Thank you all for the thought-provoking comments. This is what I love about communities like this: people with different experiences and thoughts that respectfully share their ideas on a topic. Ya'll are great! Here is my final response:
I will be getting my AOW and Nitrox certifications. I want to continue to get further certified after that, too, probably getting my rescue diver certification and, who knows, maybe more!
When this 18 YO boy died when my husband and I were diving off of Charleston it was our first dives in the ocean. Our instructors we had were nothing short of AMAZING. They instilled in us so much confidence; we knew what we were doing and how to handle many different situations should they arise. The captain and his wife had been diving for decades and were certified with the Coast Guard to respond to situations if they were in the area. As they were getting ready for the recovery mission that we suddenly found ourselves on, I realized that I was helpless in that situation. Not my fault as I just began diving this year, but it lit in me a fire to become a great diver. I want to dive with people, know people, learn from people. I don't want to be helpless when there is a life or death situation. I want to know exactly what to do to assist and I want to be able to do it. This comes from further certifications, more dives, and more experience.
I didn't mean that I want my buddy to be a DM. I want to make sure that there is a guide that has the certifications and experience to be able to handle any situation that arises, just like Tom and Sally did that day by the Charleston 60. I'm not at a point in my diving career that I am going to go off with just my buddy and dive somewhere that I've done my research on alone. I want somewhere there that will help me gain more confidence, skills, and expertise on my journey to being a diver that can do it on my own. You were all new to diving at one point and you probably didn't get your OW and just go planning your 3rd ocean dive without a reputable guide/DM there. If you did, kudos to you as you've got bigger cojones than I do. I'm just not there yet and it isn't because I couldn't, it's just because I don't want to yet.
JDG, I love your post and I hope that someone one day does that to me, just not yet. I don't rely on those diving with me, but at the same time I do. You rely on them to be trustworthy, to not leave you, to be cognizant of you...that's what good dive buddies do. You've got to be there for each other. My husband was my dive buddy on our 2nd dive that day and I had to remind him of a few things while we were underwater. He was making a few rookie moves that could have ended up having a negative result. I stopped him, fixed it and by then our DM had come over, we signaled what was going on, what I had done to remedy the situation, and we just hung out where we were for a few minutes to be safe. I'm a natural leader, which is probably another reason why I want to get more dives under my belt; so that I can be there for the people that dive with me no matter what the situation is. But for now, I want to make sure that there's someone like that for my husband and I until we can become those divers for others.
Again, thank you all for your insight! It's been very helpful. To ya'll that are local, don't be a stranger! Let's go diving someplace warm!!