I'm newly OW certified. When I went in to discuss getting certified at my LDS the guy explained how there would be trips every weekend and there was a whole group of people with boats that would be calling to ask if I'd go with them, hell the LDS owner said he would be calling himself to make sure I was invited every weekend. He painted this utopian picture of this community of helpful saints standing by to assist all the new divers. Well that was a bunch of BS.
Once I bought my new BCD, regs, computer, etc. and got certified I never heard from anyone again. I call every week, and when I do, it's "No we don't have any dives, but, we have lots of things you can spend even more than the initial 2k on!"
Since I'm new to FL, I don't have my whole crew to go with every weekend like I would when I was back home, so I'm forced to go on boats with people I don't know and get paired up. Now this isn't all bad, as I went just last weekend with a different LDS charter. But I view the LDS (Iwent to) as just another used car seller sales job.
It's not making a committment then "just quitting" JP. The problem with diving safely is that it requires more than just an investment of time & $$. It also requires having to know people with boats, or if your own family isn't into it, reaching out to people who don't want to dive with new people or have egos about how many things they've done, and the new people haven't. If I could (or would) go on my own, I would have 100 dives by now, but, I chose to follow the safety reg's I was taught out of the gate. Now I'm not suggesting everyone with experience falls into this category, but, read these boards about diving with new people and you'll see the impression.
And BTW, since I'm now soapboxing (not hijacking), just because someone is new to diving doesn't mean they don't have an appreciation for safety or keeping up or whatever. I personally live a very active lifestyle which has gotten me involved in a lot dangerous but fun activities which also require extensive training to be done safe. Yes I'm new to SCUBA, but, not new to situations which require calm and ability to think under stress when emergencies show up. Having said that, it comes down to the individual to determine if you can trust them as a buddy. Not solely on the number of dives they've had. You can have a thousand dives that go smooth. The question is, how will you react on the one dive when things don't go smooth?