Unrepresentative profile "logged dive" numbers?

[BDSC]

I actually logged my dives up until I hit 500 and then I just quit. When I first started I would log really detailed stuff. As time went on it was less and less and eventually I would log an entire trip on one page just stating where I went and how many dives for the week.

Since I don't want folks to think I'm a liar, I have a confession to make. I don't have 100,000 dives. I'm sure it's somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 but couldn't say exactly. I just didn't want all you folks to go around telling others you know a guy on SB with 100,000 dives. You would look foolish!

 

[MargaritaMike]

You would look foolish!

Yes, WE would look like fools if we said someone had 100,000 dives, wouldn't WE?

Cheers - M²

 

[charlier]

As for "I'm a fish, I don't know what that means, and I think it implies more than is my case. There are people with thousands more dives than I have. I have also noted that in the case of many of the people who use that phrase, I get the feeling they don't even have a hundred.

So I am torn between leaving it blank (as I have nearly done many times) and putting in the actual number. I don't feel any sense of conviction for either course of action.

Good point regarding "I'm a fish" - it is a bit silly. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I do log dives, but not all dives. I used "I'm a fish" phrase because I have learned more about the marine environment, internal waves, and currents from watching fish. After millions of years of evolution, fish are so well-adapted to their environment and that is why I always check-in with the local fish during all of my dives. I wonder if I can change my # of dives to "I watch fish".

 

[scubadada]

It would likely be more valuable if we gave number of dives and dive time. As of now, I have 1457 dives and 1416 hours. Of course, I am in Bonaire, and will going diving after lunch

 

[boulderjohn]

It would likely be more valuable if we gave number of dives and dive time. As of now, I have 1457 dives and 1416 hours. Of course, I am in Bonaire, and will going diving after lunch

That does make a difference, but to what degree, really?

This past year has been unusual for me. After returning from Florida in March, I have done almost nothing but either technical instruction (a number of short, relatively shallow skill-oriented dives, some deeper) or personal dives. I just went through the log book, and I see that about 2/3 of the personal dives were deeper than 200 feet, and most of them were deeper than 260 feet. When doing dives like that, I do not do a lot of multiple dive days, so I have the fewest total dives this year than in recent history.

The deep dives, though fewer in number, certainly rack up the total dive time. But what does that time indicate? Let's say I do a dive that totals 2 hours. Only a small portion of that will involve actual diving--most of it is a decompression ascent. When I am doing a decompression stop at 30 feet, sometime during that stop I will usually reach the midpoint of the total dive time. I feel like the dive should be over now, but I still have an hour to go. What does all that time spent hovering, looking at my buddy, a line, and a wall indicate about my experience? During the oxygen stops (20 feet and 10 feet), we very, very slowly circle the lake to keep the blood flowing a little and to limit boredom. Does that very shallow swimming indicate anything related to skill? Would not a 35 minute wreck exploration be more meaningful?

 

[scubadada]

That does make a difference, but to what degree, really?

This past year has been unusual for me. After returning from Florida in March, I have done almost nothing but either technical instruction (a number of short, relatively shallow skill-oriented dives, some deeper) or personal dives. I just went through the log book, and I see that about 2/3 of the personal dives were deeper than 200 feet, and most of them were deeper than 260 feet. When doing dives like that, I do not do a lot of multiple dive days, so I have the fewest total dives this year than in recent history.

The deep dives, though fewer in number, certainly rack up the total dive time. But what does that time indicate? Let's say I do a dive that totals 2 hours. Only a small portion of that will involve actual diving--most of it is a decompression ascent. When I am doing a decompression stop at 30 feet, sometime during that stop I will usually reach the midpoint of the total dive time. I feel like the dive should be over now, but I still have an hour to go. What does all that time spent hovering, looking at my buddy, a line, and a wall indicate about my experience? During the oxygen stops (20 feet and 10 feet), we very, very slowly circle the lake to keep the blood flowing a little and to limit boredom. Does that very shallow swimming indicate anything related to skill? Would not a 35 minute wreck exploration be more meaningful?

