Long time Diver, first time Poster! US East Coast

[Jwoody]

Hello everyone. After months of scoping out the Forums, doing a bit of research and digging through alot of really well discussed Posts, I decided to Sign up and make my first post.

I started Diving in the early '90s. My OW Certs were through PADI back then off San Diego as a gift for my 16th b-day from my Uncle. We dove a considerable amount off La Jolla, the Cove, beach dives and some Long Beach trips (boat) to Catalina and some off the southern islands. I probably did 50-60 dives in the span of 4 years and eventually culminated into my AOW cert through PADI. Once I joined the Navy I did some more diving around the planet until 2001-ish. Tragic events of 9/11 kept me busy for the remainder of my career and so I never really got back in the water, recreation-wise.

Fast forward to 2years ago, I have gotten the itch to get back into things. I dug up my original OG PADI card (at the young of age of 16) and got shiny new one and completed a Refresh. Most of my gear is still the same, from then. All serviced and good to go for the most part.

As I look forward to taking more classes and working up to Rescue then DM one thing keeps sorta bugging me about Dive trips along the US East Coast and the Caribbean. Particularly if I want my 5 Specialties. Seems websites indicate they want Log Book proof. Of course being so long ago, no one really kept logs back then and neither did I as a young teenager.

Do these folks give a hard-No on a trip?

Other than showing my AOW cert and additional Cert cards (I acquire), do I really to show them Logs? I'm looking at maybe signing up for Wreck and Deep with Olympus Dive Center. I'm keen to knock out the Specialty items so I can dig into the long road of Logged Dives for DM.

And on that note, does anyone actually use a Logbook today or does it seem we let our computers handle the task?

-J

 

[sourdough]

If you have your dives logged on computer or synced to an app, I think that's considered the same as a manual log, maybe even preferred by anyone wanting to validate.

I still add mine to a Google spreadsheet so that I can use formulas to calculate totals and averages, especially neat for running averages based on dimensions like exposure, gear, and environment. Calculating your average surface consumption rate for cold water dives, or for dives with current, can help you learn how you breathe differently based on these factors. I'm still new so enjoying geeking out on stuff that may seem banal if you're more seasoned.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Jwoody

I have never been asked to see my log, not even for Solo Diver. All you might need for "advanced" dives is your AOW card and your nitrox card.

That being said, I dived from 1970-1980, probably about 200 dives, and did not keep a log. I started diving again in 1997 and have all of my 2100+ dives logged in a book and on a spreadsheet. More than 1600 are also logged electronically. I refer back to my logbooks pretty regularly. If you don't want to make a paper logbook or spreadsheet, your electronic log would always be acceptable as proof of experience.