StSomewhere
Contributor
I stopped logging local quarry dives if I don't go below 2 ata, since those are more about practice than anything.
To Log or not to Log, that is the question...
- Thread starter SmokingMirror
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Your choice, but you may someday regret not logging. When I was getting started in diving, my mentor would watch me log and often commented that he wished he'd kept a log. I've been actively diving over 20 years and have all my dives logged.
The Horn
Contributor
"You don't mention your agency of certification, but PADI requires the instructor to sign your logbook on all training dives."
Really? Nothing I have has ever been signed, training dives my buddy signed
Really? Nothing I have has ever been signed, training dives my buddy signed
OP
SmokingMirror
Contributor
ozarkjim:
The agency is indeed PADI; it having been the only agency present where I learnt to dive...
...interesting point about the instructor requirements for signing logs. Whilst mine are signed, I had to badger a few of the instructors to do so, and have several times seen instructors who - rightly or wrongly (I'm not in a position to comment) - don't sign the qualifying dives in the logbook, explaining to said student that they only need to sign the qualifying document which is dispatched to PADI to obtain the card.
Corigan
Contributor
I log all my dives. I mostly do it for temp/viz trends for the local sites that I dive. I can look back on my dives from the year before and know roughly what to expect on the norm from conditions based on the previous experiences. I also like looking back on good memories so I enjoy logging in things that made the dive memoriable. It also sometimes helps to emphize lessons learned and to be able to look back on those lessons in the future.
Matt
Matt
SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Yeah, pretty much same as Corigan. I log every dive to record visibility, temperatures, water levels, flow, the occurance of algae blooms, being blasted by hundreds of jellyfish, whatever 
I even usually list as much of the life I see so I know what to expect, what was there that I hadn't seen before, ect. Alot of times I draw maps to dive sites on the back or draw a layout of a divesite or draw something I saw.
My instructor has signed off on my classes and my buddies have signed off my regular dives(with few exceptions, usually a SB'er who've I've just met and dived with for the first time that takes off before I can get it logged ).
After I first got certified, I logged dives, then started not to(I thought it was a hassle)... I was using a computer and while it retained basic info, I felt I had lost something from the dives. I actually enjoy logging every dive nowadays and I load it with info - relevant or not.
I even usually list as much of the life I see so I know what to expect, what was there that I hadn't seen before, ect. Alot of times I draw maps to dive sites on the back or draw a layout of a divesite or draw something I saw. My instructor has signed off on my classes and my buddies have signed off my regular dives(with few exceptions, usually a SB'er who've I've just met and dived with for the first time that takes off before I can get it logged
).After I first got certified, I logged dives, then started not to(I thought it was a hassle)... I was using a computer and while it retained basic info, I felt I had lost something from the dives. I actually enjoy logging every dive nowadays
and I load it with info - relevant or not.
cmalinowski
Contributor
I log the most minimal of stuff (Dive site, anything important or out of ordinary, exposure suit, weight, computer, dive buddy, viz & temp). I let my computer log the rest and then read it into the software on my PC. Once oceanic gets a better program, or scubase can import from an atom, I will be much happier.
sdstahl
Registered
I stopped loggin dives about 25 years ago. While I have never thought about it I do regret not noting what someone else said in a prior message about all the changes that have happened in diving since then.
Walter - You logged dives back then? I never saw anyone doing that back then.. wish I had thought of it!
I dove literally hundreds of shore dives off of Hollywood/ Dania Beach between 1982 and 1987. I have since forgotten most of the particulars and can only partially remember how great that reef system was back then.. I sure wish I had some sort of scrapbook from those dives.
As to the current log book it certainley comes in handy when you dive a site that you dove only once before three years ago. Open the log book and you will be able to find your way from that wreck to the next one without logging "The Great Sand Dive Part IV."
Sketches and compass headings are invaluable, even better than many of the dive briefings.
Eric
I dove literally hundreds of shore dives off of Hollywood/ Dania Beach between 1982 and 1987. I have since forgotten most of the particulars and can only partially remember how great that reef system was back then.. I sure wish I had some sort of scrapbook from those dives.
As to the current log book it certainley comes in handy when you dive a site that you dove only once before three years ago. Open the log book and you will be able to find your way from that wreck to the next one without logging "The Great Sand Dive Part IV."
Sketches and compass headings are invaluable, even better than many of the dive briefings.
Eric
NAIBdiver1
Contributor
I dive in a number of different places, water temperatures and conditions + I like to shoot videos.
If I haven't been somewhere for awhile, it's nice to look and see what I was wearing, drysuit, wetsuit, if dry what underware configuration. How much weight was I wearing. What gas mixture. Camera filters - all kinds of stuff in my logbook really helps.
Since I bought a Suunto Cobra a few years back all I do is download to my computer and make significant notes andprint it out.
I don't log aquarium dives (vol. diver), to many and that would be pointless.
I have been asked in New Jersey and one or two other places to see my log. I don't bother with signatures.
If I haven't been somewhere for awhile, it's nice to look and see what I was wearing, drysuit, wetsuit, if dry what underware configuration. How much weight was I wearing. What gas mixture. Camera filters - all kinds of stuff in my logbook really helps.
Since I bought a Suunto Cobra a few years back all I do is download to my computer and make significant notes andprint it out.
I don't log aquarium dives (vol. diver), to many and that would be pointless.
I have been asked in New Jersey and one or two other places to see my log. I don't bother with signatures.
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