Should I log swimming pool dives?

[Jim Lapenta]

I kept a separate log of pool dives for a couple years. Anytime I got new gear, changed exposure suits, etc. and took them in the pool I made notes of weighting, trim, etc.
As DM I kept a log with notes of skills I saw taught in different ways, how different instructors handled student issues, and some of the stuff I saw new divers do. Had to write it down as some of it was the "did I really just see that? Where did that come from? WTF?" variety of things.
Then as an instructor I would note things I tried that worked and some that didn't.
Always with the knowledge that these were not actual dives in the sense of counting towards training.

 

[TMHeimer]

Damn. I have been logging my river dives that only do 15 ft max and sometimes there was barely enough depth to keep my tank submerged. Maybe I should delete those dives???

Nah. Log whatever you would like.

Crap, half of my last 200 dives would be gone.

 

[Bob DBF]

It's your log and your choice, I don't log pool dives but then again I haven't logged most of the dives I've ever made.


Bob

 

[Zef]

NEMO!

You would have to stick your dive computer below the floor boards at the bottom of Nemo to get it to log 33 meters...unless your computer's depth sensor is out of calibration there is no chance to log a 34.5 meter dive there.

You seem enamored with the idea of diving at Nemo...in reality it is one of those things you do once, because you can, and then say "meh". At 25 Euros a session there (they currently don't offer membership, frequent dive pricing, etc), the allure quickly fades. The dive sessions often feel quite rushed and when there are a lot of divers in the session it can often feel quite crowded.

Nemo is a good (safer) place to experience the onset of narcosis, and watch your ascent rate on your computer as you move up in the water column. Of course you can work on buoyancy there...but you will be ridiculously over-weighted by there steel tanks and lack of neoprene suite....you don't need a suit because the water is a balmy 30+ degrees celcius and they don't permit them anyway....besides you would probably suffer heat exhaustion before hitting the bottom if you wore anything more than a skin.

The 1-hour sessions are really only about 40-min....a bunch of time is eaten up by the group briefing you get by the staff in charge of the pool, and then the first 10-min in the water you only have mask and fins...you can splash around on the surface or do some apnea work down to 10 meters (mind you, if you wear your computer while doing breath held bounces it will affect the amount of no deco time you have when you go on SCUBA down to the bottom). Once the 10 minutes are up you chew a few more minutes into the session getting out of the pool to grab and setup a regulator, bc, and tank....then back into the water with your dive partner to conduct a buddy check.

Finally you get to descend. You reach the bottom. The biggest amazement is when you get to the bottom and you see a bunch of folks just sitting or lying there staring at their computers watching their no deco time tick down and bottom time accumulate....all the while wondering what the heck they are doing and perhaps what it is you should be doing. two by two the divers on the bottom start to disappear....and you wonder why they are leaving until it dawns on you to look at your own no deco time and you realize you are pushing past conservativeness by being at depth very close to your no deco limit....so you start your ascent. Perhaps you go up to about 10 meters where they have an alcove where you can stick your head out of the water and talk to your partner in the stale air to share how "cool" you think it all is. Then you stick your regulator back in your mouth pop back under the water and continue swimming upwards. You then find the windows between the restaurant and pool and eagerly tap on the glass and wave to the folks in the restaurant enjoying a beer or a meal...you wonder why they and the restaurant staff seem indifferent to you until you realize that you are trying to attract them to look at your nearly naked body while you float about blowing bubbles....it only looks cool in your mind. About this time the lights in the pool are flickered on and off a few times signaling that you should move up in the water column and conduct a 5 meter safety stop....you then surface, turn your gear back in to the bins along the wall, and high five your buddy about how cool that was, as you head to the locker room to shower and change.

Eventually the thought of doing it again pops into your head when your fiscal sensibility hits you over the head and you figure out that you paid a chunk of cash to dive in a small but very deep pool...and you realize that while it was neat to do the first time, it would be ridiculously expensive to do with any sense of frequency. You drive away with a sense that you are glad you did it once but there is no longer any allure to really bring you back.....except that it is freaking cold, gray, and rainy here in Belgium for like 90+% of the year...so unless you have a drysuit or can tolerate cold water in a wetsuit (24 August it was 11 degrees at 18-20 meters in the local quarry)...you may be enticed to dive at Nemo every now and again.


-Zef

 

[Javik]

Wow, page 3 before I manage to get a followup word in.

Since my number of dives is now essentially 4, the minimum for PADI OWD, at this point there are things were done at least once during the training to meet certification requirements, but could not be practiced extensively due to limited time, poor weather conditions, and other students who also need time to demonstrate skills.

