What do you mean I can't log my practice dives????

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UserNameBella

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I was speaking to a PADI instructor and I told him that I was doing some practice dives to get my skills down pat before I attempt the divemaster or instructor program.

These training dives are about an hour in length and instead of looking at the nice fishies I am literally just doing things like mask removal, BCD removal and replace, swimming OOA drills ect. I honestly wish I had more time to devote to this, but so far it has been a once a week kind of thing. I was surprised how much I had forgotten in the last five months since open water class, so even if I didn't have the plans to do my divemaster I would think these are some pretty worthwhile dives.

Here is the kicker-

From what he said, I cannot, or should not log these dives as real dives. The reason being they are only in ten feet of water or less.

I have enough dives to start my dive master, so I don't need to pad my dive log book. I would like to keep track of my progress. It is pretty essential that I get these skills down before I go do my dive master because I am a complete Spaz and it takes me a long time to learn how to do things that require my brain to tell my body what to do.

Are the instructors when I do my dive master going to take one look at my dive log with all these shallow learning dives on them and think I just added stuff to my book for the heck of it? Should only log dives that are to a real depth? I could always use a separate log for shallow learning dives just to keep track of my progress if it isn't really accepted that I log these dives.

I'm sure this has been asked to death so my apologies for asking again. I just don't want the dive shop I'm doing my dive master with to take one look at my log and shake their heads at me.
 
Have you signed up yet and received your Instructor Manual? Show them that you understand the Standards!

Under the General Standards and Procedures section you can find the definition of "logged dives" that can be used for course requirements:

Logged Dives
To credit as a logged dive for course requirements, the dive takes place in open water and specific information about the dive (i.e. date, time, location, depth, profile, etc.) is recorded. Training dives for PADI courses (in open water) qualify as logged dives.


Note that there is no mention of the specifics of depth or time, in this definition.

Understand that there is a minimum depth of "open water dives" conducted as part of a course - i.e Open Water Scuba Diver, Night Diver, AOW, etc., etc. For training dives, the minimum depth is 5 metres or 15 feet.

PADI only has "requirements" for depth, time, etc. for an open water dive only with respect to a dive done as part of a training course:

During open water dives, have divers spend the majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.
 
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Well, it’s your log, so you can log anything you want.

From the PADI Instructor Manual, defining Open Water Dives:
During open water dives, have divers spend the majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.
Although not as clear in the manual as I think I remember it once being, in general these are the criteria that have been applied for “training dives”, including those that count toward prerequisites for further training.

In your case, no worries, just highlight those in your log that meet all criteria to make it easy for whoever is reviewing your log.

---------- Post added June 24th, 2015 at 05:00 PM ----------

As is not unusual, Hawkwood beat me to the crux of the issue.
 
Kudos to you for preparing for your course! If I were your instructor I would applaud your diligence and preparation. I do like the highlighting idea above. When you log your personal training dives include what you did, how you did, and thoughts on improvement in it. It will be a valuable resource for you. Don't forget things like equipment configuration, weight, etc.
 
LOL!

I'd never go to that instructor again. End o' story.
 
bella-if things are as you say they are then really who cares?
Log your dives. its YOUR log book and given you are up to the correct number of dives already, logging them or not doesn't affect the DM course requirements one iota.( I actually pulled my books out to check)
BUT--Im wondering if theres a misunderstanding between you and the Instructor.
maybe he thinks you are wanting to log those dives as part of the actual DM training log. -Ie you have to demo a list of skills to the instructor.
Incidently one that never even occurred to me as being a "skill" is correct gear setup and stripdown.
 
I have never heard of that or had anyone ever look at my log book. The only log book I keep now is my dive computers downloads. Have fun and remember your doing the instructor the favor by doing business with him. If you don't like what he does find an instructor that isn't trying to scam you.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Have you signed up yet and received your Instructor Manual? Show them that you understand the Standards!

Under the General Standards and Procedures section you can find the definition of "logged dives" that can be used for course requirements:

Logged Dives
To credit as a logged dive for course requirements, the dive takes place in open water and specific information about the dive (i.e. date, time, location, depth, profile, etc.) is recorded. Training dives for PADI courses (in open water) qualify as logged dives.


Note that there is no mention of the specifics of depth or time, in this definition.

Understand that there is a minimum depth of "open water dives" conducted as part of a course - i.e Open Water Scuba Diver, Night Diver, AOW, etc., etc. For training dives, the minimum depth is 5 metres or 15 feet.

PADI only has "requirements" for depth, time, etc. for an open water dive only with respect to a dive done as part of a training course:

During open water dives, have divers spend the majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 cubic feet or 50 litres of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.

I guess I'd do it in liters. That's a lot of cubic feet
 
I have never heard of that or had anyone ever look at my log book. The only log book I keep now is my dive computers downloads. Have fun and remember your doing the instructor the favor by doing business with him. If you don't like what he does find an instructor that isn't trying to scam you.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
Are you a DM or an instructor? Its DEFINITELY a requirement to provide PROOF you have completed 40 at start of course and 60 dives on completion.
I almost got caught out on this one.Ive done easily 80 dives in the past 2 years with the specific DS Im doing my DM training with -even so I still need to bring my logbooks as proof.
 
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Are you a DM or an instructor? Its DEFINITELY a requirement to provide PROOF you have completed 60 and 80 dives.
I almost got caught out on this one.Ive done easily 80 dives in the past 2 years with the DS Im doing my DM training with -even so I still need to bring my logbooks.

No I'm neither. Maybe they audit them more. I had 1 dive shop that didn't know what TDI was so I showed him my computer log and that was enough to let me dive

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
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