Logging open water certification dives

[Pressurehead]

Where was this?

Not over there.
Required on some charters here.

 

[Searcaigh]

Required on some charters here.

As well as having a snorkel

 

[tursiops]

.

 

[Pressurehead]

As well as having a snorkel

Correct.
I have one of those rolled up things for charters at require it to splash.
We have become a nanny state, another reason the wife and I sold the charter boat business some years back.

 

[John Miller]

Such a silly question but as I am trying to consolidate my 400 or so dives into one dive log program (Dive Log 6.0) I have simply forgotten if the 4 open water dives during my PADI OWC certification are considered okay to log towards total dives. Does anyone remember?

Thanks!

Chris

You will find a lot of different answers in these threads on what dives should or should not be logged etc. Some of it solid opinions and others not so solid. I earned my first C-Card in 1973 in Bangor, Maine. with the YMCA. Today I am a Pro 5000 Diver with even more dives as well as a Master Instructor for PADI, SDI and SSI as well as Instructor Trainer for SSI and DDI The question of what dives get logged is an age old question and here is my take on it for what its worth.

As far as PADI is concerned, their Standards state (as do most of the other agencies):
"To credit as a logged dive for course requirements, the dive takes
place in open water and specific information about the dive (i.e.
date, time, location, depth, profile, etc.) is recorded. Training dives
for PADI courses (in open water) qualify as logged dives."

Each agency has specific rules for training dives, e.g. 15 ft for 15 min or 15ft for 20 min. Otherwise no agency sets the rules for your other types of dives as to what gets logged and what doesn't. Then for various courses or programs most agencies require a minimum of so many logged dives. Again, this is rediculus as logged dives do not equate to solid dive experience. A diver with 50 logged dives to 20ft for 20-30 minutes is not a solid diver. ONe can sit on the hand bar at Santa Rosa, NM "Blue Hole at 20ft for 20 minutes and log the dive - but should they if all they did is consume gas? But one with 40 logged dives in excess of 40-50 ft and mostly more than 30 minutes and various specialty courses is a solid diver.

Teaching for PADI, SDI, DDI and SSI I can attest that most courses above OWD under SSI requires "X" number of logged dives, e.g. Independent/Solo states: Logged no less than 75 open water dives totaling 50 hours or more. Of the agencies I teach for SSI is the only one with the hours requirement as well as logged dives.

Do you log pool dives? If I am in complete scuba gear in the bottom of my 15 ft pool for 15 minutes or more teaching, yes I count that dive. If I am in a quarry teaching on the dive platform at 10-15 ft I count that dive. Is that section of the quarry looked at as pool like conditions? Then when we go on the tour portion of the dive does the dive pro log it? The student doesn't log them until OW 1. We are under pressure, must make a emergency ascent if there is a problem, equipment can fail and a host of other reasons for justifying logging that dive. Is that dive any different than the confined water dive in a cove off a beach? Is it any different than teaching OWD confined water skills at the 15ft hang bar off the back of a boat in the ocean? Or on a dive platform suspended at 15-20 ft in a lake? What about the descent line from the buoy? They are all scuba dives and should be logged with the information. And no, generally shallow water pool dives of limited duration are never logged by me or my dive pros. But there is no agency rules that forbid logging pool dives other than the initial scuba entry level pool/cw skill training.

As a PADI Public Safety Diver Instructor I can attest we log every dive even when tethered to a lineman on the shore and we are in shallow water when out head goes under until we surface. Our shore tender's maintain the log records of the dives. In my neck of the woods that body of water is often called a Playa lake.

I encourage all of my students to maintain a paper log book with lots of details for their first 100 dives. They never know today if tomorrow they want to go Pro or take a course that requires showing proof of experience. I want to see details and types of logged dives, It is the experience I am assessing not the total numer of dives when I let you into my training programs.

 

[Puppeteer]

Every charter or club dive in Australia I've been asked for card and log book showing last dive, at least for the first time, or each time there is a new divemaster, and we get asked for card the first time we get gas, especially nitrox.

There is normally a waiver and questionnaire to fill out as well.

If you are planning in diving in Australia make sure you have your card (e card is ok), and a record of your last dive. If your last fave was more than 6 months (sometimes 1 year) they will ask you to do a refresher.

This is both west coast and east coast.

There are also some free diving activities where they will insist you have a free diving certification.

I think it's mainly around liability for the dive business or organization.

 

[Subcooled]

Such a silly question but as I am trying to consolidate my 400 or so dives into one dive log program (Dive Log 6.0) I have simply forgotten if the 4 open water dives during my PADI OWC certification are considered okay to log towards total dives. Does anyone remember?

Thanks!

Chris

And hey, not a log, a diving diary...

 

[Subcooled]

To the best of my knowledge, any scuba dive can be logged regardless of how long or deep it is. Now whether or not you'll be taking an advanced course some day and someone will look at that dive and say "Sorry that one doesn't count" is another matter. But it's not like there's a hard and fast rule.

100% agree.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've logged maybe a half dozen 5-10 minute dives that were cut short for one reason or another (usually zero visibility literally0.
My own rule is if I do all that work to get all that stuff on me and have to take it off and then spend an hour rinsing it, it gets LOGGED....

 

[Belzelbub]

I've logged maybe a half dozen 5-10 minute dives that were cut short for one reason or another (usually zero visibility literally0.
My own rule is if I do all that work to get all that stuff on me and have to take it off and then spend an hour rinsing it, it gets LOGGED....

Yep. I've got several dives in my log that were shorter than 10 minutes. Cut short due to a variety of reasons, visibility, buddy thumbing the dive, missed the spot, etc. I breathed compressed air on those dives in water that isn't a pool, so I'll count it.