Gabe Watson: Inexperienced - YES. Murderer - NO...Tracy L - Rescue / Product ManagerJune 25, 2008 at 07:59:40Gabe Watson is an extremely inexperienced diver, a bully as well as a bit oafish and naive.
His wife was trusting, inexperienced and extremely naive. The dive leaders were negligent, un-interested in evaluating their "clients" skills, and possibly liable. Both divers were over-weighted, and this accident could have happened to any one of us. After having his mask and regulator knocked off, Mr. Watson lost his grip on his over-weighted wife and down she went. He made the smarter decision to ascend.
A dive to 100 feet to surface a un-responsive was not within his capabilities. This is a clasic example of how quickly small events (incorrect battery insertion leading to aborted first dive, over weighting, inexperience, crew indifference, hot weather, currents, etc) all stack up to create a lethal scenario. Mr. Watson is guilty of being naive, macho, simple-minded, and of being a bully to his wife.
Had he tried a Herculean rescue of Mrs. Watson there would be two grieving parents today instead of one. He is not, however, a murderer, and this could not be accepted by a rational person as an explanation of Mrs. Watson's extremely sad and avoidable death. Unfortunately she was a victim of a nature who neither cares for us, nor understands our desire to explore its depths. This nature is also indifferent to our life. This is the sad realty of this case. | 
