Sorry if it put you off! For balance, diving can also be a very magical and surprisingly calm/zen-like experience. The best diving experiences I have had were in fairly shallow warm water (10-12m?) with great visibility. It is amazing seeing see-turtles, schools of fish, corals. It is like visiting a completely different world!

Basically, as long as you dive in much better conditions than what you trained/qualified for, you will have a great time. Well worth doing.

I just wish more dive shops were on the more conservative side. And that they had better boats with less fumes and less waiting around!