Log Book

[Kirin]

Personally, I have 12 log books and i would love to use them as firewood, if it werent for some dive charters requiring you to show them.

Almost all my dives are local fort lauderdale area spots. Since i dive them so frequently, its kind of pointless for me to keep a log. Also since i dive so frequently, keeping a log is often a waist of time for me.

but, a problem i run into by not keeping these logs is that some recreational organizations, like PADI and NAUI, have embedded this thinking among its divers that you "MUST" keep a log book and "CANT" dive alone.

So even though I have a rollerdex of C-cards and have logged hundreds of technical dives at depths greater than 200fsw, all which required mixed gases, deco with o2 mixes. While i dont consider myself an expert in the technical diving arena, i do take take exception to some 18yr old divemaster on a key largo charter who tells me that i must pay an extra $20 to dive with a dive master because he felt in his opinion, my log book didnt meet their requirements (because none of my 600+ dives have signatures). Yet, on a few occasions i found these divemasters hadnt even incurred 75 dives yet, let along 600+.

One day there will be standardization among the diving community. Then maybe this wont be an issue!

 

[CoyKoi]

But, there are more things to live then diving every single weekend

No there isn't.

 

[DivePartner1]

Are logs for everyone? Maybe not. My wife probably has thousands dives as a research diver to my several hundred in over 5 or so years as an amateur. I keep a log. She stopped years ago.

Are they useful? I dive different gear and weighting in many different conditions and types of water. I keep key sheets based on different dives as a guide. I'd be lost without this. And an index also helps (and doing it helps pass the monotony of too much time in planes).

My wife increasingly relies on my notes of her dives to gauge weighting for whatever gear we're using.

On my most recent dives on the Speigel Grove, I saw a disciplined team of cave divers taking logs as seriously as students. I heard from the boat that one of them had many dives over 400 fsw.

My sense is that anyone who thinks divers who keep logs are more inclined to panic than anyone else can't tell the difference between students and divers. I'll take the log-keeping cave diver over a seasonal passport divers any day. I've had to rescue some of the latter and none of the former.

 

[lamont]

Hate to break it to you, but I think what your suggesting is keeping a logbook. Only, instead of logging dives you'd be logging dive sites.

Logbooks, can come in many different forms.

that's exactly what i'm suggesting. i don't need to thumb through 100s of dives at cove 2 to find the dive i did at a particular site, i'll just keep notes together on the site. in fact, i really don't care about any of the dives i do at cove 2. all they do at this point is primarily add to my dive count which is kind of boring. if i figure out some weighting thing on a dive at cove 2, it goes in my weighting notes, if i think i've gotten a skill down to the point where its good i'll take it off my list of skills to practice.

 

[agilis]

Dive Partner I, I have to admit that I'm mostly a winter in the Caribbean summer here in NJ seasonal diver. I also confess that I'd never do a cave dive. The thought of swimming into a stone tunnel is very unappealing. Besides, there's very little aquatic life deep in those caves, and aquatic life is the main, if not the only, reason I dive. It was my interest in tropical marine life that came first. Snorkeling and scuba was nothing more than a means to enter that world. I have no interest in technical stuff for its own sake.

I don't think I'm confusing students and really serious, competent divers. I'd certainly maintain a detailed log if I were regularly doing particularly risky diving, like mixed gas very deep dives, cave penetration dives, etc. If a professional record is involved, commercial vessels, insurance considerations, or if it's something like a pilot logging flight time, of course logs are absolutely required. On the other hand, recording the details every time I jump in the water is something I'd rather not do. If people enjoy doing so, that's great for them.

Most people I encounter on dive boats in the tropics, where I admittedly do most of my diving now, are inexperienced. You can usually tell. And I've seen a lot of self-proclaimed advanced divers being carefully guided to the surface by overworked, stoical divemasters. I can't blame them for trying to assess people's competence, especially in a resort situation. Most divemasters are able to quickly see who is going to be a problem, and who is not. I seldom have any difficulty diving without presenting a log. If the operators are unwilling that's their prerogative, and I have no complaint. I also try to keep as much distance as possible between me and the other divers I encounter on the typical resort dive boat. I'm not interested in buddy diving unless I really know the individual extremely well. I have a very low regard for most professional certification groups, and their often idiotic or financially self-serving rules and procedures, but those are other topics.

 

[Jcsgt]

Sounds like you're God's gift to diving, Agilis. I'll be not many divers/organizations live up to your standards.

 

[agilis]

Thank you for that informed, insightful reply. It filled me with shame, and made me reconsider the things I've written. I am now in complete agreement with your social, political, recreational, and cosological belief systems, whatever they are.

 

[DivePartner1]

Aguillis, maybe we're ending up in the same place in some respects. For me, the issue isn't about what the dive gear --including a log -- or what a diver looks like; it's how the diver behaves.

When I have a dive opportunity on short notice, I'm often alone and diving with no buddy is rarely an option. When I judge my candidates, I start with gear but don't stop there. Whether divers have a log, the latest fashion in gadgets or rental gear, I pay more attention to how they use them. Then I follow with the friendly questions about their diving and experience with an undercurrent of structured interrogation.

Rules aren't perfect, but they help in the process, just as a good questionaire can link up well suited buddy teams in the hands of a good dive op (this happens occasionsally). While many here rant about agencies, we'd have no recreational opportunities on the scale that we enjoy without them.

I agree that bragging can be a sign of nervousness and is often the hallmark of a problem diver. But looks or gear alone don't go for much. One very good dive buddy I've had was morbidly obese but handled himself exceptionally well in and out of the water, in contrast to a few fit young athletes who I've watched struggle.

And for my part, I rarely take my log on a boat (don't want to lose it). I fill in it in on shore, usually over a beer after the dive. No one's ever asked me for a dive log, but I do refer to it more than I'd have expected, whether for weighting tips in cold fresh water with a steel vs. al tank, or what was special about a favored site.

 

[Christi]

I can't believe what an issue this is.

Some people keep logs, some dont..big deal...its a personal thing. No one should be judged based on whether thay log every single detail of every dive or can't remember the dive they did yesterday.

I keep a log book by default because I keep a daily report for operational purposes, which includes every detail from fuel consumption, to divers, to crew, to the dive profile and SI location and time.

I personally stopped logging once I got my instructor rating, and then only started keeping a log of dives I did outside of Cozumel.

Recently, while in the process of setting up a new database for the daily logs I keep for the operation, I realized just how many dives I had...now it's fun to me again because I am very close to a milestone. I'll probably quit logging again after I reach that...but who knows...and who cares really! It's a personal thing!

 

[H2Andy]

Some people keep logs, some dont..big deal...

burn the heretic!