Log Book question: probably the 100th time on this board

[spectrum]

I get my fill of tracking, documenting, reporting, measuring, etc. at work every day. For me, diving is about getting away from all that stuff -- and a log book seems inconsistent with the simple joy of diving.

I know what you mean about wanting to get away from numbers and recording data. After I realized I had become obsessed with skin diving this past summer I started in a spiral book jotting down the esentials, location, time in the water, temp, number of golfballs found (who the hell is pitching them all in the water?) what suit, was my buddy (wife) with me and exceptional sightings, etc. etc.

At the end of the season I captured it all in an Excel spreadsheet and ran some stats. When I realized I couldn't hit 100 dives I shot for 90 and got 91. I had spent 90 hours in the water, over 2 work weeks of time! I had an impressive list of dive sites that I had a clue about and am looking forward to revisiting once certified and learned that I collected a total of 214 golf balls with a personal best of 42 in one diive. That log and the summary are precious souveniers of an awesome summer. I plan to continue as a certified diver. I did find that I had a sense of what mattered to me and what I wanted to track I don't think I'd like a preformatted fill in the blanks type of log.

Pete

 

[cmalinowski]

I'm new, so I still log. I don't log everything mind you, but I do log. I use the note sections to mark what I liked and disliked about the dive and/or the operator. I noted that in DomRepublic that the dive operator left us floating out there for 15 mins while he took the boat elsewhere... things you like to remember.

I have a data trans plus and I just got the Atom, so the computers help me do most of the logging. It looks like the atom and oceanlog software will probably be my detailed logbook.

 

[Michael Freeman]

Don't you know... These things are valuable. Someone actually stole mine! Of course they just happen to get my regs and computer at the same time because they were in the same bag. Next time I will have to keep them seperated so they only get my dive log

I prefer to let the computer log my dives, but like to add a few notes for reference. Like which wet suit I used. If I was cold or cumfortable at depth, etc. This allows me to look back and have a good idea what to expect if I do that dive a year later and can't remember if I need a 3mm or something thicker below 50 ft.

I kept a detailed log those first years and then started slacking off like some others have noted. I just replaced my stolen equipment and plan on keeping a detailed log as I re-enter the diving world again.

 

[SDAnderson]

I've pretty much always been an intermittent logger - like you, the hassle of writing everything down seemed contrary to the idea of diving as an escape. Nonetheless, I still log "significiant" dives for future reference. Because some charters and some instructors will want to see your log, it behooves you to keep at least a bare-bones log of every dive. I've pretty much abandoned the paper log and gone digital - my wrist computer tracks every dive automatically and all I have to do is download the information to my PC periodically, where I can also make additional notes. Beats dragging that ratty book around to every dive site...

 

[crpntr133]

I have been on two dives that they asked for your log book. I know you could put whatever you want in there and been certified for a month and have 100 dives.
After a certain point I think you can stop. Those that dive 100+ a year could stop any time.

 

[JimC]

I logged every dive, in intimate detail for about 100-150 dives. Noone asked to see my log book, ever. I was once asked to see a c-card - once.

Then I stoped logging every dive and started logging less and less. Now I don't log anything. I have never been asked to provide a log book.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

I logged every dive, in intimate detail for about 100-150 dives. Noone asked to see my log book, ever. I was once asked to see a c-card - once.

Then I stoped logging every dive and started logging less and less. Now I don't log anything. I have never been asked to provide a log book.

At 1st blush my intial thought is everybody is knocking each other down trying to find a reliable heating source!

 

[kazinvan]

I got the download cable with my computer and download all my dives. Is it acceptable to just print out the log and put that into a notebook? Seems much easier than writing it all down. I suppose you don't get all the info (like in/out PSI as I don't have air integrated computer, type of exposure suit, etc) but you do get most of the important details.

 

[BigboyDan]

I log every dive - 1357 since 1982.

 

[liberato]

I'm with the spiral bound notebook school of thought. One line for each dive with option for more if ever needed. It is probably good to have one classic log book for putting in training certification dives and such. Life is too short for logging unless maybe one is a gifted writer and the descriptions are actually interesting to reread later. I do seem to have an interest in how many dives I have done and total time, though.