I'm a strong advocate of not taking another class until you've had adequate in-water time to become comfortable with the things you learned in the last one. Classes that are advertised as "more time with an instructor" often turn out to be disappointing, particularly if you're still struggling with the basics of the skills you were introduced to in your initial training. Go diving. Take some time during each dive (safety stop is a good time) to practice the skills you "learned" in OW ... I put that in quotation marks because you didn't really learn those skills, you were taught how to learn them. Learning comes from practice and repetition, just as it does with most things. So go practice. When you reach a point where those skills are second nature, then it's time to consider continuing your diving education by taking another class.
There's a local online dive club called "Northwest Dive Club" ... Google it and join. You'll find a lot of people participating in your area. Make friends ... we're an outgoing community here in the northwest, and there are weekly diving opportunities. If GUE is an interest to you, there's a thriving GUE community here who will be happy to mentor you ... even before you sign up for a class. They have regular diving events, and "big buddies" are usually offered for newer divers. There's also a regional forum right here on ScubaBoard called "Orca Bait", although there are fewer participants there than you'll get on the local forum I mentioned earlier.
A lot of Portland area divers make regular trips up to the south Sound area, or to Hood Canal for dives. Many of us up here welcome the opportunity to take newer divers out and help them learn the sites, as well as help them work on their skills. All you need to do is ask.
As for exposure protection ... if you want to dive year-round, you're going to need a drysuit. You can do winter diving in a good 7-mil or semi-dry, and you'll be fine while in the water ... but once you're out, you'll get cold in a hurry. And a second dive is usually out of the question due to a loss of thermal units ... all you'll want to do is get out of that wet stuff and warm up. People who dive here in winter wear drysuits. Those who buy semi-dry almost always end up in a drysuit by December ... so it's cheaper, ultimately, to just go with the drysuit to begin with.
Welcome to a wonderful activity ... you're fortunate to live in an area where there's plenty of diving opportunities, and where most of it is shore diving (so no boat expenses). There's plenty here to see and experience ... you just have to dress for it.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
