I'm going to be spontaneous
and choose my destination the day before setting off.

It needs to fit the following criteria - hot and sunny, with tropical fishies. The hot and sunny is for my tuther half, the fishies are because I want to do stage one of my scuba diving qualification. I suppose the third criteria (criterium?) would be no fuck off giant sharks!
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 10:59, 3 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I like sharks best of all the surviving dinosaurs.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:00, Reply)

Criterion.

(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:01, Reply)

Yes.
Criterion is the singular. Criteria is the plural.

Lots of people get that one wrong.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:09, Reply)

thanks
I knew it wasn't criteria, but couldn't remember the singular
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:11, Reply)

surely hot, sunny and with fish is more than one?
and thus criteria is correct?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:13, Reply)

but I said criteria
when discussing the first two things and then the third was an afterthought and so it fitted into the sentence as a single criterian. If you replace criteria/on with cat/s it works.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:39, Reply)

PADI? You can do it, intensivly, in a week.
It's great if you find a good location, somewhere like Shamel-Shek is a good enviroment.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:03, Reply)

yup that's the one
I was thinking of doing the very first stage here in Manchester in a swimming pool and finishing it up in the tropics. I was thinking of Egypt, the red sea is supposed to be the best. I went to Sharm el Sheik a few years ago and did snorkelling there, it was beautiful.

And the seafood is unbelievable.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:32, Reply)

Trouble with that is, the instructors between the uk and egypt will change.
If you're confident in the water, that's fine, but if not, you'd need to build up the trust again. Whatever you do, look up the centre on the website, there are loads of fake PADI places, and they're normally uninsured and extreamly dangerous. Don't think "Well, they're english, they have to be offical" eaither. What would be quite nice is to do the whole lot there over a week on a two week holiday with a guy with his own dive-boat. It's a bit costly doing it that way, but you'll get the chance to see other things, and it really would be a holiday of a lifetime.

The golf of mexico is great, or at least, it was, not been there since it's turned comercialised into the american version of an 18-30s greek island.

There is also worth considering... Australia/New Zealand, Maldives and The Carabian.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:49, Reply)

Buy yourself a waterproof camera, it makes you look at things differently too.
You can get a normal compact digital camera and a case for it, which won't be to bulky and can do video too. I know it's a bit of an expense, but it can be amazing.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 11:50, Reply)

don't forget
Turkey. Sharm is ok but I would never go there ever again - definitely the strangest place I have ever been but then I am not a diver - ditto the fab seafood tho. And quad biking at dusk was awesome.
*note to self - the desert is hard packed sand and thus a proper supportive bra is required, not a bikini top...*
(Purpledoris I've got afeckin' job, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:26, Reply)

The only thing I didn't like about Sharm
was the beggars constantly shouting "baksheesh" at you and the men trying to flatter you into buying things by telling you you have the beauty of the lotus flower. Which I do, of course, but that's not the point.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:41, Reply)

I'd love to do it in Australia
part of the reason I want to do it is plans to emigrate to Australia in the next few years. Although once again my irrational shark fear comes up.

I might try and make a holiday around the diving and see if that fares me better. Thanks for the tips, I am pretty gullible when presented with a fancy website.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:38, Reply)