Hello from Minnesota

[snowshoerunner]

I'm a newbie to scuba diving.
Just about finished with SSI open water certification....in a couple hours I take my last day of open water diving at Square Lake in Minnesota, USA.

I had planned to take a trip in February 2010 to New Zealand to bicycle for a few weeks with my brother from Alaska and he talked me into scuba diving. So we are contemplating the Great Barrier Reef or maybe Fiji Islands. Any advice on that is also recommended. I realize February may not be the best time for diving in either place but otherwise I will be freezing my butt off biking on the southern island of New Zealand.

I am especially interested in U/W photography (just a novice photographer above water but enjoy it). I am thinking of getting a videocamera and housing. From a quick look around the internet it appears that Sony and Canon are the choices. The HD Sony videocam with HDD and memory card look awesome. Any advice on videocameras and housings?

[The Publisher]

Welcome to the SMN Community Snowshoe.

Just about any Sony videocam will produce good footage. The HC7 and HC9's are popular too.

Both the GBR and Fiji make for some really good diving.

[lottie]

Welcome to the boards snowshoerunner. congrats on getting your SSI open water cert.
I went to the GBR a number of years ago (before i got my OW) and was with a cattle boat operation, which wasn't that good..so whomever you book up with to dive, try and check out a few of the operations and see if they take out groups that are less than a dozen people.

HTH

[snowshoerunner]

Thanks for the advice Lottie.