Diving Accident in Florida Keys

[Austin]

If diving with a buddy isn't "pairs diving"  why do you need a solo diving certification? 

If your buddy isn't there to help in case you need some help, why is diving with a buddy ingrained in every new diver?

I'm not saying the buddy is to blame, but you make it sound like a buddy should do nothing to help in a situation like this..
[/quote]

Goaliemn - What I am getting at is that you cannot "rely" on another diver to save you.  Yes, in the perfect world  (and what you learned in OW) your buddy has more experience, more air, and is always an arms reach away.  However, the FACT of the matter is that many times your buddy is new like you, uses the same or more air, and is not less than 10' away from you. With more diving and advanced (not AOW) training, you will learn how to save yourself.  Once you have done that, you will learn how to save others.  With that, you will also learn to assess a situation to determine if saving yourself is better than trying to save another......  The crule reality is that one diver dead is better than two....

I agree with Arcflash (imagine that... )  There are no un-deserved (un-earned) hits.  Something contributes to a hit and 99.99%, +/- .01%, it can be traced back to something the diver did, knowing or unknowingly.  Regarding the news release, the diver earned every bit of it...

If anyone wants to discuss this with me further, I would be happy to take it off the forum so please PM me.