Ah, comfort zone. . . Don't grab a stranger to dive 300 feet to shipwrecks with sea monsters. But grab a stranger and go to 3 feet on a sandy bottom and just blow bubbles. If you will notice, there is a different set of skills for those two dives. Your open water certification should cover all the skills necessary for a shallow, good condition dive, with any other certified diver.
If you became a diver to fight sea monsters, or do the scariest dives, or catch giant fish, barehanded. . . you're going to be disappointed. If you want to explore a new world, see sights most pople will only see in pictures, you can do that by starting in shallow water over a sandy bottom. As you learn the stranger you're diving with isn't an axe murderer, but a nice person that wants to experience a wet world, the two of you can explore together. . . If it turns out your partner is an axe murderer, come back here and you'll get your money back.
There are many people who are waiting to dive only if it is with Jacques Cousteau, You can wait to dive only with the greatest diver, but the wait might be forever. I try to get beginning divers to go to the underwater park at Tenkiller, not because it is the "best" dive on the lake. It is a very good dive, where you can meet other divers. You can walk into the water on an easy slope, you can stop at 3 feet, or 30 feet, you choose. If as a new diver you didn't bring a dive flag, The park has a large bouyed protected area with many other divers, someone should always have a dive flag flying.
You can always go door to door in your hometown looking for a dive partner, it doesn't often work. Or you can go where there are people wanting to dive, and it's only 30 to 50 feet from a good dive site, you choose. (But it's muddy) (Or it's too cold) (Or it's too wet) If it is always too. . .too. . . well you've just saved money, by not buying all that stuff, that's too wet.
If you're a new certifed diver, you have a lot to learn, you'll learn by going underwater, not sitting at home. You'll learn that if you're swimming behind other divers, It's muddy. Learn to swim where someone else isn't kicking the bottom. . . see you're learning. You'll learn that if you swim right up to small fish, they run like, I'd run from JAWs. You'll learn to move slowly, facing away from small fish, our heads turn, you learn that fishes heads don't. Hold an earthworm in your hand and the fish fear you. . . drop a worm near the fish and back away, and the next worm, the fish will fight you for it.
One small step at a time with one dive partner, or many partners. . . in time you'll be ready to dive to 300 feet to shipwrecks with Jaws guarding the treasure chest. . . I'll be home watching TV.
