Scuba diving is something I have wanted to learn for a long time. I’d really like for a friend to take lessons with me, but my friends are either too busy or not interested in learning to dive. So I’d be starting totally on my own, not knowing any other divers. Can you give me some tips on getting started and meeting others to dive with?

You are in the same situation that I was years ago.

First, find a dive shop in your area. If there are multiple shops, do any of them have a dive club?

Second, take the basic open water course from that dive shop. Try to sign up for a group class. Do your certification dives locally (instead of internationally). Get the names of the people in your certification class. You’ll probably find a lot of people that will be interested in diving, but are lacking a dive buddy just like you.

Hopefully, there is some where local that a lot of diver will go to train. It may not be the best diving environment, but it allows you to dive.

If you like that dive shop, take some trips with them.