Hit 1,000 hours underwater last month without even realizing it

I was just logging dives for my records and added up the total. Came to 1,042 hours since I started working commercial in 2019. Mostly pipeline inspection jobs around the Gulf. It snuck up on me, you know? I remember thinking 100 hours felt like a big deal back in training. Now it's just part of the routine. Has anyone else had a number like that pop up and surprise them?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_morgan1816d ago

Threw me off when I hit 500 hours on hull cleaning work. Felt like just yesterday I was fresh out of training sweating through my first real dive. But those numbers stack up fast when you're doing back to back jobs. For me the key was keeping a simple logbook in my truck. Not fancy, just a spiral notebook. I write down the date, location, bottom time after every shift. Makes it real when you flip back and see the pages adding up. You stop thinking in terms of individual dives and start seeing the whole picture.

the_oliver16d agoTop Commenter

Does that count include the time you spent stuck in decompression waiting for a chamber to open up? I feel like those hours should get double points or something.

marybutler16d ago

Funny enough I used to think decompression time was just wasted downtime. But watching a buddy have to sit through a three hour lockout after a bad leak changed my whole view. You earn those hours the hard way when the pressure's real. That time spent waiting is just part of the job, not some easy break period.