Any reason to have some dives logged on paper and signed/verified?

[elgoog]

Hi all -

I'm currently logging my dives in a spreadsheet and not really getting any signatures from buddies, DMs, instructors, etc for any dives. I carry a small Rite in the Rain notepad and a Fisher space pen to make notes immediately after a dive but that's only for things like what I saw, anything out of the ordinary with my equipment, etc and which I later copy over into my dive log spreadsheet along with the dive data from my Zoop.

I'm interested in participating in the local Reef Check program after I get more experience and their minimum requirements are as follows -
30 logged lifetime dives
15 logged dives in temperate water <68F
6 dives in the last year

Considering the above, is there any reason to have at least the minimum number of specific experience dives required logged on paper with signatures? I can easily pull the data Reef Check would need to verify I meet them from my spreadsheet.

Also, is it ever needed to carry similar paper logs for overseas travel, liveaboards or such? For example, if you have the appropriate cards to show you have the "training" for a dive to 100ft, do they also want to see proof you have done x number of dives in that range? This is for recreational dives in open water.
I have taken a printout of my spreadsheet with me to a recent trip to India. They didn't care about the logged dives but the DM on the boat wanted to sign and stamp my dive log and was visibly disappointed when I pulled out my beat up notepad

Thanks in advance,
elgoog

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

If you are able to get them logged and signed/stamped. Of course, don't kill yourself trying to get it done. I know personally that I ran into an issue when I went to begin my Divemaster course as I was rather haphazard at logging dives and my instructor almost didn't accept me into the course for lack of the minimum number of logged dives(even though I had 250+ at the time). So yeah....it can come in handy.

 

[Imbodie]

You could also check out Diviac.com which I believe is a ScubaBoard supporter. They are going through a few changes right now with their database but all in all I love the layout of their application. It is web based but also have apps for Android and I think Iphone.

Tim

 

[rivers]

Only if you want to. I haven't logged a dive in about 400 dives.

 

[Crowley]

I'd certainly recommend logging them up to a certain point - 100 is the minimum required prior to certification as an instructor, for example, so if you ever wanted to follow that path then having some evidence is handy - signatures and stamps are helpful in this regard.

Apart from a requirement for training, there are many dive trips (especially liveaboards) that will require you to show proof that you have a certain number of logged dives.

There are apps available for doing this - and you can click the link for the Scubaboard log book above! It doesn't really matter how you present your logged dives - download from a dive computer would be okay and most places would probably accept your spreadsheet on good faith because it's pretty easy for a dive pro to spot inexperienced divers who claim to have more dives than they really do, and in my experience, most divers are pretty honest about it.

But - some dive centres will want more than a spreadsheet and will ask to see something more official.... and - apart from anything else, a nice log book is full of pretty cool memories!

Cheers

C.

 

[Imbodie]

There are apps available for doing this - and you can click the link for the Scubaboard log book above!

I NEVER saw that.... and it is a link to Diviac with maybe a custom skin for ScubaBoard.

Tim

 

[doctormike]

I think that in 2015, the idea that not having a signed piece of paper will prevent you from doing anything in diving is an urban legend. Digital logs have become so common, that I can't believe that any dive operator would turn away that business.

I have every dive that I have ever done in MacDive, backed up offsite and synced with my phone, so I have it all with me whenever I need it. Gear, gas, profiles, weighting, buddies, extensive comments, maps, etc... whatever you want, it's there.

It's a good habit to get into, but there are a lot of threads about this here, and many people just don't log their dives or feel the need to. That's fine as well. I'm a data junkie, and I love being able to review them whenever I like!

Plus, you can do this:

[VIMEO]74250512[/VIMEO]

 

[Crowley]

all very true doctormike - I'm just one of those retro sort of guys who like to read stuff on paper with pages... and I like logbooks with signatures and stamps and stickers!

 

[doctormike]

all very true doctormike - I'm just one of those retro sort of guys who like to read stuff on paper with pages... and I like logbooks with signatures and stamps and stickers!

And that's the BEST reason to have a paper log book!

 

[diversteve]

I'm purely a rec diver for 3 decades. Mostly Pacific and Caribbean Diving. I stopped logging dives in 1981 after certification and switched to an online log in the mid-90's I'm currently logging on diverecord.com which has everything you'd find in a logbook except a buddy signature. You can also save/printout a summary and it also has an Excel export. I do that about once a year since my first online log website shut down fairly quickly after announcing they were.

The only time I've needed to produce a paper log - ever - was about 7 years ago in Curacao. That operator had a requirement that you do a checkout dive prior to their Dolphin Dive. Since we were scheduled at 8AM and staying elsewhere, we compromised by having me log a dive with another operator earlier in the week and having the DM sign it. IDK how much good it was since he stayed on the boat the whole time but they were happy since they knew him.