Not sure this is what did happen (and I run the risk of giving the DM more credit than is possibly due) but there is a possibility that, because you were back on the boat early, that she had already checked you back on board. Therefore when doing the roll calls, your name didn't need called as you were already checked as being back.So, just completed first boat dive. My dive buddy backed out at last minute so I was solo. I did an instabuddy on the way to the boat. When we were on the boat, a guy asked if he could tag along with us since his wife was snorkeling, so there was actually 3 of us.
On boat, they did roll call and my name was not on the roll (probably due to rebooking with my buddy cancelling). They asked if they missed anyone and I told them I was missed and they appeared to add me to the list.
The first dive was great. The sea was pretty choppy and as we were going to second spot, I got sick (overboard fortunately). I told my 2 new instabuddies to go without me and I would sit out. After puking, I actually started feeling better. Everyone had already gone in so I asked the DM if I could go in solo if I stayed near the boat. He said sure. We had a designated time to be back and I was back onboard early. We then had an emergency and they had to go pick up 4 divers (still not sure what the issue was). So, they signal for everyone to get in boat. Before moving, they do a roll call and miss me again. I told them again. We move, pick up the 4 distressed divers and they do another roll call. Again, they missed me.
So, basically, I was solo diving and had I not been on the boat I could have been a stranded diver; visions of the movie "Open Water" danced through my head. I was diving with Lost Reef Adventures in Key West. The lady who did the roll call the last 2 times was new. But, I am wondering if this was a training issue or something.
But, I am a new diver. I may be over reacting. Since this was my first boat dive, was this a big deal? Does this happen a lot? Or, was this atypical? I am thinking about calling the shop and talking to the owner but, again, this was a new lady. I don't want her to get in trouble but yet this could have been very, very bad. What is your advice from a seasoned diver? Would you take to the shop owner?
As for the solo diving, I would certainly not advise it without a lot more experience. As a new diver in a new location on a boat that is new to you, you are adding a lot of risk to a dive where you are quite probably significantly task loaded already. Once you have more experience you will learn that there is a lot you didn't know at that point.
I have been in the unfortunate position of missing a turn on a drift dive. Fortunately I was diving in a group (2 pairs) with me (50 dives), a DM, and 2 instructors. We all had the experience not to panic when we realised our mistake, we surfaced without safety stop (we were all well within NDL) as that would have had us drifting even further off and deployed all 4 DSMB's that we had (which were all of the larger variety - 6ft and wide). Made it really easy for the boat to see us and the rib picked us up a couple of minutes later. I really would not have liked that experience after 10-20 dives though and certainly not solo.