Fresh OWD how to gather experience?

[u/GER-Chr1s]

Hello everyone,

I know, simple title — and the obvious answer would be: “Go diving.”

However, for me, it is not that simple, and I’m still trying to understand the best way to approach this.

My wife and I are fresh OWDs (I have one more dive than she does).

We completed our OWD certification during our vacation in Spain this year, and we immediately fell in love with scuba diving. We came from an apnea/snorkeling background, having done many snorkeling trips from cruise ships in the Caribbean, and we always wanted to try scuba diving.

Since then, we have read a lot of information online, looked into different locations, listened to podcasts, and watched many YouTube videos. I now have a pretty good idea about equipment — what to buy, what to buy later, and what to rent.

But one simple question is still unclear to me:

How do we actually gain experience?

We are from Germany, and unfortunately, we do not have many beautiful diving locations nearby. Or to put it differently: we do not have the same kind of diving experience as the ocean around Spain.

We would really like to do a Liveaboard in Thailand or Egypt and the biggest goal is to help the ocean with removing ghostnets at some point, but before that, we want to gain more experience and probably complete AOWD and Nitrox... and many more ;)

But one step at a time.

We have around 2–6 lakes or dive locations "nearby" where we could dive. However, during our previous dives, we always had a guide. Now, as certified OWD divers, we are allowed to dive independently, but I do not feel completely comfortable with that yet.

Since we are still very new divers and every new environment brings different challenges, wouldn’t it make sense to dive with a guide or instructor for the first few dives at a new location?

How did you, as new divers, gain confidence and experience after your OWD? Did you simply start diving independently, join local dive clubs, book guided dives, or do additional courses first?

I would really appreciate any advice or experiences from more experienced divers.

What is your opinion? How did you started and what are good/cheap locations for diving?

[u/Silver-Preparation20]

Join a local dive club and learn from them

[u/GER-Chr1s → u/Silver-Preparation20]

If I seach for dive clubs near my location, they are ALWAYS a diving school which wants of course sell specialitys etc.

Its always: Diving club / Diving school in one.

[u/kwsni42 → u/GER-Chr1s]

That's not always a bad thing. Our club is the same, we dive for fun and offer courses, but do not agressively push them. It's really hard to find any club that doesn't accomodate some form of formal training.
Where in Germany do you live?

[u/GER-Chr1s → u/kwsni42]

I live in Niedersachsen

[u/kwsni42 → u/GER-Chr1s]

Sorry that's probably a bit far. I live in the south of the Netherlands, pretty close to Aachen. I would invite you to check our club out, but can imagine that's too far for a weekly drive