Many boats do not allow solo diving. Therefore, you either need a buddy or a dm (to be your buddy). Some boat operations provide a divemaster as a matter of standard practice. Some require you to dive with their DM even if you don't want to. Having a pre-arranged buddy means you don't need the divemaster. However, you can do a 3-way dive if you want one and have a buddy.
When I first started diving, I did a few dive trips (in Florida) without bringing a buddy. I always made sure to tell the boat people when booking the trip that I was alone. They either found another solo person or odd man out to buddy me or gave me a DM. The former is called an instabuddy and it's as much a gamble as anything at vegas. Some are good, some are bad. You are super fortunate to have found a seasoned diver (
@Marie13) in your area who seems like they may be interested in diving with you.
Personally, I found buddies on scubaboard. Also, I kept in touch with someone I met in open water class, and I went to various dive "events" like dinners and whatnot that dive shops throw occasionally. Gradually I made enough friends who dive that buddies became less of a problem than cash to pay for the dives! Later, I talked my girlfriend into taking a scuba class.. then I married her. Now I've almost got "too many" buddies, but that's kind of like having too much money - NOT A PROBLEM!
@Marie13 seems to have amazing cold tolerance. You couldn't melt me down and pour me into lake Michigan with a wetsuit. I wear 7mm full suits in 72f spring water and get cold. Do any shops in your area rent drysuits? They're generally very expensive to buy (I eventually got one, it's the third most expensive thing I own after house and car). If you can find a way to get into drysuit diving, I highly recommend it given your local water temps. Unfortunately, there are some skills involved in diving a drysuit safely. If you didn't learn during open water class, you'll probably have to take a drysuit class.
