Will Schrier has been a recreational diver for about 14 years, approaching 500 dives.  Being a native of Pittsburgh, PA, his early dive experience was limited to a dive trip or two per year to various Caribbean locations (we won't really count the training/certification dives in a lake in West Virginia - and no, there really isn't any diving in the three rivers of Pittsburgh!).  Prior to the pandemic, Will took some time away from his career in the Information Technology sector to simply travel and spent extended stays in Madagascar and Timor Leste doing voluntourism expeditions with a conservation group called Blue Ventures, as well as a couple stints in Bali exploring the Amed and Tulumben dive areas.  When the pandemic squashed his plans to return to Bali for an another six months to work as a dive master, Will returned to his tech career but decided to become a digital nomad and continue exploring domestically while working.  Many of you may have met Will during his stay in Florida where he joined USA Dive Club and participated in a number of local dives as well as plenty of dives at the Blue Heron Bridge.

Eventually, Will decided it was time to move on and circuitouslyy made his way up to Washington state to check cold water diving off his bucket list.  He had completed his drysuit certification in the summer of 2019 - though an ill-fitting rental drysuit for his course meant he did not stay dry for a single dive during the course.  The certification was intended to facilitate a couple dives with a friend in Plymouth in the United Kingdom, but after arriving there again found rental drysuits a complication and was eventually given a 7mm "semi-dry" wetsuit which he spent the weekend shivering in to explore the waters off Plymouth.

One might question why a self-professed "easily chilled" diver would head to the waters of Puget Sound in the autumn of 2021, but after 60+ dives over the course of a few months, Will is convinced that the Pacific Northwest does indeed offer some  world class diving and he'll be sharing the experience of a warm water diver going through a conversion to cold water and an overview of the highlights of PNW diving... oh, and he'll explain why he headed there to dive through the coldest months of the year!