_techniques/marine_dive_01.shtml;