As this is supposed to be the forum that other divers may learn from others misfortune, I would first like to state that I unfortunately learned that there is no such thing as a "easy dive". Each dive, whether deep,techinical, or shallow poses the same risks. I have read the previous comments and I know there are some who would like to boast their confidence in diving skills and agency training, but not matter what level of confidence or skill, sometimes accidents do occur. Unfortunatley, this accident occured with experienced divers who had excellent training and past experienced even on the same reefs. Emergency assist procedures where followed not only by this diver but also the two boys involved and it still did not stop this accident from occuring. But as with many other reports, the specifics are never correct with the newspapers and this accident as is appears is too simple to have occured, but it did.
Panic was a major factor in this situation and it occurred in someone who never had experienced it before. Until a person experiences such a situation, then you can never truly say how you will react. This being said, I still cant say enough about training, training and training until you begin to respond under any type of stressful situation, even though under these circumstances, it didn't appear to help. It is still easy to play the "woulda, coulda and shoulda" game but again, sometimes things go wrong under the best of cirumstances and the worst thing believable can happen. I apologize for those who wanted to hear a more technical answer, or who believe that there had to be more. The unsettled fact is that within two minutes of the initial dive, I lost a friend of many years.