Good point, it also makes sense to know what kind of diving one does. I am mainly a rec diver, a little light deco. Teaching and tec diving make a big difference in dive count and dive time.

Dive count, even with dive time, is not very accurate in describing dive experience without a narrative giving level of training and type(s) of diving. Point well taken.

Why do we have dive count on SB?

 

[Wookie]

That does make a difference, but to what degree, really?

This past year has been unusual for me. After returning from Florida in March, I have done almost nothing but either technical instruction (a number of short, relatively shallow skill-oriented dives, some deeper) or personal dives. I just went through the log book, and I see that about 2/3 of the personal dives were deeper than 200 feet, and most of them were deeper than 260 feet. When doing dives like that, I do not do a lot of multiple dive days, so I have the fewest total dives this year than in recent history.

The deep dives, though fewer in number, certainly rack up the total dive time. But what does that time indicate? Let's say I do a dive that totals 2 hours. Only a small portion of that will involve actual diving--most of it is a decompression ascent. When I am doing a decompression stop at 30 feet, sometime during that stop I will usually reach the midpoint of the total dive time. I feel like the dive should be over now, but I still have an hour to go. What does all that time spent hovering, looking at my buddy, a line, and a wall indicate about my experience? During the oxygen stops (20 feet and 10 feet), we very, very slowly circle the lake to keep the blood flowing a little and to limit boredom. Does that very shallow swimming indicate anything related to skill? Would not a 35 minute wreck exploration be more meaningful?

Do you have a place in Colorado to do a 260 foot dive, or are all those here in Florida?

 

[Wookie]

Why do we have dive count on SB?

Because some folks don't know what they don't know, and it makes it easy to tell those folks apart. When someone asks the classic dumb question (I know, there are no dumb questions) I actually do look at their post and dive count to determine how much cheek to put in my answer.

 

[boulderjohn]

Do you have a place in Colorado to do a 260 foot dive, or are all those here in Florida?

We do the dives in New Mexico. It is a sink hole just a couple miles from the well known Blue Hole in Santa Rosa. It is reputed to have a maximum depth of about 285 feet, but so far we have not found that. The deepest I have hit is about 276 feet, and I have been to that depth several times in several places. I think it is a beautiful site, with the vegetation at the upper levels cascading over the ridges of the cliffs like the hanging gardens of Babylon. It is on private property, so you have to have the landowner's permission to dive there. She has identified a number of technical instructors who have permission, and people can dive with those instructors under their supervision. I am one of them.

Here is a thread about some of our recent activities there: Rock Lake Explorations

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That does make a difference, but to what degree, really?

This past year has been unusual for me. After returning from Florida in March, I have done almost nothing but either technical instruction (a number of short, relatively shallow skill-oriented dives, some deeper) or personal dives. I just went through the log book, and I see that about 2/3 of the personal dives were deeper than 200 feet, and most of them were deeper than 260 feet. When doing dives like that, I do not do a lot of multiple dive days, so I have the fewest total dives this year than in recent history.

The deep dives, though fewer in number, certainly rack up the total dive time. But what does that time indicate? Let's say I do a dive that totals 2 hours. Only a small portion of that will involve actual diving--most of it is a decompression ascent. When I am doing a decompression stop at 30 feet, sometime during that stop I will usually reach the midpoint of the total dive time. I feel like the dive should be over now, but I still have an hour to go. What does all that time spent hovering, looking at my buddy, a line, and a wall indicate about my experience? During the oxygen stops (20 feet and 10 feet), we very, very slowly circle the lake to keep the blood flowing a little and to limit boredom. Does that very shallow swimming indicate anything related to skill? Would not a 35 minute wreck exploration be more meaningful?

One of my favorite deep dive sites is Ship Rock off Catalina Island. You can go as deep as you want there. My deepest there was 240 feet. The rock breaks the surface, so every minute of the dive offers things to see. The oxygen hang is spent on a shelf with kelp and garibaldis. For offshore deep dives I spent many of my ascents watching jellies float by.