why would anybody think I was intimidating? I don't get it.
Have you seen your avatar?
On a serious note.
There is hardly anyone around here I would not dive with. I am a new diver with just over 100 dives since June of 2008. I worked hard to get better. One of my instructors once asked me in experience level where do I rate myself. I told him that I rate myself one step above entry level. I still find myself fumble from time to time and still need to work on my trim and propulsion. But overall I am finally finding my dives enjoyable. Especially when I can dive with someone who dives slow. I do not like to dive with someone who sprints underwater.
I'll even dive with a sprinter at least twice. First to realize (s)he is a sprinter and tell them to slow down and second to see if they've listened. If they didn't listen I will move on. Pacificgal is great example for me. A wonderful buddy I've met in Monterey, CA! She was so excited to show me so many things that she run back and forth around trying to find and show me things. What she didn't realize is that most of my dives are in a quarry so not much to see compared to just about any ocean dive spot. Once I told her that we did WONDERFUL dives off the boat the next day. On the other hand liveaboard in Thailand was another story. Those guides (from DMs to Instructors) were pretty much speed daemons! I did not like that and after a while I pretty much did a "s***w this I am slowing down and don't care where you speed to" approach (had a pony bottle as my buddy).
So if I ever end up in Seattle area I am bringing my gear and hope we can do a dive or two there!
As for this weekend, I am flying early for work on Mon-Tue so I can hopefully do a Saturday afternoon dive and Sunday boat dives and dragging my gear!
