I know there are no stupid questions but.....

[Sas]

There's a big difference between faking a BS log book to dive at Bonaire and faking an experience to learn how to do deco dive down to 180-ft on Trimix.

Yes, I don't think anybody was arguing otherwise.

As far as the guy trying to get the 60th dive to qualify for DM requirement, I'd hope that for his own sake as a soon-to-be practicing DM, he'd better have real experience instead of fake experience.

No one has enough real experience at 60 dives to be a DM, so I don't think it really mattered he did a bunch of 20min dives.

I'm not a DM, not going to be a DM any time soon if ever, does it matter if I showed you that I have 250-dives in my log book but in real life I only have 24?

Well personally, I'd find it pretty lame, and I'd be able to tell once we were in the water. But other than people thinking poorly of you, there is no real other consequences.

 

[BushDiver]

Loggable Dive
PADI General Standards and Procedures
Open Water Training
Page 11 #4

4. For training purposes, an open water dive is a dive during which a student
diver spends the majority of time at a depth of at least 5 metres/15 feet and:
a. breathes at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas.
OR
b. remains submerged for at least 20 minutes.

 

[DOkie]

Personally, I don't think that there is a problem with logging any dive that you do. As I've experienced in classes, there is always some confusion in this area. The original book that they are given has entries for pretty much anything you can imagine but limited space for personal entries. I always explain that any dive log that I have ever used has been simply a journal and I may fill up two pages on just one dive. Initially, I think it's a good idea to include all of the technical aspects of the dive as you may want to look back at it with each new dive. Once the diver hits a level of comfort with their abilities and equipment, I think the dive log takes on a whole new purpose. Several of mine include the migration patterns of the butterflies in the spring and fall as well as how many dead heads we've bouyed. Sometimes it's just a thought of how glad I am to be out on the water that day...

 

[Owen Butler]

Which school/agency did you take your course with? ITs a PADI standard that you MUST log your course dives. Your logbook is important for further training (for DM and Instructor for example you have to prove you have made so many dives) and when diving at resorts to see the kind of diving/how many dives you have done to match you up with the right buddies and supervision.

For the surface swim: Even after you finish your last dive, as professionals we cannot leave you underwater or at the surface alone. You're not certified until they've finished the paperwork so no, they can't let you descend and swim back but sayign that they shouldn't have let you surface swim back on your own either.

 

[Owen Butler]

...also, to log a dive it should be deeper than 5m and longer than 20 minutes, so pool dives generally don't count although I agree its a good idea to track the bottom time anyway

 

[BushDiver]

Owen Butler is correctumondo

 

[Tigerman]

...also, to log a dive it should be deeper than 5m and longer than 20 minutes, so pool dives generally don't count although I agree its a good idea to track the bottom time anyway

So, if your buddys LP hose blows at a "not dive" with max dept at 4,5 meters after 19 minutes and 30 seconds thats not a dive, but a totally uneventful dive to 5,2 meters for 23 minutes THATS worth logging?

Or lets take some actual ones from my logbook;
* How about 17m max depth, 9 minutes with a blown 1st stage o-ring and following airshare ascent in the blue? Thats less educational than 45 minutes drifting along a beautiful coral bed with no actual challenges, right?

* Or 26m max depth for 17 minutes with a buddy panicing and needing to be escorted safely to the surface?

I know I have some more similar examples..

 

[rk288]

Yeah, leave yourself the option of keeping notes about anytime you put your gear on and get in the water. What better place to do that than in your logbook...it's your history underwater.