In Reply to: Re: Re: If the search had started at Eureka . . . posted by Elaine on October 25, 2010 at 06:08:40:

I think we're all in complete agreemenet that Dan was an incompetent diver and did not do what he was told etc.

The boat isn't responsible for stupid, they have no control over what a diver does once they splash into the water.
As long as they checked his certs and he signed the waivers and he promised to stay with his buddy or whatever the circumstances were that's about all they can do. Or maybe they could hire a psychic to check people in at boarding and say "Nope, not this guy he bad news don't let him on".

I don't care if Dan "owns" the first 3 plus hours of the incident or not, if the DM or person(s) in charge of signing the divers back in where doing their job with 100% accuracy the entire gross negligence factor of the boat would not be in the equation. At that point Dan could have tried to sue them but if they would have done their job properly he would have gotten nothing or at the most very little. All the blame would be entirely on Dan.
But to leave then count him as going back in the water at the next location, when he wasn't even there!, then discover he's missing after the second dive, holy crap! I'm sorry but there's no excuse for that, none.