Dive log?

[TMHeimer]

How useful is the "total bottom time to date" tally? Does anyone do that?

766 dives, 390 hours. So I average about 35 minutes per dive, as my shore dives are usually short and shallow and I fit in two a day on one tank. In winter my dives average one every 2 weeks of maybe 20 minutes (diving wet in 40F water or less is cold). So that brings down my average per dive as well. I like to figure it out as to how many weeks/days I've been underwater.
I just count total time submerged as my bottom time, though that's not the real way to do it. Not sure how I'd figure it out the other way as with my shore dives, who knows exactly when I started to "ascend". None of that matters anyway. Of course for the rare boat dive and NDL ("no stop" now) limits, I keep track of when I start my ascent.

 

[dmaziuk]

So, are you arguing that bottom time does not include ascent time and stops?

This was the question in https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/dive-log.575725/page-4#post-8576151:

How useful is the "total bottom time to date" tally? Does anyone do that?

I am not arguing whether you log is huge, or how low your SAC is: I already know it's so low it gets roid rash when you walk. I'm merely saying that my computer shows "total bottom time to date tally" as was asked. Does yours?

(And no, I don't find it practically useful. But it's there.)

 

[tursiops]

My log is an Excel spreadsheet that I put together some 30 years ago (pre-professional years) when I was on a project that required I report my previous dive history...how many dives below 60 ft, how many below 100 ft, how many at night, how many from boats vs shore, etc. At the time there were not so many dives that it was difficult to transcribe all my paper into Excel....and Excel was relatively new and i needed a project to motivate me to learn it! I decided also to put in check marks for what kind of dive it was....nav, photo, fish id, drysuit, pretty much anything that was like a specialty. Over the years it has evolved not very much, but has been really nice to have, and I keep a copy on Dropbox and my phone, for access anywhere.

Total Bottom Time (meaning traditional BT on the early data using tables and total time underwater for the dive-computer-generated data) is auto-tracked, as is number of dives to various depths, and number of dives for recreational vs training or professional or volunteer purposes. For example:

 

[WarrenZ]

242 dives 179:12 bt but who is counting?

 

[scubadada]

This was the question in https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/dive-log.575725/page-4#post-8576151:


I am not arguing whether you log is huge, or how low your SAC is: I already know it's so low it gets roid rash when you walk. I'm merely saying that my computer shows "total bottom time to date tally" as was asked. Does yours?

(And no, I don't find it practically useful. But it's there.)

I'm reasonably sure that your computer also lists total dive time rather than bottom time. You often post inaccurate information. What is your dive count and "bottom" time? Cressi must think you are not going to dive that much, on their computers, only going up to 999 dives.

 

[scubadada]

My log is an Excel spreadsheet that I put together some 30 years ago (pre-professional years) when I was on a project that required I report my previous dive history...how many dives below 60 ft, how many below 100 ft, how many at night, how many from boats vs shore, etc. At the time there were not so many dives that it was difficult to transcribe all my paper into Excel....and Excel was relatively new and i needed a project to motivate me to learn it! I decided also to put in check marks for what kind of dive it was....nav, photo, fish id, drysuit, pretty much anything that was like a specialty. Over the years it has evolved not very much, but has been really nice to have, and I keep a copy on Dropbox and my phone, for access anywhere.

Total Bottom Time (meaning traditional BT on the early data using tables and total time underwater for the dive-computer-generated data) is auto-tracked, as is number of dives to various depths, and number of dives for recreational vs training or professional or volunteer purposes. For example:
View attachment 509404

Funny, I've been underwater 70.4 days, 10.1 weeks

 

[Protondecay123]

I don't carry round a physical log anymore, and don't get asked for one. The main use for a physical dive log would be if you want to show practical real world experience in support of being allowed to do dives seen as 'beyond your certification level.'

Back in 2013 I saw it play out on a dive boat out of Key Largo. 2 Guys with OW cert., but not Advanced OW cert., were on the boat and wanted to do the deep dive. Captain was willing to take a look at their log books, but they didn't have them. No dive.

If you have the certifications for what you want to do, I don't think this is likely to be a problem.

Some electronic logs have a phone option; MacDive on my desktop computer and my iPhone, for example. So I can show a log if I need to.

Richard.

+1 on MacDive MacDive

 

[ennieee]

Plenty of templates floating around that you can print and bind yourself. If not, lots of dive shops sell logs. Have never been asked to show a physical log before, but I do carry one around just to collect stamps like in a passport I used to log online, but like someone already said, sometimes the servers are down or the sites become defunct, so I switched to using spreadsheets.