Please don't interpret this as an accepting attitude on my part - one of my colleagues used to work with the people that disappeared, here in Denmark - but isn't it so that a huge amount of dives take place every day under less-than-ideal circumstances?
Especially in poorer and more remote regions where equipment, spares and replacements are expensive and hard to come by and pressure chambers and more-than-makeshift hospitals may be hours or even days away and where lingual or cultural challenges makes communication, education and adherence to various standards difficult at best?
I've been on diveboats that turned out not to carry oxygen because they tended to be stolen - and getting fresh ones would take a year not to mention 100% import tax. When you last went diving with friends, did you bring your own oxygen kit, or was it just too damn expensive? Did you really trust the skills of everyone? When you last buddied with a guy you didn't know did you check him out thoroughly or did you think "well, this is an easy, shallow dive anyway so ..."
Safety is always impacted by circumstance - and even well-planned diving does contain chance elements like, say the sea. Back-water indonesia just is not the red sea, safetywise.
We should use this terrible incident to direct attention at our own practise rather than this one dive centre and always try to fully understand the circumstances under which our diving takes place.
Is it a remote location? Do you know your buddy? Are you really fit, experienced and equipped for the dive? How well did you check out the dive operation beforehand? Do you have contingency plans based on the specific site? How well are you really insured - and is there any chance of anyone finding out that were insured before it ceases to matter? What are the specific risks for the dive? Do you know the counter procedures? What are you really trusting other people to handle for you, do you know what you're are getting into?
With nature the problem tends lie in the getting-back-out.
To me risk can be acceptable if it is a known risk, that can be prepared and planned for. Going to 30 metres as an open water diver, because it feels sooo easy doesn't fit that description. We must always strive to understand what it is we are actually doing. Getting away with murder doesn't make it safe nor does it make us more experienced.
Guess what I'm trying to say is that as certified divers we are supposed be aware of what we are doing to a wide extent, and no amount of instructors and divemasters can take away that basic responsibility to oneself - and even then, sadly, **** can happen.
I'm not trying to take away the professional responsibiblity of the dive operation in question - maybe they do need to evaluate procedure. But to me, part of being a diver is expecting things to be less-than-padi-standard and impacted by circumstance and everyday life. Not because I like it that way, but because the perfect world of ever-safe diving is not gonna arrive overnight.
Personally i was advanced and on my twentyfifth dive or so before,it really dawned on me that I was actually putting my life in the hands (and battered computer) of the local divemaster - whom I liked, but didnt really know - and without even thinking about it. It's just a case of you don't even know what you don't know. I'd had the training, with good instructors too, but just not been a diver long enough to really understand the implications.
Good dive operations take this into account to some extent, but on some days they're just trying to make the boat schedule fit. You'll never know because mostly it's safe anyway. Mostly. O.W.C may be fine for the average tropical aquarium, but it doesn't apply to the entire planet.
...Or am I talking bullocks?
Regards santa
