chipwd:
I can't attest to what happened yesterday but I can tell you that my wife and I dove with this company (Horizon Divers) back in June of last year. They were very professional and (I thought) did a great job. Many of the divers on our boat were obviously repeat customers who knew some of the staff by name and were known to the staff by name. That tells me a lot about a business when customers are loyal and return frequently. I even posted here on SB about this trip on previous threads,
As a matter of fact, my wife, who is a non-diver, did a discover diving course and then dove with this same instructor who got arrested yesterday. I was impressed by his professionalism and the attention he gave to my wife throughout the class and dives. He stayed with her every step of the way and helped make her first dive experience a great one. Unfortunately, he seemed to display a lack of common sense with his actions yesterday and I hope he didn't contribute to the actual accident.
Again, I cannot speak for what happened yesterday but our experience with these folks was a very positive one and I plan on diving with them again.
Also, just for the record, I have no connection other than that of a customer with Horizon Divers.
I am sad for the injured diver and hope she recovers fully and quickly.
:10: Thank you for standing up for Horizon! It seems that we don't have a whole lot of information thusfar about the incident, so can't start blaming Horizon Divers for the incident, nor can we blame the instructor. The truth is, things tend to get blown out of proportion sometimes and until we know more, we shouldn't get all worked up.
I personally spent several months living in Key Largo last year. I had access to a slew of dive boat operations, and dove with several different ones during my time there. Out of all of them, I consider Horizon to be the easiest to work with, as they have large boats that go out several times a day and can get you in even on a moment's notice somtimes. Apart from flexibility, they are a very professional staff and I have never once witnessed them doing or saying anything that would make me question their mindset about safety coming first. They are very thorough instructors who make absolutely sure that the student is grasping all concepts before moving them on or taking them down. Also, before they accept people as students for advanced classes, they ask that you do a pool session with the potential instructor to review the skills before he or she will accept you as a student. This way, they can be sure that you have the prerequisites necessary in order to be safe in their classes (this is in addition to providing documentation).
During my time there, the staff came to know me by name as I dove with them pretty regularly. I also came to know each of them personally, and spent a great deal of time with the instructor that is the topic of this thread also. I decided I wanted to do my AOW certification, but before he would accept me as a student, I had to do the same skills class that everyone else does even though I'd been diving in the Keys with other operators since I got there. Since I hadn't dove specifically with him, he wanted to make sure that I had the basics mastered before taking me to AOW depths. After my pool session, I completed my classwork at Horizon where the instructor was very thorough and took time to answer all of my questions. He also related the class material to his personal experiences and relayed why the information was crucial to being a safe diver. I then completed all of my dives with him, and though I had no problems with the navigation and other skills I had to exhibit, I know if I would he wouldn't have had a problem taking the time to help me because that's just the sort of instructor he was. He was one of the best instructors I've had to date.
If it is found that he really was trying to alter the computer, it will surprise me because he never did anything during my time there that would make me question his ethical actions. However, keep in mind that people do make mistakes, and sometimes very bad ones. In the heat of the moment, we do and say things that we later regret tenfold. With a hurt and unconscious diver aboard one of his boats, he probably paniced and wanted to see her dive profile to see what went wrong. There is no evidence that he was doing anything other than looking at the profile, which I would also do if one of my students was hurt and I didn't know why.
But whatever you do, don't cut Horizon out of your plans when going to Key Largo if this turns out badly. Let me assure you that Horizon does not condone any sort of activity like what this instructor may have exhibited that day and had he done it in another circumstance, he would have been coached on his actions and told to stop else been let go from the company. Horizon Divers is an honest operation with safety in the top of their minds. Do not let one person's actions ruin your image of Horizon. I know that it is tempting to say they should be responsible for everything that comes out of their instructors' mouths, but again I believe this to be a heat of the moment action on the part of the instructor and VERY out of character for him. The fault here needs to lie on that instructor, not on the whole operation!
And if we find out in the future that this was all a bunch of media hype and the instructor keeps his job there, I encourage you all to go down and meet the fellow. You don't have to dive with him- just go in to talk to him. You will learn that he's not all of the horrible images you have in you minds and that he is a very good instructor. Yes, he may have had a lapse in judgement, but I doubt any of us here can say that we haven't made huge mistakes in our lives when we felt threatened.
~Dive Diva
