Dive-Dove?

Grammar question, folks, especially to the writers/journalists out there.

I have always used the word "dove" to conjugate the word dive in past and present perfect ("He dove head-first into the ocean," " He has dove to depths unimaginable,") So apparently "dived" is the right way of forming the past of dive? That doesn't sound right to me. I looked it up on the web, and it says that dived should be used to avoid confusion with dove, the bird. As far as I know, there is no confusion because I pronounce the two words distinctly. ("dowv" versus "dahv"). Maybe dove is British? Or a Philippinism? Help!