[libertylover]

I went snorkeling in Mexico once and they had a boat to take you out to a platform and would return perhaps every hour to take back those who wanted to return. I realized though that they had no idea how many people were on the platform and in the water at a given time and absolutely no idea that the number of people dropped off equaled the number of people returned.

[Rockingham]

A friend of mine was left behind in the water off the Yucatan by a Mexican dive boat and very nearly died. Mercifully, just as he was so utterly exhausted from treading water that he was on the verge of drowning, a charter fishing boat showed up by chance and rescued him. Soon after he was aboard the fishing boat, the dive boat returned -- but only in response to the demands and threats of his fiancee when she realized he was absent.

The lesson: never, ever trust to the assurances of a Mexican dive boat operator that everyone is safely aboard. Since gringo tourists are so numerous and the Mexican legal system will do little in the way of criminal charges or civil compensation in the case of such a death, why must a dive boat operator bother with precision in a head count?