I spent the week with my family on the Kona side of Hawaii getting SCUBA certified at Jack's Dive Locker in Kailua. It was a pretty good trip, although diving isn't the easiest thing to pick up initially, especially breath control, but I passed and got my Open Water Diver certification. Diving in the tropics is pretty nice as you don't need to wear nearly as thick a wet suit and the fish life is much more vibrant.
(This post was written well after the fact. I got my Advanced Open Water certification in August 2011 in Monterey, CA. The water was significantly colder, but not as cold as I expected. And I rather enjoyed diving in the kelp forests. I think cold water diving has much more interesting plant life whereas warm water diving has much more interesting fish life)
