Why dive in a quarry? Should you log them

[stuartv]

I just don't. I see it as training. Like training for a triathlon is not actually doing one. It's not complicated. To me.

I did my OW on Grand Cayman.

Training for a triathlon doesn't usually involve actually doing all the running, biking, and swimming, to the full distances, all back to back, with no breaks (just like a real triathlon) does it? I don't know. I've never even remotely considered training for a triathlon.

Unlike training for a triathlon (I think), training dives are just the same as real dives. You do all the same prep (plus maybe more). You dive. The only difference is potentially having more of a "mission" during a training dive than you would on a fun dive. That doesn't seem like a reason to say that it doesn't count as having done a dive.

Besides, to the surprise of some, scuba is not a competition. Practice for a competition IS different than actual competition. Scuba is not that, so the analogy really does not work at all.

How many times have you run 5 miles? Would you answer by only counting the number of times you've run 5 miles in an actual race? How many dives have you done? That's the same kind of question.

 

[diver0008]

Training for a triathlon doesn't usually involve actually doing all the running, biking, and swimming, to the full distances, all back to back, with no breaks (just like a real triathlon) does it? I don't know. I've never even remotely considered training for a triathlon.

Unlike training for a triathlon (I think), training dives are just the same as real dives. You do all the same prep (plus maybe more). You dive. The only difference is potentially having more of a "mission" during a training dive than you would on a fun dive. That doesn't seem like a reason to say that it doesn't count as having done a dive.

Besides, to the surprise of some, scuba is not a competition. Practice for a competition IS different than actual competition. Scuba is not that, so the analogy really does not work at all.

How many times have you run 5 miles? Would you answer by only counting the number of times you've run 5 miles in an actual race? How many dives have you done? That's the same kind of question.

There used to be a saying "agree to disagree".

Is that still a thing?

Perhaps a triathlon wasn't the best example; I did not spend much time coming up with it.

Try to see beyond the example.

I take no issue with people who consider training dives actual dives.

I do not.

Still a little perplexed why this difference of opinion is hard for some to accept.

 

[Joneill]

I did my OW on Grand Cayman.

OK - so you had it easy: really warm water, no currents, some of the best visibilty possible. Unfortunately, that means your are totally not yet ready to dive in a cold, low viz quarry with themoclines.

 

[diver0008]

OK - so you had it easy: really warm water, no currents, some of the best visibilty possible. Unfortunately, that means your are totally not yet ready to dive in a cold, low viz quarry with themoclines.

That was only where I did my OW. That was the question posed.

I have provided no details on the rest of my diving, so not sure how you have jumped to the conclusion that you have.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Previously posted by Trace and I agree
New
Logging dives only really serves 5 purposes in the industry:

1. For you to record anything that might help make future diving safer and more fun.
2. As prerequisites for various certification courses.
3. The date of your last dive so resorts can cover their butts and know what divers might be rusty.
4. To earn awards. Awards you earn help the industry prove diving is safe.
5. To create arguments and drive away participants

 

[KeithG]

If I had trained you in those conditions I'd tell you that you were not qualified to dive in conditions which are more challenging than that.

If you chose to go and do so then you are diving outside the scope of your training. And I'm absolved from responsibility.

So to clarify if I train someone in a quarry I'll tell them they have no place in the ocean until they have got some training. In my personal experience of diving in the UK the sea is a different beast to quarries and can catch out even competent and experienced divers.

This is coming across as very rigid thinking. Your example of the UK sea vs a quarry makes a good point, but I am not sure the "rule" works for some (many) other situations that are more challenging than your training. And I am assuming you mean formal training as part of a course taught by an instructor.

We night dive. Diving at night was never part of our formal training. We learned how to night dive without taking a course. We also boat dive. Learned how to do that without taking a training course. Both of these do have formal courses you can take with an instructor.

It is possible for people to learn and progress in some areas without requiring formal training.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I just tossed the logs of my first 1800 or so dives not too long ago. They were paper records, and I just don't see any reason to keep them. Logs of my next several hundred dives were kept using a software that is no longer supported, so I'll probably delete those off of my computer as well. The last 1500 or so dives I've logged using a simple Word for Windows table, and I'll probably hang onto them for a while.

People keep logs for any number of reasons ... some, like me, simply because I like to keep track of how many dives I've done, and how much time I've spent underwater. Call it self-gratification ... there's rarely been a time when I wanted to go back to look for any actual information in them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[FinnMom]

Agree to disagree is a good idea.
I certainly have no trouble with those who consider actual dives training dives :-D

I consider it a dive if we used scuba gear, were not in a pool (that would be a pool dive) and did not abort on or near the surface. I used to (past tense because my logbook is rather out of date) consider dives in 1 general location on the same day to be 1 dive, but that was more laziness than logic.

*about the logging part *
I do have Evernote pages from foreign trips or other particularly interesting days. On liveboard trips I try to write very brief notes btwn dives or at least w/in 24 hrs, then flesh these out into real sentences and text within a few days or at least a week or so before I can forget too much. Every now and then (between once and 4x/yr depending on how much lousy weather that year has) I will take the time to print those out and paste them into my real paper logbook. The notes can be useful, but they are definetly a lot of fun.

 

[stuartv]

There used to be a saying "agree to disagree".

Is that still a thing?

Perhaps a triathlon wasn't the best example; I did not spend much time coming up with it.

Try to see beyond the example.

I take no issue with people who consider training dives actual dives.

I do not.

Still a little perplexed why this difference of opinion is hard for some to accept.

I don't even disagree. How about, "agree to be different"?

I have no problem accepting your point of view. I'm just curious about it, thus my questions. I still have one question that I think I asked and has not been answered. Do you log it as a dive if you do a fun dive in a lake? But not if you do a fun dive in a quarry? If so, why? What do you perceive as the discriminating factor between the two?

This whole subject is kind of fascinating to me because it seems the different points of view are insights into how each person really thinks about diving in general. The diversity of thoughts is so vast!

 

[Lorenzoid]

For the past year or so, I have been keeping a completely separate "training" logbook from my main logbook, as I have been trying to get accustomed to a doubles-and-drysuit configuration in a lake and some of the FL springs, and my main logbook isn't really designed to record the kind of stuff I want to remember about those training dives. It's just a small spiral-bound notebook, and my log "entries" are as much stream-of-consciousness scribbling as data. I'm keeping track of hours spent in that configuration but not number of individual "dives." Last week I spent an hour in the lake ascending from 40 feet to 30, pausing, ascending to 20, pausing, ascending to 10, pausing, and surfacing, then back down to 40 and repeat.