I'm a newbie myself - just was O/W certified. I sure agree that Open Water won't ever compete with Gone With the Wind, or even Jaws. But I've read many threads on a lot of forums that have really dissed Open Water, and I have a couple of questions for experienced boat divers, about the teaching opportunities the film provides.
1. Doesn't Open Water really emphasize the need to make sure that whatever charter you take has a good system in place to keep track of who's diving and who's on the boat?
2. Aren't there a lot of good lessons of what not to do in the movie, to prevent being left behind, or being found if you are?
Things that I think I learned (but I'm sure open for correction!)
Stay with the group, or at least stay aware of what's going on around you - a drift dive is probably not the best place to go off on your own (note: I've not yet done either a boat dive or a drift dive).
Always carry at least minimal signalling gear while boat or drift diving (seems to me a sausage, mirror, and Dive Alert would have turned this situation into a non-event).
Leave word with someone other than the dive company of when you expect to return.
Have a basic knowledge of the local geography (our heroes had no idea of where they were, which direction to swim to head back to land, which way the currents were taking them... maybe with that knowledge they could have saved themselves?)
If surfacing between two boats, and you don't know which one is yours, pick one - boats have radios...
Don't get romantically involved with cute but grossly self-absorbed members of the opposite sex.
