Log books mandatory?

[Paladin]

You started diving in '65 and didn't need to fill your tank until '76 ?
Now THAT's a SAC rate!

Not quite! The man who taught me to dive had his own compressor and filled my tank, so getting certified wasn't high on my list of priorities. When he died in 1976, I had to get certified in order to get my tank filled at dive shops. It's all in my profile.

 

[Herk_Man]

Not quite! The man who taught me to dive had his own compressor and filled my tank, so getting certified wasn't high on my list of priorities. When he died in 1976, I had to get certified in order to get my tank filled at dive shops. It's all in my profile.

Ahh, another brother in the "dove all over the world without getting certified club."

 

[sarahdee]

We do a check out dive if the diver hasn't dived recently (or has no evidence to say they dived recently).

So with an LDS like us you can dive without a log book (if you have a cert card) as long as you are happy that your first dive will be fairly shallow (max 18m), on an easy site, and your guide will keep a extra careful eye on you. E.g. expect the briefing to be more thorough than perhaps you need (signal reviews etc) and that we'll watch you set up equipment and check your air more regularly than you are used to.

Its for your safety and our peace of mind but after a successful 'comfy' dive the reef is yours

 

[waterpirate]

Dive boat capt., dive masters, and cops. They are all really good people watchers. What you think they are saying in passing is really an interogation. Like others my open water card from naui dated 1981 carries a lot of weight. Next gear. It is well used and well maintained. Comfort on the dock, and on the boat. I find myself talking to the crew while on the ride out rather than other passengers. I have dove as the same day same ocean diver all over the east coast and never been asked to produce a log book, even if it is on the sign at the check in window. It is really about you.
Eric

 

[Mayor]

I still keep a paper log but mostly for gear changes, weight changes, and you need to work on this kind of thing. It's also good for buddy information. I have only been asked to show it twice but I like having it to show my skills are coming along. Mostly for me.

One thing is for sure you can't lie about your skills when you get in the water. The water tells everything!!!

 

[Gilldiver]

I had a paper log that was really just a running list of dives from back when we used US Navy Tables, but that note book was lost in the drive back to the East Coast from Texas in the days following 9/11.

C-cards and log books just mean that at one time you got your ticket punched, they don't mean that you have ever used that ticket.

Having been on dive boats for over 30 years now, you get good at reading a diver on how they get onto the boat, put their gear away, and rig up. If I see a diver who gets on with little if any fuss, has their gear tight and put away quickly, and sets it all up quickly and correctly, it's a good indication that they know what they are doing.

A bit of wear and tear on the gear can go a long way also, or it can just mean they got it all off Ebay. Its how the whole picture gets put together that matters.

Because of the above, I don't have all that much of a problem with a check out dive, as long as it is short and I am then left alone from all the nanny-ing afterward.

Last, I do recall being in the Bahamas in 95 and having a DM hand me a weight belt with about 15 pounds on it. At the time I was diving in only shorts and a t-Shirt, I asked the DM what I was supposed to do with 15 pounds, anchor the boat? I then asked for a 4# weight to counter the aluminum 80's buoyancy at the end of the dive. The DM replied, "Oh, you'r a real diver," handed me the 4#'s and left me alone for the next few days. Funny thing is, by the 3rd day 3 of the other divers had also shed their weights and were diving like I was after a few 5 to 10 minute talks with them about proper weighting.

 

[theduckguru]

deleted

 

[Mike Boswell]

I must admit I tend to resent it a little whenever somebody questions me, so I have a little trick I play on myself: When somebody asks for my credentials, I tell myself that they are trying to protect ME. That way, I feel grateful instead of defensive.

I'm glad that dive ops ask for credentials, and I wish they were more demanding, not less. Who wants to get on a boat with a bunch of unqualified nitwits?

 

[GlassBender]

I have heard, though not from any lawyers, that no waiver of any kind will protect a dive operator (airline, etc.) from a lawsuit based on their negligence.

Any truth in that? Any underwater lawyers out there with fact to backup/refute my fiction?

 

[fisheater]

A properly drafted release, at least in California, will protect a dive op from a negligence claim. The lawsuit may still be filed, but it will be tossed on a motion for summary judgment.

However, the release won't cover a suit for gross negligence or the amorphous "risks beyond those contemplated by the parties," which includes (at least - for now- in one trial court) being left behind by the dive op at an offshore dive site.