I met with my Instructor face to face today to discuss the incident. He said he did not realize (and that I did not tell him) that I was not going to be able to see the gauge regardless, due to my contacts/vision. He had told me the scratches on the gauge would not be as much an issue under water and he thought, until today, I had been monitoring my gauge. I thought I had made it clear on land that I could not read the gauge and would not be able to, period, but I will assume I was not clear about this. One thing I will note is that he did not follow up with me about what had happened at any time until I went in to see him. Today, he was very willing to talk and was not defensive at all. He said it was a full tank, that it has happened that students get low before that class ends and that they have to surface. But that running completely out was very rare - or words to that effect. He said had he known I couldn't see a thing and never even attempted to monitor my gas, he would have done it for me.
He told me not to over-analyze the situation. That I reacted well. That we were in 40 feet of water the deepest. This might sound strange but I had competing thoughts while we met. One, is that I think he is way too loose. I am a type-A guy and I read a lot about the ideal. The competing feeling was that he made me feel confidence in him at the same time, if that makes any sense. Several people I know vouch for his safety practices etc. And his demeanor was very calm and confident, not arrogant or defensive at all. I suppose after teaching for 30 years, he has seen it all.
Here is the other piece. I asked about the culvert. He did plan to have us swim through it, but-for it being closed off. A few more facts: It is 8-10 feet long and it was angled distinctly upwards. He said it was not level and was not "one way in, one way out" and so is appropriate for OW classes. The rest of the class went through it last week when I missed. He said he wanted to see our how we responded to our impending change in buoyancy once we exited and the air in our BCs had expanded. I asked why he would not have let me know more about this pre-dive, he smiled and said "I would not have been able to see how you responded in the moment, had I done that." I asked what would have happened had I run out of air inside the tube and panicked. He said "Adam, you would have done fine. And I was right there. Had you had the least issue, I would have pulled your @ss right out of there."
He wants me to use a different gauge from now on with bigger numbers etc. And I will either ditch the contacts so I can read up close - or work out a solution to my vision problem another way, such as a prescriptive mask etc.
My gut is that he has been doing so long, that he is confident and sincerely never felt I was in any danger. I bet many here will not agree with much of this. I am leaning toward continuing with him but I don't know for sure.....I will say this, I am prone to over-analyzing things to a fault. I cross-examine people for a living and hate to bring that approach to the rest of my life......