I'm sympathetic to the awful tragedy this woman endured. She is doing some blaming. Her being an attorney reinforces the irritation some of us get with the expectation some people have to get exhaustive 'this could happen to you' warnings before being 'allowed' to participate in an activity.
The sort of warnings that would become so unwieldy they'd be part of those little fine print paragraphs people initial without reading on forms.
"Having only a vague recollection of what nitrogen narcosis was from her certification courses in 1991, Monday started researching it online.
She read stories about people who had suffered nitrogen narcosis and then did things such as try to give their air to fish or dive down to complete a task, only to sit there until tapped on the shoulder by another diver.
She learned it affects everyone differently, and while it usually occurs below 100 feet, it can happen at just 60 feet and become intensified by over-the-counter medications.
One of those medications, Dramamine, Sharp had taken that day. It was also his first dive below 60 feet.
“I do not recall these things ever being explained in detail or stressed on any dive trip I have taken, which is unacceptable,” Monday said. “When you are on vacation, when you are on one of those tours, you kind of forget about the risks of diving because it is such a fun and exciting thing, and I really think they need to stress more (the dangers).”"
No, it's not unacceptable. When someone sells you a car, they don't have do an educational presentation about highway fatality causes and statistics. Not everyone cares to be as aware of risks in detail as others; if you want to be better informed, we have the Internet and unprecedented access to that information.
If he'd suffered regulator dysfunction and drowned, or accidentally swam into a virulent jellyfish, or developed immersion pulmonary edema and basically drowned in his own fluids, we could've had the same basic complaint. How much longer are we going to make dive briefings with mandated warnings about the various awful things that could happen to you?
"The sharks, and the instructor diverting people’s attention to them before buddying up, “disrupted the whole process,” she said." That ought not to 'disrupt the whole process.' Of course a guide will point out the sharks.
There's a theme this incident brings to mind. A recurrent criticism of the dive industry by a few has been that recreational diving is billed as 'safe,' without enough emphasis on how dangerous it is or can be. Since the people educating the public are the ones selling dive courses and dive gear, it's an understandable concern.
How much should the industry, whether people teaching courses, dive op.s, etc..., try to scare people with dread possibilities? What is the right balance?
When I travel to dive, I have to initial forms that basically claim I'm an adult, affirm I'm healthy enough to dive, I know scuba diving isn't perfectly safe, crap happens and I could get seriously hurt or die, and by and large I'm responsible for me. I know going in that's how it is.
That said, those of us who read a lot on Scuba Board get educated about issues like narcosis and are probably more aware than people who get certified, then don't avidly follow such discussions...who just dive once in awhile and listen to what dive op. staff tell them.
