Dive Log

Eddie Yung, 2026 February

It still blows my mind that, over the last 16+ years, I’ve managed to pile up such a vast amount of dive logs in the computer. I’m talking about every single dive I’ve ever done in my life (all the way back to my first AOW training dive as a diver) whether it was a fun dive, a technical training session, or a pool class. Every wreck, every cave, every pre-dive plan, and every post-dive debriefing is recorded in there.

The obsession with logging development work actually stems from my engineering background. Having spent more than a decade as a contract software developer, I learned pretty quickly that time is the ultimate cost. If I can spend an extra 15 minutes recording a specific set of procedures, it pays off massively down the road. I’ve seen it happen time and again on similar projects six months later: it’s the difference between five minutes of work following my own "manual" versus three hours of frustrating re-exploration. I just carried that same logic underwater.

Somewhere along the way, I just built this habit: if I’m doing anything related to diving, I start by writing. And once I’m out of the water, there’s always a post-dive write-up. It’s just how I process things now.

My main MS Word file passed 2,000 pages a while ago. It actually got so big that it took too much time to load, so I had to start "branching out" into different files. Now, I’ve got a specific one for CCR training, one for recreational teaching, and another massive one for technical deep, wreck and cave training. I also have separate files just for developing diving theories and another one for coding my own deco-planner software.

I’ve since for some time lost track of my total dive count because everything is scattered into these different categories now. But it doesn’t really matter. I’ve realized that having this wealth of content is way more valuable than just a big number in a logbook. The "surprises" I find in these notes still amaze me.

Why the Details

• The 3-Year Gap: I had an Open Water student who had to stop halfway through her course because of pregnancy. She came back to me to finish the course when her kid was then 3 years old. Because of my log from three years prior, I had a super detailed visualization of exactly what we did and what we needed to fix. It was like no time had passed at all.

• Empathy in Teaching: My logs from back when I was the student are absolute gold. When I was training to become a CCR instructor, reading my old struggles reminded me exactly how it felt to be frustrated or confused. It makes my teaching so much more "empathetic" 😉 because I can actually remember the struggle. And the documented learning curve was very relatable too!

• Decoding Psychology: In technical diving, it’s rarely the physical skills that trip people up — it’s the thinking. It’s the logic. When a student comes back for a second round to finish a course, I like to "invent" new training scenarios based on their previous attempt. I want to make sure their success comes from a real shift in mindset, rather than a memorized reattempt.

I’ve always known these logs were valuable, but lately, I’ve found an even better use for all these loosely arranged, scattered thoughts. And that is, when AI comes into the picture...