Get a Sea Doo by Bombardier if you want a PWC, They are the Toyota of the PWC industry. Very rliable with a very large deal base for repairs and parts. Also there is no reason to be affraid to take a PWC in salt water so long as you do proper maintenance. Flush the engine at the end of the day wash it down with ivory liguid and CRC everything regularly and you wont have any problems. I am sure you will find that you will tire of the PWC very quickly. They are a lot of work, very wet and you pound constantly. There is no relaxing when riding a PWC it is very physical all of the time. Start to finish even when sitting still.
Do yourself a favor and buy a deck boat if you want to have family fun. They are very stable lots of room to stretch and relax, you can ski and tube behind them or fish if you like. You can run them up on a beach. Mount a Bar-B-Q to the rail and you can cook hot dogs and hamburgers.
