Logging Dives?

[TMHeimer]

Do yall carry your electronic telegraph machines to log dives electronically while there or wait until you get home?
How many actually carry a log book with them ?

For boat dives the book stays in the car. Piece of paper & pencil in a jar goes on the boat. Signing book at dock after dives.
For shore dives, book stays home, paper & pen in car.
Thus book never gets wet.

 

[AfterDark]

On the rare occasions that I travel to dive I take my laptop to download my pictures and videos. I'll also use it to log my dives. Usually, diving locally, I just log the dive(s) after I rinse my gear.

 

[RobPNW]

Does anyone upload dive logs to any of the certification agency web sites such as Scubaearth or My SSI etc?

Just read online that the PADI Scubaearth site allows the upload of dive computer logs. It doesn't appear that you can do that directly from the dive computer. It sounds like you would download the log files to your personal computer in what they call a .dl7 file format. Then you can go to the website and tell it where the files are on your hard drive and they will get uploaded.

I guess someone would have to look at the dive computer manual and see if it supports exporting logs in this .dl7 format. Or possibly a PC/Mac application on your computer can extract the dive computer logs in the format.

I haven't tried this so I may have no clue what I'm talking about But if you have mostly PADI certifications, and idea of having all information in one place online is appealing, this may be worth further research.

 

[RobPNW]

This site looks like it's worth checking out. Looks like you can upload from most major dive computer and desktop apps.

divelogs - Online Dive Logs

 

[Scubagolf]

I have kept paper logbooks since OW in 2002. 400+ dives and many logbooks in my drawer. We travel for diving and I often look back in time to check water temps, which wetsuit I wore, and which dive op we used. I usually keep the following info.

Dive number, date
Location
Dive op/DM
Dive site
Dive time/surface interval
Depth
Water temp
Wetsuit
Weights
interesting stuff

 

[Belzelbub]

Do yall carry your electronic telegraph machines to log dives electronically while there or wait until you get home?
How many actually carry a log book with them ?

With my old computer, I woul wait until I got back home (permanent or rental) and download to my MacBook. That computer used a download cable, so downloading at the site wasn’t feasible.

My new computer uploads via Bluetooth, so I usually download to my phone during a SI, or at least after the last dive of the day. Downloading after the dive is useful as it can use my phone’s gps to log the dive location.

 

[ATJ]

I guess that technically I have logged every dive since my original certification in 1978.

The problem is I moved house in 1998 and my logs (which were basically diaries) got misplaced. I was able to piece together some of the dives from other information I had but my dive log is incomplete between 1980 and 1998. This was way before dive computers and didn’t get my first dive watch with logging capability until late 2000.

I guess paper logs aren’t all that reliable and there’s no easy way to back them up.

Since 1998 I have been keeping my logs electronically. I started with a very basic database and then made in more elaborate in 2000 and have been enhancing it ever since.

As my diving log database is home grown, it does exactly what I want from it and I can easily add new features and capabilities. I have automated it as much as possible so that it is efficient as possible.

I generally take 3 dive computers/loggers with me on every dive:

• Citizen Hyper Aquland
• Shearwater Perdix AI
• Garmin Descent Mk1

I’ve had the Citizen since 2000 and it is just a basic dive watch but records start/stop, depth every 5 seconds and temperature every 5 minutes. It is the most accurate for temperature and so I will continue to use it while I can still replace the batteries. The software for it is pretty old, only runs on Windows 32bit and needs a serial port. My database is able to pull the log data directly from the Citizen software.

The Perdix has AI so apart from being a great dive computer, I can get my cylinder data from it. It is the least accurate temperature-wise especially on hot days with cold water and can take 10 minutes to get even close the actual water temperature. I sync with Shearwater Desktop and then export the dive as XML and import into my database.

The Garmin is also a pretty good dive computer but has no AI. The temperature data is pretty good and so I’ll use that once the Citizen dies. A really nice feature of the Garmin is that it logs the descent and surface GPS locations automatically. I used to I carry a separate GPS logger or manually put the coordinates in but this is much easier. I use MacDive to process the FIT files, add some data (like visibility, current, gear, gas data) and then export to XML to be imported into database.

With all the data imported into my database I can create a nice profile image which gets added to the online log:
e.g.

I take photographs and with the data in the database I can create a geotagging file to geotag all my photographs from a dive with the descent point at the longitude and latitude and the depth as the altitude. I also add temperature data. This is all automated and so takes a minute or so to do.

As soon as I can after the dive I write a detailed account of the dive: where I went and what I saw. I use my photographs to help me remember as I write it and then when I get around to processing my photographs I embed them in the account.

If I travel I take my laptop with me as I need to be able to process my photographs. The dive logging can be done on the laptop.

I generate an HTML file for each dive and that gets added to my online dive log.
For example:
Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Tuesday 17 December 2019 - ATJ's Diving Site

I find keeping a detailed log very useful and often refer to it for things like:

• What temperatures were experienced when and where
• What weights I used for various configurations
• My RMV and SAC - for example my SAC is almost always significantly better in my drysuit than my wetsuit, even if the water temperature is 21ºC
• When I saw certain species - here in Sydney we get a lot of tropical vagrants and it is helpful to know when they show up
• When I saw certain individuals - I see the same seahorses, pygmy pipehorses, Weedy Seadragons, etc. dive after dive and I can track when I see them, when they have eggs, etc.

I also find that just the process if writing up the detailed account of a dive makes the dive easier to remember without even having to look it up.

 

[Fastmarc]

I started with the books I got from NAUI then bought various other types when they finished.
During that time I found an online log called diverecord. I liked the fields and format and logged there in addition to my books. A virtual backup, if you will. This was a long time ago before apps for phones. The site is still active and you can log, but I think support is limited. The function to export to excel doesn't work, though you can print them.
When my last book finished I made an excel log based on the fields in Diverecord. I also included a calculation for SAC and RMV. I shared it here some time back. I used that until I got my Shearwater and started using their cloud app as well.

I like logging my dives. Don't think I'll stop.

 

[TMHeimer]

I back up my paper logs by xeroxing them and putting the copies in our lead "fire box" so they are safe if the house burns down and in case I ever lose my log book(s). Takes 2 minutes after each dive day.

 

[greeniguana]

I logged some dives, not all, for many years in my early diving. I like diving, hate paperwork. I've never had any reason to have to go back and look anything up in any old logs..... I don't care how much weight I wore when I was 16 beach diving for lobsters.

I am normally not a fan of "cloud" servers, but I currently use Subsurface cloud. All my dives show up on my phone and I don't have to do anything. Yeah, I suppose Chinese hackers could break in and see how many times I skipped safety stops or surfaced too quickly.....