Question For purposes of logs and certifications, what counts as a "dive"?

[Antothoro]

I'm considering going into more advance dives where the # of dives matters. So I'm going back through my log book (paper and electronic). Questions come up in my mind about what counts as a "dive".

I've heard: "Deeper than 20ft and longer than 20min. No pools"

I'm thinking:
- Include all training dives (regardless of duration, depth, or water type)
- Include any dive over 10 min (regardless of depth or water type)


Thoughts?

 

[Miyaru]

When I browse through someone's logbook, I'm more interested in the total time spent underwater than the number of dives.

50 dives of 20 minutes at 20ft show a whole different experience level than 15 dives of an hour below 20ft....

 

[Edward3c]

A dive you log is anything you consider a dive. Personal I don’t log pool sessions, but everything else. Some close together I might combine into one.

 

[MB NZ]

Whatever you want it to be. Some pool dives can have their own value (60 metres, Dubai) and some short dives often have the most value in terms of learning (i.e. equipment failure and early termination of dive). I find the hardest and most challenging part of any dive is kitting up and getting in/out the water. Just food for thought.

 

[Belzelbub]

I'm thinking:
- Include all training dives (regardless of duration, depth, or water type)
- Include any dive over 10 min (regardless of depth or water type)

Works for me. I don’t log pool dives, but apart from that, I log it. The vast majority of my logged dives exceed the 10 minute mark, but there are a couple that are a bit shorter. Those are usually retrieval dives of some sort. After a short SI, but more than 10 minutes.

It’s mostly for me, though. No one has ever asked to see my log.

 

[Leatherboot69]

I apply the PADI standards for an open water dive for my logbook: “The majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.”

The occasional aquarium dive is fine but I wouldn’t include every one if I was doing them regularly. I include them under the following definition: “There are certain sites (very large aquariums and specifically-constructed environments designed for recreational diving, for example) that provide conditions typically associated with natural bodies of water.” I have two: one to 40 metres and the other at 8m in a tank with 300 sharks.

Ultimately you can add what you want to your logbook as it’s your logbook, and these definitions are only enforceable for course dives. But you need to be able to present the experience you need for whatever training you’re going to do.

 

[chrisch]

I'm considering going into more advance dives where the # of dives matters. So I'm going back through my log book (paper and electronic).


Thoughts?

My thoughts are that to do "more advanced" dives what matters is your readiness and skill to do them. The number of dives in your logbook is not the criteria that matters.

Without any more information it is hard to go further.

 

[Sascha314]

Its easier to write down my exception list.

I do not log training dives in a pool usually used for swimming.
I do not log dives which are like shorter than about 10min or we aborted and surfaced multiple time for whatever reason during that time.
I do not log dives which are like shallower than 5m, unless it was a long dive and for a purpose (because of the view, buyoncy training, ...). They additonally should also not be in a perfect scenario, like visibility, no sediment, ...
I do however log dives in a specifically designed diving pool with at least 10m depth and some objects / structures.

Some of the rules are not hard and you may interpret. However the exact number of dives is not so crucial once you exceeded a threshold. So its up to you then...

 

[Wibble]

Good question.

What constitutes a log? If you're using a computer, it'll log everything including a failed dive where you forgot your weights/whatever. It is possible to delete logs from those computer's logs.

If looking at the Shearwater Cloud, it shows the aggregates: total number of time, dives, etc. From that you can certainly see the maxima and the averages will be affected by shallow/short dives. The downside is it doesn't show dives from other computers, e.g. Suunto, etc., which (I believe) may be imported if you can be bothered.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

What matters more is what you actually log from those dives.

Things like weight are helpful, divesite information and especially any lessons learned - did everything go well? Is there something to improve?