I'm a little like these two I guess and can relate a little. I did my certification in a lake in my home state. Went to Hawaii and am the only one in my family that dives, so I'm that guy on the boat who is the third wheel, which makes me uncomfortable as both the new guy and the outsider.
My points being the following. First I'll admit that I didn't know I'm supposed to stay at 60' or less having only OW versus AOW. Maybe my instructor mentioned it, but I only remember a 100' limit. Second, maybe I don't (or didn't back then) understand the role of the dive guide. I basically followed them around, and thought that was what I was supposed to do - that he's the boss. In Hawaii, where the DMs knew I was a rookie, my first 7 dives in the ocean (two separate trips, two companies, two islands) were at the following depths in feet: 68, 35, 82, 79, 87, 67, 88. I wouldn't have considered saying to the guide where we should level off.
I hope I wasn't as unprepared as the divers the OP mentions on my first trip, and all my dives were fine and I was in a small group of 4 and 3 each time. And I think in this story OP did a great job. I only mention this all just because many of you have tons of experience, and so I thought I'd share what some of us new divers are learning/understanding/misunderstanding: a) I had to get into the ocean at some point when I didn't get certified in the ocean so I am sorry to bug other divers who don't want on a boat with newbies, but had to do it eventually; b) I was very reliant on the guide, but had been under the impression that was their role once we were in the water, almost like they were still my instructor; c) was told when calling around that 100' wreck was no big deal for a rookie but could do a shallow dive if I prefer by one company, and d) my guides in Hawaii, and since then about 20 times in Asia, have all taken me below 60'. The one place I was told it was a problem was in Malapascua, where they wouldn't let me dive without AOW unless I paid for my own personal guide.
Again, I'm not being critical of OP or saying these two knew what they were doing. I think he did great. I'm just sharing my experience as one of those new guys who got certified far from the ocean in the past 15 months.
