What constitutes a dive?

[TMHeimer]

The answer is simple. If you need a certain number of dives to do a course with an agency just get the info. on what counts (as mentioned above). For your own log book any dive you want counts, though I agree with Jim and don't count pool dives (If DMing a class I log this elsewhere). But you can even count these in your log if you wish.

 

[toddthecat]

Note that falling in a puddle, baths (even with your mask and a pony tank and reg), and running or walking in really heavy rainstorms are not dives. No matter what the guy trying to sell you your DM course tells you to get enough logged dives in to start it and pay your $500 or whatever it is to him/her.

dive 1218...

 

[Bratface]

I follow the rule of thumb, 15 feet for 20 minutes. No pool dives logged but every other body of water, fresh, ocean, lake, count. Of course, you should be on scuba. If you are snorkeling, free diving, whatever and see something spectacular like a whale shark or a spotted eagle ray, sure, feel free to put it in your log book but don't count it as a dive.

 

[Steve_C]

Personally I take the 15/20 or 20/20 as applying to training dives as part of a course depending on the agency. Other than that it is your call. But you should log what it is.

MY working definition for personal dives is on scuba, total time should be at least 15 minutes under water. It is one dive until I leave the water. There should be a SI before the next dive. So if I do a drop to 45 ft to unhook the anchor and return to the boat with elapsed time just a few minutes I do not count that as a dive. If I spend 50 minutes at 10 ft looking at critters I would consider that a dive. We tried to reach the far side of a quarry last fall. We swam at 15-20 ft for 45 minutes. Sat on a rock with our heads out of water for 15 minutes admiring the foliage and then a 45 minutes swim back. To me that was one dive.

 

[spectrum]

I log them all for the most part.

For openers I call entering the water with a cylinder a dive. If you get out, change cylinders and head back in it's another dive.

If it were a sequence of very brief dives, like checking moorings or some other task I'd lump them together as 1.

If the dive was very short, perhaps aborted for an issue of if the diver were in someplace like a pool I would still log but I may not increment the dive count.

In the end it's your history were you can capture what you did, how it worked. If there is ever the need to have a particular dive count such as for a class the instructor can always discount dives that do not meet their requirements. Be thorough and honest and you can't go wrong.

Pete

 

[Texasguy]

What about this? Anything is a dive if follows by 10-15 mins of surf. interval?

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

What about this? Anything is a dive if follows by 10-15 mins of surf. interval?

I've done this as part of a traverse in cave diving. I logged it as one dive (save log book space), my buddy as two. Comes down to your log book, so do what you want.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

What about this? Anything is a dive if follows by 10-15 mins of surf. interval?

I would never count that. I've seen way too many people do that to increase their total number of dives so they could get to enough dives for their next certification. If I don't get out of the water, remain out for at least thirty minutes and change tanks I count it as one dive. If I abort a dive after a few minutes, or drop to free the anchor I may add those minutes to the next dive if it's within a few minutes, but I would not consider it a dive.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

"Dive" is so loosely defined, that number of dives a person has has much less meaning that their total time under water, which is a statistic I keep and look for when evaluating others. I also do no count a poll dive as a dive. For me a dive is in open water conditions and lasts at least 15 minutes, during which the diver is breathing compressed air at a depth of not less than 2 meters. (I used to think greater depth was necessary, but over time have changed that view as the purpose of a dive might be accomplished in shallow water ( as in search and recovery, or some similar task.) On a dedicated dive trip on a liveaboard dive boat, a person might do 5 or 6 dives in one day, some as long as 60 minutes, and some shorter depending upon depth and residual nitrogen ( all of which you will learn about in a certification class.)
DivemasterDennis

 

[toddthecat]

In all reality it is whatever you want it to be. It's your logbook. Fill it out in whatever manner you please. Realistically logbooks are for the diver to go back and reflect on what they have done. Someone mentioned logging short in-water intervals as a way to log enough dives for the next certification level. If someone wants to falsify a logbook they can just write in dives in their living room. As an instructor I have no way of telling if your logbook is all truth and I personally don't care. I'll know if those 50 dives are really just 5 when we get in the water and I see how you perform.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no scuba police with a forensics team to try and verify the details of all your dives via thorough investigations, interviews, etc. If you are BSing your logbook, you're only inconveniencing yourself.