cdnn blasts PADI unsafe at any depth

[wan2Bcaver]

I'm not sure this article does anything for me -

whether scuba diver or resort course certified, the main thing that prevents you from getting into too much trouble is the fact that you can't get your tanks filled anywhere with those certs, so you have to go on a "guided" dive.  You are required to have a DM/Instructor with you at all times, and so they will babysit you and make sure you don't get into too much trouble (hopefully moreso when they see what kind of a cert you have). I've seen OW and AOW divers completely blow a planned dive and try to kill themselves. An AOW diver I was with in Cozumel went to 90fsw on our second dive because he was following a turtle. The ENTIRE dive party had to spend the rest of that dive at 35fsw looking at sand because this one idiot tried to kill himself.

My point is, DMs and instructors know what they are getting when you show up. If they choose to have 16 "scuba diver" rated divers with one DM, they will probably get a nice lawsuit and be out of business fairly quickly. The people I feel sorry for the most are people like myself, that pay attention, and do their best to be safe divers, because we are the ones that fork out thousands of dollars to go to tropical locations only to have our dives ruined by inattentive divers that don't know how terrible they are at diving. I hope my trip to fiji doesn't include an idiiot like that guy in cozumel, because I will insist I dive at a different site with a different DM.

Also - the beginning of the article references the blue hole - I was in belize 2 years ago and only had money for an AOW course or a trip to the blue hole. The first dive at the blue hole is to 130 feet. Reef sharks circle above your head. I've heard it is a magnificent dive. I'll have to get back there to experience it some day.