Dunno about that specific model...
I went through a photography phase a few years back, and I would suggest a few things:
If you want to do 'creative' photography, you REALLY need to be able to change lenses - and make sure they are good lenses !
You will also want a good compact all in one camera - you will not want to carry a huge bag of lenses etc. everywhere
So by a good compact, make sure it has a good lens with decent rance of optical zoom, and use that until its holding you back, then get a 'real' camera... the compact one will still be really useful...
FWIW, by dad bought a Fuji a few years back that has gaskets for all the controls and screen - it is fully waterproof (can't remember how many metres), and it looks like a normal cmera... I would go for something similar - then it's even more useful as a second camera if you get more serious...
cheers
Col