The news say his gear that got found has visible bite mark:
http://www.nbcnews.c...rk-dive-n158216
Now, in these day of age, news site copy news from other sources etc. so we can speculate all day long.
I'm NOT asking/speculate what actually happen to this diver. I'm questioning, why he just got his AOW cert? (that's if the report of his recently acquired AOW is true).
Also, just to keep this forum/site informative and learning oriented, I would like to hear other people's experience of the buddy system. I'm still mad that I got ditch by my buddy in Red Sea when I drop my weight belt and shoot to the surface, while I bank the hell out of my tank to get attention, my buddy disappeared on me.
I have been on many dive trips on my own and meet strangers on dive trip to get pair up to have the "dive buddy system". Is it common that when you pair up with stranger, you don't care about the buddy system or what's other's experience are like?