first of all, hi betsy! been a long time and i hope you are well.
i spoke to the other dm today and he confirmed the other group and a "normal" depth but not with specifics. tomorrow, if i see him again, i will see if he will give me more info...not for any opportunity for bashing anyone or the dive op, but for the sake of knowledge. i will also try to speak with the captain from that day.
with all the events happening at once, i am sure some level of panic took place. he was calling for help and opal jumped in the water.
it was a planned 1 tank dive. it common practice for boats to carry an additional tank or two on board. this detail is still kinda weird to me too. maybe it was just 2 tanks that he switched. this detail, while not so serious, isn't 100% clear.
betsy, the transpordador runs quite frequently now. today for example, i saw one coming in around 10:30am or so, left shortly thereafter, and another one returning in the area an hour or so later. i thought it weird but the schedules are diff from a few years ago. it is in la caletita, so quite close to the wall exit.
also, the time of the day was weird. it was after the normal 8:30-9 leave the dock time, but before the surface interval/2nd tank.
again, i will try to confirm more info tomorrow and post what i can.
geez, i knew this "other divers" and capt dilemma was interesting, but wasn't expecting another 13 pages!