It really depends on what you want to do with the camera. I use an iPhone for many of my photos, and has been mentioned here, today's phones can take very impressive images.
But I also have a Nikon 7000 SLR that I use when I want to get more creative. The big difference is that the SLR allows you to zoom in on distant subjects, and to some degree the images have more definition.
If you go that route, you will definitely want image stabilization, which in the SLR world usually means stabilized lenses. Especially for zoom/telephoto shots, but it is useful even for wider angled lenses when you're on a boat.