Contemplating murder would make me far more nervous than resuming diving after a 12 month (or whatever) hiatus, even as a newish diver.
Plenty of journeyman divers could have swum circles around the skills needed to get his wife to the surface once he saw she was in trouble, even with his mask off briefly (or permanently). Of course, some could have not.
I haven't read all the reportage since the early days - what information of ineptidude, or skill level from any perspective other than dives logged and certs obtained, has come to light?
One of the (many) things that rang so false in his statement was his claim that he thought it better to go for help that was only minutes away, when seconds counted. How does the reportedly liesurely trajectory he followed to the surface comport with the theory that he was a panicky insecure diver so afraid for his own safety that he left his wife while she was drowning? That must have been quite a dramatic, emotional, adrenaline-heightened moment. Doesn't fit, to me.
Passive panic, not realizing how urgent the situation was, mentally "shutting down", embarrassement at his own ineptitude, feeling like it was already too late, indecision, helplessness, are all reasons off the top of my head, that would explain his slow ascent.
In my previous post I described a rescue that took place with a gentleman(who btw held an AOW cert) who's buddy was nowhere to be seen. After he was rescued, his buddy, his family, the rescuer, and a couple of Instructors asked quite a few questions of him. We essentially talked him out of ever diving again, at least not until he had much more training and time in a pool where he wouldn't breath water in from around the mouthpiece.
His buddy(a family member) claimed that she could not keep up with him during his uncontrolled descent, and she basically just hovered in one spot watching him drop away from her. She said that it was surreal, and she didn't attempt a rescue. She thought he would get it together, and just kind of watched some other diver make contact with him and bring him to the surface.
No one blamed her. Now had he died, perhaps eyes would have turned toward her.
In the Watson case, Gabe seems to have an inability to communicate clearly and to recall the events clearly. He is not an eloquent communicator, and imo not all that bright. Maybe he is bright, but the interviews make me feel that he is a bit dull. The intrigue with this case is that it COULD be murder, but it COULD be a really unfortunate accident.
Maybe Watson's interviews are so inconsistent because he is trying to cover up the fact that he is completely incapable.
It would be pretty much impossible for me to go to my In-Laws and tell them that their daughter lost her life because I was a complete idiot, panicked, was incompetent, when charged with the resposibility of her well being, I failed to the most extreme.
