What constitutes a dive?

[jar546]

I was taught that in order to count a dive as a "real" dive, you need to be in open water at a minimum depth of 15 feet for 15 minutes. This is the standard that I have been holding myself too, although my dives are at least 3-4 times that in length and depth.

Does anyone count pool dives towards their overall dive tally?
Do certifying agencies have different standards for this?

Most pools are only 8'-14' max depth and of course are not open water. I seem to recall a thread in the past where there were some that counted their pool dives.

 

[BabyDuck]

i've counted a pool dive that was a practice for cavern/intro. we set up lines, did no-mask swims, practiced some pinpoint buoyancy, that kind of thing. personally, i wouldn't count a jump in to do a quick weight check for new gear or something, but a log is personal and a person can do what they feel is right.

and i'm not an instructor, but i've always heard 20ft for 20 min, not 15 for 15.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Outside of a class, what counts as a dive is what you define it to be. For those classes that require a set of "minimum" dives in order to begin or complete, I think the standard is typically a minimum of 20 minutes at 20 feet or greater.

Personally I don't count pool dives. Nor do I count things like OW checkout dives, or Rescue scenarios. Yesterday I was doing a drysuit class, and I didn't count that one, since it had to be aborted at about 18 minutes due to an equipment malfunction.

For purposes of logging your dives, it's really up to you to define what constitutes a "dive" ... it's your record, after all ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Insta-Gator]

I do not count pool dives, as I consider this training & skill development only. I also do not count lake dives that are too shallow or too short, IMO, such as object retrieval or boat cleaning/maintenance. My log book as been stuck on 101 dives for three years, but I've been under water on scuba gear probably 50 more but didn't consider it a valid dive.

 

[Jax]

Ditto with what Bob and Gary said.

However, that is your logbook, and you can log anything you want. Just know that some classes won't count them towards minimum dives. One way to log pool / short / shallow dives is to log them, but don't put in a number.

 

[Cave Diver]

Does anyone count pool dives towards their overall dive tally?

I seem to recall a thread in the past where there were some that counted their pool dives.

Your personal dive log is just that - personal. You can count whatever you choose as a dive. My diving group feels that amount of time in the water is more important than number of dives. As a result, we don't consider it a loggable dive unless the dive is at least an hour, or has some specific purpose.

 

[jar546]

My personal opinion is that is must be open water and have some sort of a minimum depth and time. I do not count pool time but do realize the importance and value of practicing skills in the pool.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Your personal dive log is just that - personal. You can count whatever you choose as a dive. My diving group feels that amount of time in the water is more important than number of dives. As a result, we don't consider it a loggable dive unless the dive is at least an hour, or has some specific purpose.

Wow ... if I used that standard I'd have less than 1,000 dives. I spend a lot of time underwater with newer divers ... and they rarely last an hour. And even some of my more experienced dive buddies run out of thermal units before 60 minutes ...

I don't put time or depth limits on my dives ... if I can spend 40 minutes in the eel grass beds, find some cool critters, take a few pictures, or show a newer diver something they've never seen before, it's a great dive ... and we may never have hit 20 feet ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Cave Diver]

Wow ... if I used that standard I'd have less than 1,000 dives. I spend a lot of time underwater with newer divers ... and they rarely last an hour. And even some of my more experienced dive buddies run out of thermal units before 60 minutes ...

I don't put time or depth limits on my dives ... if I can spend 40 minutes in the eel grass beds, find some cool critters, take a few pictures, or show a newer diver something they've never seen before, it's a great dive ... and we may never have hit 20 feet ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Most of my normal group is pretty experienced, with one exception. Even with that exception we can putz around on a warm water dive and usually hit an hour. We did a couple of dives on a shallow wreck last year and hit close to two hours per dive on single tanks. We just prefer doing a couple of long leisurely dives during the day when we're on vacation instead of rushing to try and get in 3-4 short ones. Our warm water diving is also exclusively shore diving, we don't like being on a boat schedule.

The coldest water we typically dive is in the springs when cave diving and we dive dry. Even then, our dives are in the 1-2 hour range, with the longest OC stretching to almost 4 hours.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Most of my normal group is pretty experienced, with one exception. Even with that exception we can putz around on a warm water dive and usually hit an hour. We did a couple of dives on a shallow wreck last year and hit close to two hours per dive on single tanks. We just prefer doing a couple of long leisurely dives during the day when we're on vacation instead of rushing to try and get in 3-4 short ones. Our warm water diving is also exclusively shore diving, we don't like being on a boat schedule.

The coldest water we typically dive is in the springs when cave diving and we dive dry. Even then, our dives are in the 1-2 hour range, with the longest OC stretching to almost 4 hours.

The Florida caves is warm water diving, to my concern ... I can stay in two hours easy in my thinnest undergarment. Then again, I'm built like a harbor seal.

Water temp here is 44 degrees F right now ... and with the rains bringing the snowmelt down out of the mountains, it's even colder above about 20 feet.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)