I learned to dive in the UK, and dived here happilly for several years. I agree that there are some great wrecks etc, but diving here is very different from tropical dips.
The cold and generally low viz combine to make even fairly simple dives rather more challenging than a PADI resort diver may be used to. This makes the social side of UK diving that much more important, it always seemed to me that the biggest part of a UK divers time is spent not diving, but talking about how terrible the vis was, or how the dive site couldn't be found, or how cold it was, or how one of the group got lost. Now the fact that most of this occurs in the pub probably has something to do with UK diving's popularity, its certainly one of the areas that I miss. Mind you, it also has a little to do with the average waistline of the UK diving comunity (opens himself up for a good flaming with that one!!!).
Personally I never made the transition to dry suit and had the joys of thawing out a frozen stiff wet suit, the need to empty your bladder almost as soon as you enter the water (its a cold reflex you know, can't be helped!), blue lips and fingers, getting into a wet wet suit in the snow.
This combined with the joys of hail storms while at full pelt in the RIB, breaking the surface ice before you can get in, freezing open second stages at 30m, and viz regularly in the less than 2m range
suit all conspired to make me a total wus who now only dives on holiday, and always in the warm tropical seas where I can see things beyond the range of my fingers.
Give me a decent dry suit, and some free weekends though and I'd happily give it another go...
As long as you realise it will be very different from what you're used to I've no doubt you'll enjoy the challenge. Enjoy !
