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

[kevin316]

this one would be close.

Should I have logged my dives for my open water course? How about pool dives I do over the winter?

Thanks in advance

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I would only log open water dives, but that is me. So yes, the open water dives you did for training are valid, pool work generally no. In the end, it is your call. The log book is mostly for you anyway. Have fun!

 

[idocsteve]

Pool dives no, OW course dives yes.

I've seen that question before and I've wondered about a few tune up pool dives myself..

Confined dives are not typically logged. Of course when it comes right down to it you can do whatever you want, including jumping into the ocean without a mask if you're so incline...these are just "commonly followed guidelines".

In fact there ARE stupid questions but yours isn't one of them.

 

[SkimFisher]

If anything, keep track of hours you spend in the pool. But don't log them as dives.

Your instructor didn't MAKE you log your checkout dives?

 

[TMHeimer]

I log all non-pool dives. The only reason besides keeping records for yourself is that to take some advanced courses (Rescue, DM, Instructor, etc.) you need a certain number of logged dives. And agencies apparently have rules as to what counts: ei. must be at least 15 feet for 15 mins. or something like that. On the other hand, I've never been asked by anyone- course Instructor, charter boat, dive shop,etc.--to show my log book.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I never logged dives back in the old days, and when I first heard this dern newfangled thing about logging dives I thought it was pretty dumb.

But I started doing it anyway, and guess what? I learned a lot of important stuff.

Even in a pool (sometimes, ESPECIALLY in a pool) you can learn things like fitting your gear to you, ideal weighting, trim, your air consumption, kick cycles vs distance covered, and how your gear works (or doesn't). I log it all.

I often go back to my logbook to find out when I started using a particular piece of gear, how much weight I used with that wetsuit, or what my SAC rate was under those conditions.

 

[idocsteve]

You could put your pool hours in your logbook but not place a number next to them so they don't count toward your total but you've got the info right there.

 

[kevin316]

Thanks for the answers, I didn't think I should log pool time but I think I will keep track of the hours. I am trying to do one a month with a local club to work on my skills so the time can add up.

SkimFisher, no he didn't. I wondered about it but there were other things I wondered about more so that was down on the list of things to ask. I think he did a good job going through the skills with us but it was rushed. We did everything we needed to complete but didn't have any time to just slow down and enjoy it. He had lots of help so if anyone had problems or questions they were addressed and I feel good about what I learned.

I had to laugh on the last day in the lake. We had just finished our emergency accent and my wife and I were the last to go. I waited for her and when she was done I told her we would swim back to shore on the bottom (a good chance to practice our navigation again). We would have been in only about 15' of water and shore was only about 150 yards away so we could probably go about 100 yards before it was to shallow. The instructor was still on bottom but one of his helpers overheard me and insisted we do a surface swim back to shore.

That made me wonder about his confidence in what we had just been taught in the last two days.

I won't take my advanced with him.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[Rainer]

Log whatever makes YOU happy.

 

[sydney-diver]

I agree with Mike above, if the purpose of the pool dive is to test out some sort of change to your equipment or do learn a new technique etc it's always worth taking a record of the result. In a few years time who knows what you'll find useful.