25 feet off of NJ? You were probably so close to shore that you could have swam to the beach then met your buddies later
. What wreck / where was this? For Jersey, usually the deeper farther out wrecks get much better vis. However, it might be a good idea to finish your AOW before doing the deeper ones. Training with a pony bottle is also pretty important. Finally, the tide can have a huge effect on the vis of closer to shore wrecks.
Sorry to hear you didn't have an awesome first NJ dive. I had a similar experience on one of my first nj dives. It was the "120 wreck", 75 feet deep and only about 2 feet of vis. Thank God for wreck reels!!!
Keep at it! Nj has some world class diving. You just have to be in the right place at the right time. Good luck!