Logging Dives

[Nikole]

Hi, you don't have to have a certain number of dives logged before you start advanced open water. For dive logs, we'll I'm a "millenial" but I still prefer paper, beacyse I don't have a desktop computer. I don't use computers anymore I use tablets.. Etc... But if you want to log your dives on a desktop computer there are dive computers that you can upload your dive logs from onto your computer.


QUOTE="Louis Lockwood, post: 7813635, member: 480975"]It hasn't even been two weeks since passing my OWD course, so I haven't fully been through what material has made it through the letterbox (and am sure there's more to come).

Being a member of Generation-Y, I prefer everything that is paperless/contactless and as such would love to keep my dives logged online from day one (which ScubaEarth appears to offer).

My question is when more advanced courses have a minimum requirement of dives, where is the credibility to logging online dives that a buddy/instructor cannot endorse? Am I better to solely keep a paper logbook of all my dives, or alongside an electronic one?

Thanks for any insight - sods law is I will get back from work and the postman has delivered my paper logbook with all of this explained.[/QUOTE]

 

[Searcaigh]

Paper logs don't need batteries or electricity to access, I live in a third world country and dive frequently in other third world countries.

I do download my dive computer to my Mac when the opportunity arises and it's nice to see the graphs in pretty colours etc., but I'll not be letting anyone stamp the screen of my Mac with their rubber stamps and sign it too

 

[TMHeimer]

Lots of threads on this. I've never seen anything describing what a "logged dive" is or that it has to be signed by a buddy. I have heard that something like 15' for 20 minutes may be an "official" dive. I always used paper log and never been asked by ANYONE to see it, including Rescue Course (at the time requiring 20 logged dives) and DM course (40?). In today's electronic world I would imagine it is very unlikely someone would expect to see signed buddy signatures. There to my knowledge is nothing that requires you even dive with a buddy for the dive to "count". I guess it's prudent to check with the shop/op you may take future "dive required" courses from just to be sure, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[dmaziuk]

In today's electronic world I would imagine it is very unlikely someone would expect to see signed buddy signatures.

OTOH if your log is in a "dumb" dive computer (i.e. you can't edit the data on the device), it's probably more trustworthy than some buddy's signature on a piece of paper.

 

[Chris H]

I haven't been on many trips outside of dives with the people I typically dive with. However, I don't recall ever being asked to produce a dive log. That said, I'm glad I kept a dive log. I have recently found it entertaining to look back at dives that I did 24 years ago, on a single 80, that had a 18minute run time, and compare them to dives at the same site on CCR with an 85 minute run time. It is also helpful for planning dives at site you have already been to. I used a paper log for a few years and then went to an electronic one. The detail I get from my computer regarding time, temp, profile, gases, and whatever else is also nice to look back at.

 

[Bob DBF]

I've never seen anything describing what a "logged dive" is or that it has to be signed by a buddy. I have heard that something like 15' for 20 minutes may be an "official" dive.

What an instructor wants for a logged dive is pretty much up to him, or her. Like you, no one has asked me to show a log, it may be because of my personal integrity, or just because I started diving well before they were born.

I've started logging dives three times, so far, and have this last time when I got a dive computer, with electronic and paper log, I may avoid a catastrophic loss for a fourth time.


Bob

 

[urbaneve71]

I started diving with SSI back in 2002 and I logged every dive on paper. Now they have digitized everything and I had to go back and log my dive elctronically. I have an app on my phone that shows my dive card (even though I still carry my little plastic one with at every dive)

But for newer divers, I think it is good practice to keep paper logs. I also keep a back up flash drive for all my dives just incase my computer crashes or some other disaster happens.