How do so many folks have so many dives

[ajduplessis]

Many divers fudge/lie wrt to their logs as they believe this will give them added credentials. Instructor obviously have many dives. Others (old-timers - said with a lot of respect) have been diving for the last "120 years" and accumulated many dives this way. You will also find commercial divers that have thousands of dives and lastly, you get the fortunate few that can do many dives each and every weekend year round.

A good friend of ours (god bless his soul) have been doing on average 80X100m+ dives per year for the last 13 year! That is 1040 300ft plus dives totaling a total depth of over 104km!!!. This excludes all of the other diving he has done.

In short, those with a real passion for diving will do whatever they can to dive every day.

 

[R-balljunkie]

I see you're in the Marshall Islands . . .would you happen to be a member of the most active Scuba Club in the Pacific???

Kwajalein Scuba Club
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vWdyx-MSz7k

Yep. You'll notice the title of the video "Kwajalein Remembered". This place will leave a stain on your soul for better or worse. The better part is the family live, shortly followed by the access to diving.

Have you dived the Bikini Atoll as well?
I really wish I can afford it.

Me too! Even with the close proximity, its still rather expensive. I could do three weeks in Palawan or a couple of weeks at Truk for the price of Bikini. On the list, but the price would have to be right.

Time / numbers mean $hit.... Give me 5 minutes and I'll know if you know what you say you know....

Jim....

Agree 100%. I still find entertainment in this metric.

 

[a878bob]

The best part of this thread is reading HOW everyone has made so many dives. I'm jealous at times and wish I had more than I do. I work to support my dive habit and always thinking about getting back in the water next time.

As for me, I have been lucky to have been single and traveled for many years to go diving. In 21 years, I have been to CCV 8 times, Bonaire 7, Cozumel 9. Plus 7 Aggressor trips. I really haven't seen a lot of those places because it interferes with my diving. 25 dives in a week is the norm, it adds up fast. I also get to dive close to home from April to late Oct/Nov. I teach to share my enthusiasm for the sport and enjoy being around like minded.

I hoping to dive for another 20 years, god willing. I'm looking forward to it !

 

[boulderjohn]

I was taught that if the dive is not deeper than 20ft for a min of 20 min it does not count. Never count pool dives as dives. I did not even count my rescue scenarios as dives.

This is a common confusion because of the rules PADI (and other agencies) have for training dives. The instructor manual tells instructors that the dives they conduct must have certain depths and times to count for the purpose of certification. Those rules govern instructor decisions on those dives only. Once you are on your own, what you log is up to you. think about it. No agency has any authority to tell you what to do outside of the training it provides. It can only provide guidance to help you make decisions. When you encounter rules such as AOW required for certain deep dives in some parts of the world or snorkels required in other parts of the world or DMs required in the water in some places, those rules are made by either the operator you are using or the local authorities, not the agencies. Not only do the agencies not have any control over those things, because of a recent lawsuit in which one of them was held liable for a local decision over which they had no input, let alone control, agencies are now putting out carefully worded statements, including on liability waivers, declaring that they do not have that control.

 

[vincent54]

Been diving since '72 and certified '76. Have never had a year I did't get at least 40 dives in and the numbers add up. In the mid west, the diving is year around. In fact, the best diving is spring, winter and fall for visibility. You dive a gumby suit or drysuit, buy a poseidon and it's not that bad. I would bet we mid west divers get as much water time as anyone in the country. One dive a thousand times, since I pretty much stick with the same dive plan, that's the downside.

Fortunately, I discovered Brac and don't need my rubber suits anymore and the dive is pretty every time. Cheers

 

[kensuf]

I was certified in 1981. I typically do 200-300 dives a year when I am actively teaching. I was very active as an Instructor from 1995-2001 and from 2011 to now.

And in the years that I have not been actively teaching I still managed to get in anywhere from 15 dives to 100 dives.

Living 30 minutes from Ginnie Springs helps, having grown up in Miami helps, and having spent time each summer in the Cayman Islands/Bahamas/Mexico helps.

 

[geoff w]

Ever go to a scuba show? At the Long Beach scuba show near me every year, it seems at least a third of the exhibits are for dive travel, either a liveaboard or a resort. At DEMA, there are a lot more and again, at least a third of the exhibits seem to be travel related. Figure two weeks of dive travel vacation, 20 or more dives a week, and it's easy to get to 40 dives in a two week period for an travel diver. Someone who is avid and dives two local dives every other weekend at home, either shore or boat dives, racks up another 80 or so dives, so not too hard to get to roughly 120 dives a year. After 10 years, that's 1,200 dives

My most reliable dive buddy started diving 2-3 years ago, does a few dive trips a year, along with local shore dives most weekends when conditions are good, and he's at around 360-370 logged dives; he gets a buddy to sign his log book, or he gets a boat stamp, for every single dive. Conversely, my wife and I got certified 20 years ago, we'll typically do 12-20 warm water dives each year on vacation, and now that she has a dry suit I can usually drag her out for maybe 10 local dives a year, and she has about the same number of logged dives as my buddy.

Another buddy lives in Maryland and only dives on vacation. He usually goes to Hawaii four times a year for a week at a time and literally does nothing except eat, sleep and dive while he's over there, and does 4-5 dives every day. By dive, I mean exit the water and swap out tanks. If he can get some other dive trip in during the year, he easily gets over 100 dives each year. He's been diving somewhere around 15 years and has well over 1,000 dives, and he has absolutely nothing to do with the dive industry and never dives near where he lives

It all depends on your priorities and passion for diving

 

[ev780]

Dives count is like virtual coins in some online casino: nobody cares how much you have, but when you reach some number - it makes you feel good. The whole point of diving becomes earning these coins..

Also analogous to sexual conquests. Take the man's number and cut it in half. Take the woman's number and double it.

 

[PfcAJ]

I don't actually have infinity dives, its for the lulz

 

[diver 85]

19...man oh man, wish i could be 19 again.....I have to check in with the CFO (Chief Fun Officer aka Wife) and spend some time with the kiddo.

when your 19, just shake it and go, try not to get too much pee on ya...no worries in life.

Yep----he worked 6 days a week as a DM/instructor, made minimum of 3 dives a day ,AND, on his off day, he went diving, minimum 3 dives a day......