I hope that the OP didn't detect any aggressiveness in my post. That wasn't my intention at all. The first paragraph was written in a sarcastic tone...and I hope that sarcasm initiated thoughts along the lines of: "If I'm a beginner diver, I probably shouldn't be spearfishing with other inexperienced buddies. In fact, I probably should just be working on some basic dive skills -- buoyancy control, OW class skills, buddy skills, etc. Task-loading myself by diving with a new-to-me buddy and having at least one of us shooting at things under water probably isn't a good idea. Furthermore, since we were on our own boat, we should probably have a concrete emergency action plan in place. Maybe I should take a rescue class so that I'd have a better idea about what I should be doing if one of us happens to get hurt."
As we all know, dive safety begins even before we arrive at the dive site. A very important element of dive safety is with whom one chooses to dive. It's a personal rule of mine that the first dive with a new buddy is a very conservative check-out dive -- no UW cameras, no spearguns, no new equipment, no night dives, and at a familiar site (if possible).
I hope the OP has the opportunity to meet with the problem diver and discuss what could have been done differently. I hope that the diver will come to see the importance of conducting dives in line with one's experience level, demonstrating good buoyancy control, moderating ascent rate, and conducting a safety stop. If he doesn't take these things to heart, the consequences could be severe.