I would like to practice some more to learn and become more confident, and at this very early stage of the game, it makes little difference to me if I am doing this at 10 ft or 25 ft.

If learning to regulate buoyancy is much harder at shallow depths in a pool.... then that sounds like best place to do it, because when you go deeper in open water, you will be so much better at it. Actually it looks like everything is harder, since the air volume / density changes are so much greater at shallow depths.

So just starting out, I see pool practice as absolutely as valid as anything else done in open water. When pool skill practice reaches the point of being familiar and boring, then it's time to stop logging it.


Besides, if I find someone who is more experienced to buddy with for actual open water diving, I don't want to waste their time with them just hanging around nearby blowing bubbles, while I am practicing stuff like gear removal/replacement underwater that is boring to them and which they mastered long ago.

 

[Zef]

The local club I am a part of has exclusive use of a 4 meter deep pool 1 night each week. The instructors in the club use it to teach certification classes, there is always a few people working on apnea, and there are others who are testing new gear, or just becoming more familiar with there equipment or working on becoming more comfortable in the water and honing different skills.

When it comes to logging or not logging a dive...it is entirely up to the individual diver. There is no rule or law that demands one keep a log. For some divers a log book is a repository of memories. For others it is a tool to collect data such as how much weight they used with a specific kit configuration at a certain temperature of water. Still others have their own personal reasons for how they employ and keep a log.

Should you log pool dives? That is a question you need to answer for yourself.

Lots of dives and time logged underwater should equate to a better/more experienced diver but in reality it is the quality of the experience underwater that matters most. Take the person diving most of their adult life but all their dives were guided and they never once had to bother with navigating aside from following the guide in front of them....this person can have tons of logged time beneath the surface but would most likely have a very difficult time leading a dive that required anything beyond basic visual navigation.

My point is two fold: 1) that there is more to being experienced than blowing bubbles underwater and logging it in a book or an app.
2) Diving is personal...as long as you are not endangering others or breaking any municipal laws then you are pretty much free to do whatever you desire.

Remember: Breath and have fun!

-Zef

 

[Lorenzoid]

You would have to stick your dive computer below the floor boards at the bottom of Nemo to get it to log 33 meters...unless your computer's depth sensor is out of calibration there is no chance to log a 34.5 meter dive there. . . .

Wikipedia says the maximum depth of Nemo "33" is actually 34.5 m, not 33. My wife did a "Try Dive" there when she lived in Brussels, and that's what sparked her interest in becoming certified. We would like to go back someday and do a real dive there.

I hear that a deeper pool has been constructed, or is being constructed, in Dubai.

 

[Mustard Dave]

Your log book is yours, to do with what you wish. For some, logging pool dives is a good idea. If you aren't fortunate enough to be able to dive regularly, it is a good way of demonstrating to a dive operation that you have done something to keep your skills sharp.

Pool dives will not count towards qualifications where a requisite number of dives are needed (e.g. Dive Master, MSD) so you will need to make sure it is easy to distinguish between the two. Either keep a separate log in the back of the book, or put a bold title on them and exclude them from the running total.

 

[Zef]

Wikipedia says the maximum depth of Nemo "33" is actually 34.5 m, not 33.

What wikipedia is not telling you is that there are floorboards on the bottom that limit the actual depth one can dive to. If you put your computer on the floorboards it will be at around 32.5 meters. On one side of the pit there is a ladder...one can stick their computer down between the wall and the floor boards to register 33+ meters if your arm is long enough and/or you can get flat enough on the bottom.

-Zef

 

[drmwc]

I actually got the 34.5 from wiki rather than my logs, because I'm lazy. I'll check when I get back from work what my computer gave. I thought it was deeper than 33, but I may have mis-remembered.

98% of my diving is in the sea, and so my computer is calibrated to salt water. I never bother re-adjusting it for quarry dives. So the reading will be out - I think it assumes salt water is around 3% more dense than fresh water. However, I think this would tend to underestimate the depth rather than overestimate .

I enjoyed Nemo. It was mainly a drinking trip, with a bit of diving thrown in. We went as a big group, which makes it relatively cheap for 2 dives and a meal. I went in December, and I don't do much UK diving at that time of year - the sea tends to become a bit lumpy for me. However, I wouldn't do Nemo again. The diving wasn't sufficiently interesting to tempt me back.

There is now a deeper pool - a 40m pool in Italy. Discover Y-40 - Y-40 The Deep Joy I don't intend to visit it, although if I'm in Padua for other reasons I may have a dip.