What dive types justify filling out a dive log?

[Finneli Felwitch]

I take a diving vacation every year with my family to Grand Cayman, we dive the same shore dive location at least 15 times each year. Each dive is the same in terms of depth (60 ft.)/time. I have around 60 dives logged into the dive site.

I have met other divers who only dive sink holes and they log those dives.

Is there a minimum depth requirement that is needed before you can fill the dive into your log? What about pool dives? Every week I spend close to an hour at 10 feet scrubbing the bottom of the University pool with the dive club, can I fill that into my dive log?

I also volunteer at an aquarium where I scrub their fake coral; the tank is 30 feet deep, salt water. I see all the fish that I would see in the ocean and there are machines that produce current, would this type of dive justify a dive log entree?

These questions may sound bad but I do not see much difference from diving the same site at the same depth repeatedly.

 

[Jon_R]

What are you logging your dives for? Might help answer what you choose to log.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Finneli Felwitch]

When applying for updated dive cards with updated dive count. If I counted the aquarium dives and pool dives, I would have 240 logged dives. Instead I have 122 logged dives.

 

[drrich2]

I'm not involved with SSI, so my comments are more general.

Aside from showing an experience level to qualify you to take a course with a '# logged dives requirement,' I think what you log is what you choose. Your listed dive count is probably high enough already to meet the minimum dive # requirement for most courses you might want to take, I think.

1.) Most people don't log pool dives, only open water.

2.) Yes, repetitive dives in open water to 60 feet many of us would log.

3.) I've seen other 'what do you log' threads. I think some agencies have requirements for what they recognize; like 20 feet deep, at least 20 minutes I seem to recall from somewhere?

Here's an old thread from 2010 where PADI Instructor Peter Guy posted from a PADI Instructor Manual:

During open water dives, have divers spend the majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.

4.) Your aquarium situation is a challenge; confined water (like a pool) or open water? To me, you're over 15 feet deep for awhile, and given the environment you are having to manage your buoyancy to avoid damaging exhibit structures or disturbing marine life, while engaged in an activity which causes some task loading.

I think that 'counts' as a dive.

Alternately, you could log your aquarium dives, but not count them in your lifetime dive total.

I use MacDive to log my dives (downloaded off my computer). It lets me change the dive #. So I can put in a zero or some such if I want to leave a dive in the log, but not put it on my lifetime count.

Richard.

 

[Finneli Felwitch]

That PADI thread cleared a good amount up, thank you for linking that.

 

[the_shadow]

The SSI training standards only provide a requirement for a training dive in open water (open water = natural body of water realistic of local diving conditions), with the minimum time being 15 minutes, the depth depending on the training (for OW, this is a minimum of 5m/15ft). But (and there is always a but ), for your own dives, why would or would you not log a dive. In my opinion, every time I'm in the water in open water, I learn something, may it be from my students, from dive cons. assisting me, or just from trying stuff myself. I've had great dives lasting over an hour which I logged, but also a terrible dives that lasted just 5-10 minutes and were not as deep as the 5m/15ft dictated by the standards. Still I logged them. Why? Because my log is a piece of record keeping with regard to my experience and things I've learned under water.

Personally, I do not log regular pool dives. However, in my city we have the deepest in-door pool location in the Netherlands, which is a little over 30ft deep; we use this "pool" as a training location too, having the stamp of approval given by SSI to perform the first two OW dives for the OW course there. These training dives, I do log.

In general I'd say: why wouldn't you log a dive, any dive for that matter?

 

[Peter69_56]

I usually don't log anything less than 10 min or less than 10 metres.

---------- Post added August 1st, 2013 at 08:45 PM ----------

The reality of diving is that its an honour system for logging dives. To me, the number of dives someone has done is not very relevant unless I know them. I am more interested in seeing how they dive. That shows more than any log book. I could have say one log book with the starting number of 2000 and who would know how many dives I have really done, except in how I actually perform as a diver. I think probably 95% of divers are honest and log what they believe are relevant dives, however I am also sure that there are a number of divers who have falsified their dive log to impress and be someone they aren't. The proof however is in the eating of the pudding, not in the viewing of the recipe.

I judge people by what they do, and not what they say.

 

[cb5150]

There's no log book police. If its significant to YOU, then log it. Who gives a crap what anyone else thinks? Maybe you broke through a skill barrier or made a significant equipment /discovery modification while in your backyard pool...I say write it down so you don't forget.

Remember, this stuff is supposed to be fun. I swear I'm gonna start diving with two different color fins just to see how many people cringe and tell me I'm gonna die underwater.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Nobody says you have to tally ALL your logged dives together in one grand total. I know "dive count" is sort of seen as the touchstone of one's experience, but is it really? It seems to me that a professional (or volunteer) aquarium diver might want to log the number of aquarium dives he's done or, perhaps more usefully, the total number of hours spent in aquarium tanks. If you go to apply for a position at another aquarium, you have a dive count or hours count for your aquarium dives. I can envision other situations where someone might maintain separate logs of different kinds of dives. For example, a Florida cave diver might want to log those dives separately from coral reef dives.

 

[tracydr]

If I do something significant in my pool, I agree, I'll log it. For instance, DM course dives or dives helping with an OW class.
All dives in open water are logged, unless they are aborted. So,e times, if they're aborted for something that caused me to learn something, those could be logged, too. Why would a 19 minute dive, where I learned something about surf entries or something else that was difficult for me not get logged?
The log book is for me to look back on later as a journal to see progress, to see gear modifications, weighting, and to read about what a chutzpah I was years ago. Plus, its fun to read about dives that bring back memories. If a dive in an aquarium was fun, log it for goodness sakes!