OK. Another question: to what degree is customer demand the cause of divers being taken to sites that are well beyond their skills/ experience?
Your question is flawed and inconsistent with my view of Cozumel dive ops. It is almost like asking "Are you still beating your wife?"
What you don't need is a buddy who is either a weak or novice diver himself, or a complete unknown to you, so you hedge your bets by obtaining an experienced buddy, who may be able to shoulder a bit more than the normal responsibility of a buddy. He may, for example, be able to manage most of the navigation, so that you can concentrate on your buoyancy and on staying together. I think is is a prudent behavior for an inexperienced diver, and an appropriate use of a DM.
Exactly. Two newbie divers could actually help each other if separated from the group...or end up as two fatalities. See next response for more.
The person who travels to a holiday destination and hears that he needs a private DM (because, in TS&M's scenario, the dive op knows he is an accident waiting to happen) is not the type of conscientious person who values safety above all that you are. Conscientious types would probably research their intended destination and decide not to go there in the first place. I think this is what I was getting at in a previous reply.
I am not sure what the previous reply was but the idea that the suggestion of using a private DM equates to “you are an accident/fatality waiting to happen” is also patently wrong.
Several people have it right. A new/inexperienced diver, as is likely in this case, may not have the skills or composure to respond properly to this scenario. Does PADI teach people to make solo ascents? I am not an instructor but I suspect not.
The suggested skills from my post #284 do offer a person the chance to improve their skills/experience with a competent DM. The PADO OW or AOW certificates are nothing more that an industry agreed to minimum to dive. That diver has a responsibility to get additional training as required to meet the specifics of new diving locations.
A person who blows off the buddy system enters a new realm where self-reliance and solo diving concepts come to bear. Was Tamara trained in any of these concepts? Was she trained to handle solo ascents in a drift diving environment? Was she trained to respond calmly to being separated from the group and how to find them or safely abort the dive? Did she have the opportunity to get that experience/training but blow it off?
If you want to understand the start of the bad chain of events, figure out how the buddy pair failed. I will postulate that she would be alive today (assuming no medical issue) had she stayed with her buddy within about 20-30 feet of the DM.
I will add that the buddy system may tend to be a crutch. If a diver only knows being with a buddy, it is conceivable that should a separation occur that results in a loss of visual contact, some divers may tend towards the panic side of the emotion spectrum which may not end well.
My suggested private DM skills development does provide some help in this area. It is not suggested that someone resort to solo diving rather develop the skills and experience such that if you are suddenly alone, you can stay calm and safely rejoin your buddy, the group or reach the surface.
In this case, the March 2012 cruise ship diver and one other recent missing diver (maybe a recovered body?) the common element is that buddy diver discipline was lost and the missing diver was lost visually by the group. How hard is it to recognize that this is an area where skills can be developed to lessen this type event?