I had a colleague who went scuba diving in Los Angeles. Newly wed. Husband and Wife, decide to spend their 4th of July weekend doing water sports.

So they go scuba diving, the wife's mask breaks down, he comes up, she panics she doesn't. She died by drowning. He was totally broken, the wife knew the risks and he knew it too. Nevertheless he wanted her to try because he thought it was fun. He lived with the trauma for years. Probably now as well.

People don't know how bad these things can get. This sort of fun, is definitely not worth anyones life. Just go sight seeing, and have Sundae at Ghirardelli. There are many safe ways of having fun, that don't involve death as a risk factor.

Was he just taking his wife down without training and certification?

This just seems insane.

While losing a mask or having it break down is very inconvenient that's exactly one of the scenarios you train for.

Even when doing the Open Water certification one of the skills you must do to get certified is to remove your mask, put it on again and remove the water from it.

> This sort of fun, is definitely not worth anyones life.

I agree. And that's the exact reason why you train for extraordinary situations and get certified.

Scuba diving is a safe sport as long you adhere to the rules and your personal limitations.

Your story is probably incomplete. I am no scuba diving expert but I know people who do it regularly. You never do it alone. And you constantly check others in case they need help. There's a whole sign language around just checking status. And protocols for things like sharing oxygen etc.

And there's a whole certification process around it too. I wonder how they got their gear and if they had a guide/instructor. Those are the more pertinent points of the story when trying to relate it to the sub story.

I've experienced dive shops, which were rather flexible with their approach to paperwork and certification (learn diving! no swimming required! is a giveaway).

But since this trategy apparently happened in LA that's just unfathomable.

As a certified diver, this is very hard to accept. Others have written about losing the mask as being exactly one of the things you train for, and that's true, but in addition to that.... where the hell was the husband while she was struggling???? was he also completely untrained? wasn't there at least one instructor or at least a certified diver with them, if the husband wasn't?

Every place I have ever been to wants to see my certification before allowing me to rent gear, I guess for insurance and legal liability purposes.