I don't know either. I thought it was required by US Coast Guard regs for a commercial.....
I wish you and your wife the best. I had to resucitate my infant son and even though I was a medi-vac critical care nurse and had performed CPR on a few hundred people it was so different. The dread and horror of it shoots through your spine in a way I can still feel when I think about it.
You did really great, trust me. Looking back and "questioning everything" is part of a normal healthy reaction I believe. About the rescue breathing on the swim at the surface: Yes that is the protocol but everytime I have practiced that I am thinking how unlikely it would be to perform effectively especially if there are any surface conditions to speak of. Getting the chin in the correct postion with the tongue out of the back of the throat is the tricky part even for professionals when administering rescue breathing even with another person ,an ambu bag, and a backboard.
I have two other thoughts:
1) The guys idea about "gag/choke/vomit 101" is actually a useful concept. I think Instructors should discuss this when they do the free flow regulator exercise. If students spend time on this one, they will invariably sputter a little and probably fine-tune their airway control, when trying to breathe in the presence of water. Passing a reg back and forth, though not taught for PADI OW, is a very useful skill to master optimal airway control.
2) I believe that, at least here in Haiwaii, a boat's "COI" from the Coast Guard does NOT require O2 as strange as that seems. They do require aspirin in the first aid kit! O2 on boats I think is "litigation driven" but not required. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
I think location of the O2 on a dive charter is an integral part of the dive briefing.
More important than a lot of other things we cover. Ideally, it should be visible.
Heartfelt Best Wishes,
