Most lifetime dives

[cerich]

I'm in favor of total dive time rather than number of dives. That would even it out for rec divers and tec divers, both OC and rebreather. If you also had the number of dives, that would put it into perspective.

I'm a rec diver and have been logging my dives since 1997. I have just over 1820 dives and just over 1793 hours, 59 minutes/dive

There is a value to the gear up and down process, dive planning, site variety etc that total time does not reflect. A 3 hour CCR dive is all good, 3 dives of an hour each on CCR there is potential for more experience gained in the whole process.

Both quantity and total time help paint the whole picture, along with variety of conditions etc

 

[yle]

I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer about what the record is (if there is one). So I was hoping the scuba board collective knowledge could point me in the right direction.

Thanks very much.

A few years ago I struck up a conversation with one of my dive guides in Cozumel. He told me he had been working at his current shop for about five years, and he liked it because he got a day off... i.e. he was only diving six days a week. Before that he told me he was guiding every day.

And he had been a dive guide for 30 years at that point (he was probably around 50 years old.) A quick estimate of his lifetime dives then... average 2.5 dives a day (assume most days he guides only one 2-dive trip... some days he does more), 25 years at 7 days per week, 5 years at 6 days per week...

total comes out to roughly 25,000 dives. And he is still adding about 700 dives each year.

I think you'll likely find that there is no official "record" for lifetime dives because the people that dive the most (like my guide in Coz) don't see it as a special accomplishment. It's just their life.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I have a new hero ! @Hickdive !

Post deleted too historical

@Marie13 CE

 

[fsardone]

I have been diving since 1980, I was 14, brought down by my father and I have no clue how many dives I did since then. I can guesstimate (and for those wondering more than a thousand less than five ... averaging conservatively 1 dive per week for 40 years) but it has no value to me ...
Being not a dive professional and not seeking to log records (depth, duration or number) I just logged what I needed to do all of desired courses and started 25 years after my first dive, when they started asking me how many dives I had, within the first year of logging was at 200 then when I reached 500 I stopped. Recorded again my initial diving on CCR and now I stopped that too. I now only take notes (buoyancy, configuration and memorable events) while the electronics logs the dives.

 

[scubadada]

...The second US Dive Log was in 1967 designed by Tom Ebro and produced by LA Co for the LA Co three month long very intensive Advanced Diving Program aka ADP amd was a requirement of the program.

It was marketed for $1.00 a few years later around 1970 NAUI also marketed the same log for $1.00. PADI was dominated by LA Co UW instructors for many years one of them possible Nic Icorn or Paul Hill brothe the LA Co log to PADI and the then President Ralph Erickson sold it to the early PADI members for $5.00

That was the beginning of logging dives- which realistically dates to 1967- a little over 50 uears ago. but even then logging dives was hit or miss and not a popular activity...

Thanks Sam,

I was first certified in 1970 by LA County. I dived actively in Southern California for the decade until 1980. I did not log my dives during that period and neither did my buddies, I sure wish I would have

 

[Superlyte27]

Captain Slate claims to have well over 12,000 dives during the past 50 years.

Captain Slate Biography

I had more than that when I quit counting. Then I switched to hours.

 

[kelemvor]

I'm in favor of total dive time rather than number of dives. That would even it out for rec divers and tec divers, both OC and rebreather. If you also had the number of dives, that would put it into perspective.

I'm a rec diver and have been logging my dives since 1997. I have just over 1820 dives and just over 1793 hours, 59 minutes/dive

I think those are just two separate records. If you look at the several hundred scuba related records on Guinness, many of them are oddly specific.
I'm guessing they'll have to add MANY based on what they do now.

Most dives in salt water for a man.
Most dives in salt water for a woman.
Most dives in fresh water for a man.
Most dives in fresh water for a woman.
Most cumulative dive time in salt water for a man.
Most cumulative dive time in salt water for a woman.
Most cumulative dive time in fresh water for a man.
Most cumulative dive time in fresh water for a woman.

Maybe they'll also split each of those out for boat and shore dives, so there's at least 16 opportunities to set a record

I agree with others though.. they certainly aren't going to take someone's log book and treat it as valid. I think typically Guinness wants you to hire one of their observers. That might get expensive for someone hoping to set a record with 15,000 or more dives (or even 100)... which is probably why these records don't exist.

 

[Superlyte27]

When I was a boat captain in Key Largo, there was a young kid (probably 27) who was making the trip around the world teaching scuba. He had already been to some pretty big name places teaching, and when he left Key Largo, he was headed back to Hawaii. He was a pretty spectacular diver and a decent instructor (as PADI goes ). At any rate, with almost 4-6 dives, every single day for nearly a decade, he had wracked up quite the count. And you could see it. I don't know what his number was, but pretty sure it was higher than mine.

My count/hours came from an addictive personality type, making about 8 dives every week for fun, and then over a decade as a successful commercial diver. I hang out with Paul Heinerth from time to time who teaches more diving than anyone I know. He'll dive every single day for 20-30 days straight, take a single day off, then do it all over again. If we're talking hours, not dives, he's gotta be pretty high up there.

 

[chillyinCanada]

@strumbarn, it might be best to make up your own trophy for the the man.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I was also present when my occasional diving companion and good and great friend @Scuba Lawyer received his in 1995.

My gawd Sam, was that really almost 25 years ago? You recommended me and I had to find one more PlatinumPRO to sign off. Jeanne Bear Sleeper was Coralee's roommate (now there's a story) and Jeannie and I had been diving a few times together so she agreed. What was funny was at the SSI award ceremony at DEMA that year they they flashed pictures of current and past recipients on the screen, two at a time. Well, the other guy on the other half of my screen was none other than JYC. Everyone wanted to know who I was and what my relationship to JYC was. I was a minor celebrity by happenstance. The other thing about that pic of me was that here it was 1995 and the photo they pulled from the archives was taken of me in the 70's complete with plaid bell-bottom pants, three-inch red belt, and some kind of pointy-collar polo-type shirt with my black full beard and hair down past my shoulders. I was right out of the Mod-Squad. Funny how we remember stuff like that. Mark