What counts as a dive?

[spectrum]

Now this is a different question than "what do I log" since some of us will log scuba time in the pool or otherwise but not count it as a dive.

I consider a dive any round trip in open water, same thing in a aquarium. Cleaning boats, picking golfballs who cares, your are executing the sport, what about these is not diving?

If you can get 2 dives from a cylinder, good for you.

As long as a dive is cut short for a reason I'd still count it. The dive I called after 7 minutes because visibility was hopeless may have been one of my wisest and at moments required all of my skills.

Short pointless in and out dives just to wrack up the dive count is silly.

I'll add that what you log is what you log. If someone is evaluating your experience they can use a criteria for qualifying dives.

Pete

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We do a minimum of 24 training dives a year with some in the 130' range. I have cleaned boats that were 40' deep and took several underwater periods over several days to finish. We have collected golf balls from the on water driving range in over 100' depths and we just closed up a 30' deep training pool. So why shouldn't these be counted?

Gary D.

Those wopuld certainly be exceptions to the rule. I was refering to the usual boat cleanings in four feet, golf course lakes of six feet depth and training dives as being taking students down for OW skills for a few minutes and then surfacing. Personally, I wouldn't count any working dives if that was my profession.

 

[Quaack]

LOL

What about visiting dive bars? Does that count?

I've been in bars that are dives,
but never a dive bar.
There is such a thing?

Dave

 

[darylm74]

I don't count my aquarium dives. Some of the tanks are pretty shallow but the primary salt-water tank is 28 feet deep. I have often been tempted to count those dives, however we have an understanding amoung the zoo divers that we don't count them. I think some of them secretly do and wondering if I should do the same for that particular tank.

 

[ghostdiver1957]

We all talk about the number of dives we have done. Thus, the question: What counts as a dive? Is it going into the water from a boat or on shore? Is there some minimum surface interval that makes it a distinct dive? Is there some required time in the water for it to be a distinct dive? Does using the same tank without having it refilled mean it is not a distinct dive?

I ask the foregoing because in my neighborhood there are a bunch of guys who earn their livelihoods by cleaning boat bottoms. Some do 15 boats a day,. Does that count as 15 dives? (Even if it takes only one tank of air?)

These are more questions I can't believe a certified diver has to ask. Are you sure you took an Open Water course?

Technically a dive is anytime you go to at least 15 feet for at least 15 minutes... however outside of Open Water training courses, I doubt you'll find any divers logging these dives.

As a person who owns a dive services company and provides services such as you describe, we do not log any of the typical dives we do because they do not meet the 15 foot requirement. Usually we are no deeper than 8 - 10 feet. We may be there for an hour or two depending on the size of the boat, but we still do not count them as dives. We keep different logs that show total time underwater... such as if we are in for 8 hours working all day... we log 8 hours of underwater time. There is no official written rule for how boat cleaners log dives... as this falls outside the scope of recreational diving.

The number of tanks is irrelevant as I have frequently used a single tank to do two seperate dives of 30 minutes each to 60 feet. That would be two dives albeit just one tank. I have also cleaned as many as 6 boats over a 2 hour period on a single tank with at least ten minutes in between each boat to take a break. Still not a single dive logged because they were all in less than 10 feet.

Minimum surface interval shows up on dive tables... simply you must be out of the water for at least 10 minutes before you can start a new dive.

Hope these answers help... and please, do not go back to that place that trained you.

 

[ScubaStan]

As soon as you descend below the surface, you start accumulating N2 into your system which by any agency's dive tables, you incur a surface interval whether it was 4 feet or 100 ft and you were breathing off of a compressed gas cylinder.

I use a computer just like a lot of experienced divers. I noticed that within a couple minutes of the dive, my "No Fly" icon appears and that to me means I have executed a dive.

Regarding pool dives: This last weekend, I participated in my underwater skills testing for my DM cert. It was a big class of OW students and 4 DM candidates. 2 of our 3 dives on Sunday were close to 40 minutes each @ 10', Why wouldn't anyone count that as a dive? Training, fish counts, feeding fish or cleaning/maintenance in an aquarium (public type, not you comon home type - that would be awkward), or scraping crap off the bottom of a boat.

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

I guess I am with ScubaStan on his anwer. I use a dive computer and I figure I have done a dive when it counts it as a dive. If I don't stay down that long and come up it either doesn't count it at all or keeps show it all as one dive.

Jeff

 

[DandyDon]

LOL

What about visiting dive bars? Does that count?

Padi says No - if your mask is on your forehead.

 

[surfbummer]

PADI defines an open water dive as:

1. Diver spends the majority of time at a depth of at least 15 feet, AND
2. breathes at least 50 cubic feet of compressed gas, OR
3. remains submerged for at least 20 minutes.

I know that there are pundits out there who way that "anytime your head breaks the surface with full scuba, you are diving;" I tend to stick with the above definition. Some training pools go beyond 15 feet; most I've seen do not.

 

[Spratman]

I don't count pool dives, and for me, I use a 25ft/20 mins to count as a dive. I do log all my dives, but mainly where, when, gas used, buddies and equipment changes, but then I'm still a new guy.