I've been reading the manual for the past couple of days trying to pick up on certain things but man there's a ton of stuff here to absorb
Bill I found there is a power save mode,while in this mode the LCD will turn off in ten seconds if there is no activity,have you tried this and it just doesn't save much or no,haven't tried it?Secondly I can see sand getting in between the shutter and lens.I like the factory's recommended cleaning method,just hold under water and repeatedly turn the camera on and off to rinse out any debris.
Dan I don't know if I'll take it Skishing but defiantly take it to the Canal,snorkeling and possibly light diving.
Casey have you used the LED light for supplemental lighting in low light or night time conditions?
The way I see it is my last camera was ten yrs old and sucked in low to zero lighting so by now there's gotta be some improvements in night time shooting.
Also do find yourself taking most of your pics in Auto mode and tweak some lighting,speed and other adjustments or have you become acclimated enough with all of the SCN functions and do you see a difference between the two?I've noticed that with camera this intricate you have to be dead on with all of the optional manual functions to make a simple composition look awesome.