If you're feeling a little timid, why not go on a trip with your local dive shop (LDS) or your local dive club? Going with your LDS or dive club can be the best of both worlds: you don't need a friend to go with you, but you still have an instant group of people to pal around with there. I've done it 2x with my LDS & 2x with my local dive club. I had a blast! There are multiple dive shops in my area, but just this year my LDS is going to:
- Dry Tortugas, Florida Keys (Liveboard)
- 1000 Islands, Canada
- Mexico
- Solomon Islands (Liveaboard)
- Bahamas (Liveaboard)
- Bunaken and the Lembeh straits, Indonesia
- Grand Cayman
Speaking of Grand Cayman...if you are a sociable person, there are tons of hotels/resorts/lodges whose main guests are divers. A dive lodge I've been to & liked that wasn't too far away was
Sunset House in Grand Cayman. One that I liked that was far was
Sangat Island in the Philippines. I am also volunteering my time to help a couple open up
Blue Pearl Island in French Polynesia.
What's nice about many of us is we love to chat with other divers even strangers. It's not difficult to strike up a conversation when you first arrive at a dive lodge. Just go to the bar, get a drink & ask the people around you what their favorite dive sites are there. It's likely you won't be able to get them to shut up. lol
Happy diving!