How many dives is "a lot" in a year?

[fdarden]

Right now I have 106 dives for the year. If you ask my wife, that is a lot. If you ask me, its obvious that I have missed some dives! I log them simply by uploading my dive computer to my MAC, and filling in the site name and any comments that I may have (dive buddy name, anything unusual that I saw or happened) But like others here, the Atlantic Ocean comes up to my back door, and I am 2.2 miles as the crow flies to world class shipwreck diving and drift diving. So racking up the dives is pretty easy. Now part two of your question should be "How can I dive as much as I REALLY want to, without push back from my significant other?" And that is a question that I have yet to solve the answer!

 

[mala]

more than once a week would be quite a lot.
once a month would probably keep the skills alive.

 

[mstachowsky]

Hm, just out of curiosity, do you consider a pool dive to be one worth using to keep the skills alive (for a beginner diver)? I wouldn't count it as a "dive", but it might be the only thing I can do during the winter

 

[mala]

Hm, just out of curiosity, do you consider a pool dive to be one worth using to keep the skills alive (for a beginner diver)? I wouldn't count it as a "dive", but it might be the only thing I can do during the winter

any water time is good.

 

[clownfishsydney]

In 25 years I have averaged over 100 dives every year but one (could not dive for 3 months). Most I have done in a year is 196. I have yet to met someone who is not a "professional" diver who has done more dives than me over this time.

I always treat with suspicion anyone who does not log dives and then claims they have done xxxx dives. If you break down the claimed dives into how many per week or day, then invariably it is not possible to get this number.

My view, anyone who does more than 50 dives in a year does a lot.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Last year I got an email from a young man who wanted to take AOW with me. He told me he'd just finished OW the week before. I explained that I don't normally take fresh out of OW students for the AOW class, because mine's a bit more challenging than the usual AOW class, and suggested we go for a dive to find out how well he'd picked up skills in OW. He proved to be a rather typical OW grad ... couldn't descend without hitting the bottom, couldn't hold a safety stop, didn't have very good buoyancy control. So I gave him a few pointers and told him to go log 20 dives, then call me to schedule an AOW class.

Two weeks later I got that phone call. We scheduled a class for the following month. By the time he started, he'd logged over 70 dives. I saw him at a dive site the other day ... he's been diving for about a year now, and got just over 300 dives.

I'd call that a "lot" of diving ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[chrpai]

I always treat with suspicion anyone who does not log dives and then claims they have done xxxx dives. If you break down the claimed dives into how many per week or day, then invariably it is not possible to get this number.

Well, guess you'll have to be suspicious of me to... I just don't log dives. I was certified in 2000 land dove alot until 2005. If I had to guess, it was probably around 250 - 300 dives. I retired for 6 years and recently picked it back up. In the last three weeks I've gotten around 10 dives in. Yup... you guessed it. Not logging and already losing count. Although I do know that I got 2 in today.

 

[Searcaigh]

As NWGratefuldiver says it's all about location.

When I lived in Jeddah for 7 years I was logging 100-150 per year, then when I moved to Dubai I barely hit 50 a year for the first 5 years as I was traveling so much for work, then it got worse when I changed jobs, I spent more time at 37,000 ft than at sea level and in 2002, 2003 and 2007 no dives at all due to work commitments.

Last year I decided that I had to change this around and managed to log 68 dives which was not bad considering I had 3 months of no diving due to ear infections after diving at Sipadan, if I average 50 then I am happy, I know I can't dive every weekend so have to be realistic about it plus I have other commitments and hobbies, but while the water is nice and warm (30C) I will be doing my best to dive as much as possible during the summer.

 

[Rhone Man]

As NWGratefuldiver says it's all about location.

If you lived in the UK and you logged 50 dives a year (excluding dive holidays) you would be a seriously hyperactive diver.

Living in the Caribbean I am usually good for about 90 dives a year (usually including one dive holiday) and I tend to think of that as pretty conservative.

 

[vladimir]

I have done 100 dives in a couple of good years. But it's always been either feast or famine, depending on circumstances of work. Lately it's been more famine: 25 to 35 a year. I think very few people log a 100 dives in a year as I've done—without any local diving. I am envious of those who do. Conversely, I hold no envy for those whose 100 dives include 80 in a local quarry, or on Long Island "wrecks" that are barely recognizable as anything but an oddly shaped lump in the sand—and that's when the visibility is good. Nothing against the quarries and wrecks—I've done my share of them and enjoyed them. It's just not the sort of diving I enjoy these days.