Dive Logs

News-Press Waves Article - September 2006 - Cherri Wood

Photo - Cherri Wood

We actually stopped logging dives when we lived in Guam. We usually managed 5-6 dives every week. The log entries were always things like water temperature – 88 degrees, seas-calm, weather – sunny & hot. We did log some of our more exciting dives for the first year or so and then just got lazy. A couple of years ago, we spent a little time trying to reconstruct our diving history and began keeping logs again. The dive logs are useful for many reasons. A major benefit for us was a reference that said what the water temperature was at a certain time of year, which wetsuit we wore and how much weight we needed with that setup. Over time it has expanded to details on the dive as well as camera details, charter boat information and even where we plopped our tired bodies for the night. The details are usually handwritten in a notebook and only some details actually get added to the logs that are downloaded to the computer.

We still have some of the best months ahead for good diving but I thought it would be fun to look back over this past year and see what we’ve been doing. We’ve managed to log around 36 dives from the beginning of April to the end of August. Too bad we didn’t go on a dive trip this year because that always boosts the number a fair amount but I guess 36 dives isn’t too bad.

It was a long spring and the weather was not very cooperative so we were high and dry until the first week in April. We must have been pretty desperate because we left home at 7 am on a week day, drove to Key Largo, made two dives and arrived back in Cape Coral at 9:15 pm. Whew – my log doesn’t say so but we must have been dragging when we got home. My dive log says the water temperature was 75 degrees at 84 feet.

Only 2 weeks later, we were lucky enough to be invited out with Brian & Lynnan on their speedy “Surface Interval” boat. The water temperature in the Gulf was a little cooler – down to 72 degrees but according to my trusty dive log, we had nice visibility on the wreck of the Pegasus and a “fluffy” trip back in when the seas picked up. My handwritten notes are just a little sketchy with scribbles that say something about “sausage for breakfast wasn’t a great idea” and “what a relief to get those new contact lenses off and throw them overboard”. I guess I need to pay a little more attention to detail.

By the last week in April, the Caloosa Dive Club dive schedule became reality and the dive log is loaded with stories that make me want to go diving right now! There are memorable occasions too – Kitty’s first dive after her checkout dive – Bob & Janet celebrate dive number 200 – Gary rescues a distressed diver (not a Caloosa Dive Club member) – Lynne does her first Spiegel Grove dive. There are cryptic entries like “trip members included 4 Irish guys from Queens, NY”. I’m not sure why that was memorable and you wonder if any of them have a dive log that says “trip included 4 Americans from Cape Coral, Fl”. There is an entry on a Marathon dive that says “Lloyds Ledge – Kaka Poo”. I’m not sure what language that was but my guess is we didn’t like Lloyds Ledge. The list of people on the boat includes a bunch of people we know and then something that looks like “6 strangers”. So much for the detailed dive log.

The really nice thing about the dive log is the history of different dive sites. We are spending lots of time in the Keys. For us it is logical. We don’t own a boat. We love to dive in the Gulf but we depend on the generosity of our friends with boats. When they invite us, we never hesitate because Gulf diving is unique and very special. Our log has entries such as “Great visibility and blue water”, “saw big Hawksbill turtle”, “photographed HUGE Goliath Grouper on the Radio Tower”. The Gulf ledges and artificial reefs are second to none when it comes to experiencing the underwater world.

BUT … we don’t have a boat and our friends have other friends so we aren’t their exclusive dive buddies. So, we go to the Keys. The charters are very reasonable and the dive sites are numerous. We can look back over our dive log and say “Wow, we really enjoyed that dive site”. The next time we get on a charter boat in the Keys, we can say – “We would love to go to XXX”. (I can’t tell you the name because then you would be there and it would get crowded).

OK – I’m not that great at keeping secrets. We do have some places we have done over the year, according to our dive log, that are worth repeating. If you visit these places, please be gentle. Don’t touch the coral, work on your buoyancy, take your photos and memories but nothing else, and preserve our fragile environment.

We have “5 Star Days” on Snappers and Pickles Reef. It would be hard to have a negative report on French Reef – any section. We dived the Benwood several times over the last year. In past years, we wrote this off as a boring dive. I can’t imagine what we were thinking because it is a really versatile dive. There is lots to see and a variety of marine life that call the Benwood home. Eagle Ray on Molasses Reef has always put smiles on our faces. Anyone who has visited the awesome Spiegel Grove will understand that on any given day it is a different wreck than the day before or the day after. We once drifted the entire wreck on a single dive but the current was so strong we couldn’t do anything but hold on. We saw it when it first arrived on the bottom on its side and after when it had been up righted to its current position. On a cloudy, rainy day, we left Hawks Cay and headed to a site called Lost & Found. We found a huge Green Moray living in a sailboat mast. The photos that both Janet & I took were perfectly lit, perfectly focused but we may never show the photos. The eel has a cancerous growth that covers its face and extends into its mouth. Well, we don’t really know that it is cancer, but we imagine that it is what cancer must look like. My dive log, inexplicitly says “1 very large green moray in sailboat mast”. My photos say otherwise.

The thing is – keeping a dive log is now a part of the experience. It’s too bad we didn’t keep it up because it is a history of life as well as a journal of the life underwater. Memory doesn’t necessarily fade but it changes. Our dive log isn’t perfect and we are still trying to decipher the phrase “lots of divers but annoying – saw bull shark” but we also love to see “Captain George put us on the perfect dive site and there was so much to see we couldn’t write it down.”

My promise to myself is to do a better job. More detail, more technical information. But the truth is, when we get back in at dusk and there is dive gear to clean, cameras to rinse, photos to review and wine to drink – things get a little hazy. Honest, I will try.