@Diving_Parrot, I’d echo what has been said. You were right to wonder, and to post. Thanks. I dove Mexican Rocks and outside the reef; but only snorkeled Hol Chan with family, still a great experience, lots of cool fish.
As I mentioned, I *might* have dove, but I am much more experienced. I also *might not* have, as it is a sign other things might be amiss. You are not as experienced and your training may or may not have been as good as mine. I’m happy you did not face the choice about diving the second day to 85’.
You can alway call a dive, no questions asked. It’s always your comfort with you and the situation that day: sickness, gear, people, or weather. A good buddy at the time might say ‘Thats fine. No problem. Any emergent medical worries you want help with??’. It’s a balance between making sure you’re fine sitting around on the surface, and absolutely not pressuring you to dive.
Asking later is good, but hard. Its always good for the community to wonder. But no one else was you, there.
Second guessing yourself later shows you’re a thinking diver. You checked your gear. You wondered and asked at the time. That is all VERY good. Maybe you might not make the same choice you did again, while still a new diver. I do not fault the choice at the time. A new me wanting to dive might do the same thing.
Diving without ditchable weights is generally advanced in training or experience. Sure, today *if* that BC had my weights dialed in, I could do the dive without ditchable weights. But I would not have liked it. Too much of not liking it for the person diving means calling the dive. I have dialed in weights *and* some are ditchable. That is me, not you, or some other diver.
I think the DM was asking you to abandon the training that, had he been your instructor, he could well have just given you, how to ditch your weights. I fault the DM and the operator that allowed that. Emailing them might be good feedback to them of your concern as a customer with how the dive prep went. I think that concern is justified.
Experienced divers can do more, and still be safe, though sometimes we are just fooling ourselves. I would not advise new divers to tough it out and pretend they are much more experienced or far better trained divers than they are.
Listen to your gut about something being off. Go snorkeling instead, most of the light is shallow anyway...
. Not an excuse for the operator, and it messes with your plans, but sometimes the diving gods are against us, be it weather, illness, or gear. Best to look at the fish some other way or day, they will still be there when you come back. (Edit: If we take care of the reefs!) I'm glad you're out there diving, I hope the rest of the trip was better.