Unrepresentative profile "logged dive" numbers?

[northernone]

I have a family member who would be interesting if they participated in this thread. Certified in the 70s. Didn't dive for years, lost their log, certification unable. Did an OW cert 2 years ago. 138 logged dives since. But with 356 hrs bottom time. It's an hilarious paradox. In being accurate with their logged dive count and certification level and certification date as factors alone they would appear an entirely other sort of diver then they are in reality.

As for myself, here's an interesting one: I lost 350 dives off my logged dive count when my one computer drowned and I didn't have it backed up. Lost 128 when another drowned. (Both were salvaged: one had previously drowned and the other was nonfunctional when I got them. Used them as a backup to tables). I've personally run in to the struggle of how to answer when filling out TDI forms. 'total dives' and 'maximum depth' result in candid discussion with the instructor and agreeing how they'd like it recorded.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[wheeledgoat]

I've seen one diver with over a thousand logged dives that was such a flailing mess he was a danger to himself and others and the dive shop refused to let him back on the boat (in the Caribbean, mind you).

I think this story needs a bit of expansion, if you please. Go ahead and change the names if you have to...

 

[iamrushman]

my dive count is accurate...took me a long time to get them.

 

[scubadada]

I dove more than a decade ago (closer to 15 years ago) "briefly". Then I didn't dive again until this year when I went and got certified again. One thing I discovered is that while I remembered "some things", I could pretty much assume my "dive knowledge" and "remembered" experience about "how" to dive should really start from this year. Sure, I remember that I did pretty good on air during my first OW course, but I don't remember any of the tips/tricks/knowledge I gained in that class these days. So as far as I'm concerned, the dives I did that first year of diving, way back when, "don't count" for me. I don't have a dive log of them and I don't really remember too much about them so I'm not gonna bother telling a dive operation that I have 20 dives (10 this year) when I can't remember most of the dives from back then and certainly don't retain the "experience" I gained on those dives.

Hi @jlcnuke

I dived pretty actively for 10 years from 1970-80. I had somewhere between 100-200 dives but lost the logbook during life. I took 17 years off and then started diving again in 1997, when my son turned 12. I started the count over in 1997, but didn't lose the experience and skill from earlier.

Good diving, Craig

 

[jlcnuke]

Hi @jlcnuke

I dived pretty actively for 10 years from 1970-80. I had somewhere between 100-200 dives but lost the logbook during life. I took 17 years off and then started diving again in 1997, when my son turned 12. I started the count over in 1997, but didn't lose the experience and skill from earlier.

Good diving, Craig

I only had probably 10 dives total back then (including my OW course dives), so that small number of dives probably had a lot to do with not retaining much. I "picked it up" a lot faster than my friend I did the course with this year (he'd never dived before), but I think I took to it pretty quick the first time too.

 

[kelemvor]

I liked that, but considering everything, I was looking for "I'm a hermit crab". Never found it.

Better than being a crabby hermit, I suppose.

I log dives only because I feel like I get to "enjoy" the dive a second time while I sit down to consider the dive and enter the subjective data into subsurface. Sometimes I skip it, but I can always download those dives later and do my best to remember the details that the computer didn't log.

I haven't used a paper log since I completed OW class where it was required by the instructor. I have needed a log once, when applying to volunteer at an aquarium. In this case they accepted logs from subsurface printed onto regular paper.

I find the number listed on scubaboard useful to gauge the poster of a message. If someone has 2500 dives listed and sound like they know what they're talking about then in my mind they deserve a little extra respect. Sure, some people bend the truth. Usually you can tell based on the content of their posts.

 

[mcohen1021]

I have not logged dives in years. It does not matter to me where/when I saw X, or what depth, length or temperature it was.

I went diving, I had fun, I'll do it again in a few months.

 

[victorzamora]

I think this story needs a bit of expansion, if you please. Go ahead and change the names if you have to...

I don't really remember the diver's name...MAYBE his first name. He was from somewhere in the Northeastern US. Nice guy, obviously well-off, likely mid-60s. We were diving in MX a few years ago. He claimed to have done his Thousandth lifetime dive a few months prior. He had all his own gear, and a lot of it looked nice-but-used (as you'd expect from a seasoned diver).

His son had recently bought him a pony (like an AL13) to be tank-mounted but didn't know how to handle it (looked like the Highlands mount, it was a piece of cake....hook the thing under your camband). He also didn't know how to install the valve on the tank. First dive was a 60ft drift. He was the first to ascend by half a tank. Second dive was a deep wreck that he insisted upon going on: plan was to hot drop to 30ft and then descend when we see the wreck. He blew through all of his gas, while swatting at the DM/guide. Couldn't figure out how to switch to his pony, attacked the DM for his octo, eventually ascended safely. The guides took me and my wife to one site and that guy to a "shallower" site separately. After the third day, he was informed of other dive shops in the area.

 

[diversteve]

Hi Steve, so what does your "I'm a Fish" correspond to? Is this greater than 5000 dives or is this "I don't log dives" and and the number is impressive?

Don't read more into it than is there - I just like the words.

I don't think that "I don't log dives" or "I'm a Fish" necessarily refer to dives in excess of 5000 that they follow, I see them as alternatives added to the list for fun not an indication of the highest dive counts.

 

[mcohen1021]

I put "i'm a fish" because i'm the best diver that's ever dived