Hello all. My husband and I live in Pasadena, CA, are newly OW certified and will finish up our advanced class this weekend. We are in the process of selecting good quality gear, which (sadly) appears to equate with parting with an awful lot of hard earned cash! I have been checking out a lot of the threads for ideas on gear and underwater cameras and you seem like a friendly and helpful bunch. We will be leaving for Hawaii in a couple of weeks so I may try hitting you all up for some info before then. Glad to know there is so much great info out there and that people are willing to share their experiences and opinions with newbies like us!