Learning to Scuba Dive (as a beginner)

[doodab]

eaten fresh diver caught scallops.

Mmm. I love scallops.

[xchaotic]

As others have said Malta is great for diving, Spain is not too bad if you're just learning.
My thinking is that the locations should be nice enough for you to enjoy it, but so that there's still something for you to look forward to.
In any case doing the course is of course skills, skills as the instruments need to become parts of your body and as you become experienced, you don't even notice them.
As a final note you can't fly for ca 18hours if you've been diving deep (you'll learn about that) so set aside some extra time for chilling out after the course.

I'm also not too impressed with PADI as I've gone lower freediving than I did doing the basic course, but there's online training and quiz now so you can do your tests in UK and dive abroad for example. Finally it is recognised everywhere, so I guess that's a plus.

[Churchill]

I did some Scuba in the Navy and then later completed my Open Water(Padi) in Rhodes and my Advanced Open Water at Stoney Cove (In October and it was ******* Freezing!).

Padi gives you "Instant Access", BSAC takes longer and to be honest I'd go BSAC next time.