Logging and Certifications

[Brian Sharpe]

For a majority of my unlogged dives I used a Suunto Gekko. I think I can download the dive data (which I agree would be great to have), but after doing some investigation it appeared that I needed a special cable. In hindsight, I should have purchased a better computer that made this easier.

The "special cable" is required for many computers (and almost all of them are different and overpriced!). I got mine (Gekko/Vyper) from a supplier in Germany on eBay for a fraction of what local retailers were asking and, if you look around, there's a utility (geeko2vyper IIRC) that fools your Gekko into thinking its a Vyper. Using the free software from suunto's website to can download, log and analyze the data.

I log my dives but in a minmalist kind of way - I'm interested in depth, time, exposure protection, amount of weight needed etc. and tracking skills development/needs.

 

[DanBMW]

After a 100 or so dives, it's all up to you. I like to keep some general information about what I saw, water temps and where for future use. I sometimes keep weight info, but it's your own reference. In 30+ years, I've NEVER had anyone ask to see it!

 

[ajduplessis]

..... In hindsight, I should have purchased a better computer that made this easier ...

There is nothing wrong with your choice of dive computer, if used for recreational diving. Someone mentioned that you can fool the DC in thinking it is a Zoop/Vyper. A friend of mine converted his gekko and downloads his dives using my Helo2 cable. I got my wife a Zoop which is a Gekko really, and the downloads works fine.

Downloading you dive profile onto something like Suunto's Dive Manager have vastly improved the way we look and analyse our dives. It is also a easy way of logging your dive data. This information can then easily be printed out, and filed as logs.

 

[DiverLS]

If you are planning on diving in the Red Sea - you will need 50 logged dives. It's not for the boat, it's for the Park police. If they board the boat, and it happens a lot, they inspect everyone's dive log. If you don't have it, you cannot do any further diving.

And about the Red Sea. I don't see what the Europeans like there. The Red Sea has 4% salinity which bleaches all the choral. In addition, when we were at Big Brother, so were 12 other boats.

 

[Van Isle]

I "download" my dives from my Gekko computer by scrolling through the memory function and writing it down. It's really easy to scroll through and get date/time, and it takes a few extra clicks to get max depth, run time, bottom temp, avg depth. To calculate SAC you'd need to know starting and ending pressures, too.

FWIW there are some agencies that require you to maintain your proficiency in certain certs. and thus require you to "show your logbook" with 25 or 50 or whatever dives to your highest level every year, or they revoke the card.

VI