OK. I accept the criticism of my post as I did not write every word as I intended and mistakenly thought that others would understand from my post it's intention. I thought I made my intentions clear but see that emotions have taken folks to a very different place.
Some of you made the good point that the quote from their website might have been a poor translation of what they intended. If so, as written it is an ugly error and a poor statement for a website.
One of you made the statement that you believe that I actually understood what was intended. The tone seemed to me to say that you thought I had a sinister reason to misinterpret or exagerate the statement. I quoted it as it appears. I did not intend to give it a different meaning than what was written. Personally, I think that the idea of "promoting more bottom time than the other guy" is an issue for our industry as it seems to me to be encouraging the idea of getting as much as you possibly can even to the extent of pushing limits. I too appreciate not being limited unreasonably but don't expect to get every last drop every time.
I do recognize that the intention was probably to try to relay that the company wants to allow divers to dive as long as they can (I may assume safely). However, the statement, as quoted, was painfully ironic in the context of this incident. Reading it, when I wanted to learn more about these divers, made a lump form in my throat. The glaring irony, as mistaken as it may have been through poor translation, jumped out at me. I am sorry that I used a quote and worded my post in a manner that appeared to cast doubt on the entire practices of the company with which they were affiliated. I wrote too soon after my own emotional reaction to reading words on their site. I wrote it when I was still emotional, it had made me so very uncomfortable.
At least one person reacted so angrily that you missed my point as you focus on whether or not I missed the point in the quote. However, it is correct that I should not have allowed my post to reflect on the company and all it's parties in general. My comments should have been limited to the actions of the individuals involved. That would, however, include the unidentified Captain of the vessel and other crew if they who knew the plan and were complicite in it by supporting the dive unless they expressed concerns and only remained involved to try to help in the event of foreseeable problems.
Still, if the dive was conducted, as reported by some, as a "bounce" dive to a depth well beyond recreational dive limits without appropriate equipment or gases, it seems without appropriate training ( but I don't know this) and with no reasonable motivation to execute such a dangerous, ill fated dive, I feel it demonstrated poor judgement and carelessness on the part of these divers. At least two of these divers are dive professionals called upon to exercise good judgement and decision making in their profession. We hold other professionals accountable for conduct in their personal time that is not congruent with the standards of their profession why should we not hold dive professionals to that same standard.
Indications from some who knew the professionals involved are that a lack of judgement and disregard for safe diving practices was not the mode of operation when they guided or supervised clients. However, in my experience what dive leaders do on their own time usually becomes known to many of their clients and associates and I feel that it sets an example and demonstrates a lack of respect for safe diving practices in general. It's like saying do as I say, not as I do.
This incident also re-awakens for me strong feelings that I have about how such a dive demonstrates disregard for their own safety and for the feelings of the great many people who obviously care about them. I know people will say it is their right to do as they please but that doesn't make it right. They are suffering greatly for their choices and actions AND so are a great many others.
Again, I hope we can all learn from this. I hope they will recover. I hope those who know and care about the divers will recover, as well. I hope that in their zealous efforts to protect the reputation of the people and the company for which they worked, those who care about these divers will not lose sight of the lessons that we can learn.
I do applaud the friendship, love, and loyalty demonstrated by those who are trying to make sure that analysis of incident does not disparage the reputation of the manner in which these divers apparently conducted guided dives with their clients, the reputation of employees of the company that were not involved, or the reputation of Cozumel as a diving destination.
I still feel that my statement as indicated again below can summarize things that we can learn from this incident.
Pride, ego, bravado, over-confidence, ignorance, carelessness, foolishness- whatever you want to call it, leads to heartache that is unfathomable. (Perhaps I should word this as poorly planned and executed, ill equipped, extremely high risk, out of bounds exploration, that, as conducted in this case, was contra-indicated in relation to almost every accepted safe diving rule, be it recreational or technical, lead to unfathomable heartache.)
Never stop learning. Gain experience gradually in conditions and with equipment with which you are trained and familiar. Equip yourself and your entire team for challenges and contingencies that can reasonably be expected to occur even if they have not occurred on previous dives. Do not push the limits of your training, experience, comfort, or equipment. Do not participate with team members who push these limits for themselves. Do not over estimate your ability to overcome that which you have under estimated!
I joined this thread to learn and to share what I learned. I shared lessons of which I was reminded. I will now step out as it appears that I have touched too many nerves.