When I sat my open water course back 20 odd years ago, it was drummed into me the need for keeping a dive log – I thought it was the dumbest thing I had heard. Why bother? I had been skin diving for years and never kept a log and now I was being told by some dive instructor that I needed to keep a log of my dives.
Nevertheless, I complied and filled out the logbook I was supplied on my course even though I thought it was pointless. After that, I maintained a logbook right up through diver courses until divemaster and assistant instructor level. I was considering becoming a dive instructor and needed 100 logged dives to qualify. As I had just over 250 dives before I began my divemaster internship and 750 dives after my assistant instructor qualification and second working season, I didn’t require a stamped logbook after that.
Ironically, as a dive instructor I spent countless hours helping people fill out and stamp their log books even though I was keeping a basic log of dives such as location and depth. For me, even more ironically, I had my own instructor stamp to complement the shop stamp. What I found was people loved this stuff, they love collecting stamps in their logbooks in much the same way people love getting stamps in their passport – it looks like I have come full circle.
Observations in an undemocratic world 