How to Sync Dive Logs to Garmin Connect (And Why Divers Do It)

How to Sync Dive Logs to Garmin Connect (And Why Divers Do It)

If you dive regularly and wear a Garmin smartwatch, you've probably noticed the same frustration: your dive computer logs every dive with depth, duration, and effort, but your Garmin treats those hours underwater as dead time—no activity registered, no calorie calculation, just gaps in your weekly stats. The built-in integration most divers want doesn't exist yet, but there's a simple workaround: manually sync your dive data to Garmin Connect using a TCX file (the standard fitness format Garmin understands). The process takes 10–20 seconds per dive, adjusts for variables like water temperature and current, and bridges the gap between your dive computer and your fitness tracker. It's not automatic, but it's fast, and it means Garmin finally credits the calories, effort, and time you're spending underwater.

Why Divers Care About Garmin Integration

Your dive computer knows you were underwater for 48 minutes at 28 meters. Your Garmin watch knows you burned roughly 350 calories in that time. But they're not talking to each other.

For divers who care about fitness tracking—whether you're training, tracking overall activity, or just want an honest picture of your effort across all sports—this gap is frustrating. Diving is legitimately active: managing buoyancy, fighting current, hauling gear, swimming against resistance. It burns real calories (200–400 per dive, depending on depth, duration, and conditions). But most fitness trackers don't recognize it as activity unless you manually log it.

Syncing to Garmin solves this. It means:

• Unified activity tracking. All your sports—running, swimming, cycling, and diving—show up in one place.
• Accurate calorie credit. Garmin adjusts burn estimates based on effort variables (you can log difficulty, water temp, current).
• Accountability. If you're tracking weekly activity goals, diving suddenly counts.
• Dive history in your fitness app. Many divers like having a backup log separate from their dive computer.

How to Sync Dives to Garmin: Your Options

There are three approaches, depending on your setup and dive computer.

Option 1: Direct Dive Computer Sync (Rare, but Ideal)