I’m looking for a definitive “authoritative” answer to a question we’re debating. What constitutes a “dive”? We were just in Mexico and I did a fair bit of cenote diving; on one day we were at Chac Mool. We set up at “Little Brother” and the plan was to do three dives: 1. to Chac Mool; 2. to the air dome; and 3. to Kukulkan.
If you have been diving there, you’ll know that you usually surface at each destination (except we did not surface at Kukulkan) before returning to your origin. Thus, my computer recorded five dives instead of three! At the end of the day, I noted the extra dives but my buddy feels like they should only be counted as three dives. Now I’m not a diver that is trying to rack up a dive count but at the same time I think there is a certain posterity to following what my dive computer (Shearwater Perdix) records. That, and it gets complicated having to modify the dive count on my computer and dive log.
So I counter, “Well what constitutes a dive?” Her response was the typical 15 feet and 20 minutes as specified by PADI. It turns out in this case that each ‘segment’ was in fact longer than 20 minutes and averaged 40 plus feet.
Next argument – did you get out of the water, have a surface interval, or change your tanks? No, because we are diving side mount and therefore do not need to change our tanks. With the environment of the site and conditions of the day, we didn’t get out of the water even after the first or second “complete” dives. We simply continued onto the next dive. If getting out of the water and swapping tanks is a requirement then the day was one long dive and not three, or five!
On the flip side, our last ocean dive was a very shallow reef dive that lasted almost an hour. If we’re following the previously mentioned PADI stipulation than this wouldn’t have counted as a dive either. Our depth averaged less than 15 feet. We also didn’t consume the specified 50 cubic feet of air – we were too shallow to have great consumption and our dive was cut short (even though it was still an hour) due to stormy conditions. We, in fact had to get out of the water in very treacherous conditions. Does this count as a dive? I know my buddy would be upset if I said no.
Regarding air consumption, I know many people who have the skill of sucking very little air. I’m sure many of their dives are less than 50 cu. feet.
I am at an impasse. With a variety of dive site parameters, different personal dive traits and behaviours, and the variety of dive gear configurations what constitutes a single dive? As you can see, some of these parameters laid out by PADI or other organizations can go both ways. What criteria people use to deem that a dive “does not count” they may not use to apply to a different situation where they believe it should count. Not to mention that my two different dive computers don’t start/count/end dives the same way!
What is the proper protocol?
If you have been diving there, you’ll know that you usually surface at each destination (except we did not surface at Kukulkan) before returning to your origin. Thus, my computer recorded five dives instead of three! At the end of the day, I noted the extra dives but my buddy feels like they should only be counted as three dives. Now I’m not a diver that is trying to rack up a dive count but at the same time I think there is a certain posterity to following what my dive computer (Shearwater Perdix) records. That, and it gets complicated having to modify the dive count on my computer and dive log.
So I counter, “Well what constitutes a dive?” Her response was the typical 15 feet and 20 minutes as specified by PADI. It turns out in this case that each ‘segment’ was in fact longer than 20 minutes and averaged 40 plus feet.
Next argument – did you get out of the water, have a surface interval, or change your tanks? No, because we are diving side mount and therefore do not need to change our tanks. With the environment of the site and conditions of the day, we didn’t get out of the water even after the first or second “complete” dives. We simply continued onto the next dive. If getting out of the water and swapping tanks is a requirement then the day was one long dive and not three, or five!
On the flip side, our last ocean dive was a very shallow reef dive that lasted almost an hour. If we’re following the previously mentioned PADI stipulation than this wouldn’t have counted as a dive either. Our depth averaged less than 15 feet. We also didn’t consume the specified 50 cubic feet of air – we were too shallow to have great consumption and our dive was cut short (even though it was still an hour) due to stormy conditions. We, in fact had to get out of the water in very treacherous conditions. Does this count as a dive? I know my buddy would be upset if I said no.
Regarding air consumption, I know many people who have the skill of sucking very little air. I’m sure many of their dives are less than 50 cu. feet.
I am at an impasse. With a variety of dive site parameters, different personal dive traits and behaviours, and the variety of dive gear configurations what constitutes a single dive? As you can see, some of these parameters laid out by PADI or other organizations can go both ways. What criteria people use to deem that a dive “does not count” they may not use to apply to a different situation where they believe it should count. Not to mention that my two different dive computers don’t start/count/end dives the same way!
What is the proper protocol?