Why he dove this gas will likely never be known. I liked Carlos a lot... larger than life, and a real booster of the sport. He was very sure of himself, and in his relatively short diving career, he had done a ton of diving... and I don't mean banging off four a day in a quarry, or Bonaire. I mean more than a few cave dives, 250 foot mix dives here in the Great Lakes, and the Doria just a couple of weeks ago. He put in the time to take the training, and he opened his wallet to get the best gear. He absolutely loved diving AND divers, and would spend whatever time was necessary to help less experienced divers. His gear bag was open to everyone to borrow whatever they needed... Our local dive community suffered a significant hit with his passing.
Having said this, some of us that have been diving forever, expressed concern to one another that his confidence, (Some would say cockiness) might eventually end up with him finding himself in trouble. I want to choose my words very carefully, because he really was a good diver (in my limited experience diving with him) in spite of his relatively short period of time in the sport. His "online personality" could be seen as arrogant, but the real Carlos was genuinely a nice guy who would do anything for you.
Our concern is that his "proteges" who perhaps lacked his skill, dives, confidence, or wallet might too find themselves in over-their-heads, if you will please excuse the bad pun. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I think that there's a lot to be said for racking up hundreds of dives as one works up to these advanced technical certifications.. not a bunch of dozen.
I'm going to leave it at that, but will maybe finish by saying that confidence is no substitute for the basics like analyzing gas. We all know that, and if any good is to come of this, Carlos' tragic death will serve as a reminder that even the very skilled can have a very bad day. He'd be the first to agree, which makes this thing that much harder to understand.
