... although one area I could use some advice is whether to get into drysuits or not. Probably won't be doing any diving locally until summer otherwise, and a lot of sentiment on the board seems very pro drysuit, but it seems to add a lot of new complications and expense (would probably rent at first) when I have all of 4 OW dives at this point. Thinking a tropical getaway is a better...I'd rather focus on mastering my buoyancy....
I thought that too. Then I tried Dry. Never looked back. Also, IMHO, made buoyancy management simpler