The KSC Dive Team
The Most Family Friendly Dive Team in the World
Family-friendly professionalism
The KSC Dive Team leads by example, practicing professionalism at every level. Kids Sea Camp staffers honor the PADI Code of Conduct by showing compassion, prioritizing safety, being family-focused, and paying attention to detail. It is what our KSC dive team and tour guides represent.
We Have A Perfect Safety Record
- Conservative Ratios: To ensure individual attention, they maintain a 1:2 instructor-to-child ratio for kids under 12 and a 1:1 ratio for divers with special needs.
- Constant Supervision: A dedicated Kids Sea Camp instructor stays with your child’s group for the entire trip, offering familiar faces and ongoing support.
We Are Specialized Youth Experts
- Special Needs Support: The KSC Dive team includes specialists trained to work with children with autism, ADHD, hearing or visual impairments, or physical disabilities.
- Lingual Instruction: They provide training in up to seven languages, including American Sign Language (ASL).
- Youth Programs: They are among the few teams worldwide with special waivers that allow them to take PADI Seal Team kids ages 8 to 9 into the ocean.
We Are More Than Just Instructors
- Concierge Service: The KSC Dive Team teaches diving and serves as a travel guide, hosting family events, cultural tours, and evening entertainment such as guitar sessions and sing-alongs.
We Have Rigorous Training Standards
Margo Peyton (USA)
President and Founder
Margo Peyton is the CEO of Kids Sea Camp Inc. and Family Dive Adventures and was inducted into the 2024 class of The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. She is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame and has received numerous other awards. Please see go the Margo Peyton hall of fame page on this site.
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Margo has certified over 8,100 youths with zero dive accidents, dedicating her life to children and diving as a passionate ocean advocate. She founded Ocean Wishes, a charity focused on ocean conservation and education. Additionally, Margo is a contributor to various dive magazines and an expert consultant on children and diving, with publications in Diver Magazine, Scuba Diving Magazine, and USA Today, among others.
Thomas Peyton (USA)
Vice President
Tom is a PADI Divemaster and the Vice President of Kids Sea Camp (KSC), a role he has held since 2013. He has significantly contributed to the organization’s growth alongside Margo, showcasing his talents as a writer, painter, singer, and designer. In 2020, both were honored with the PADI Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Tom is known for his effective leadership and team management, bringing skills in design, training, budgeting, and content development that have been crucial to KSC’s success. He focuses on creating enjoyable experiences for families with diverse interests, including fly fishing, volleyball, music, and more.
Robert Peyton (USA)
Lead Sales Representative
Robert is a true talent in our diving family, boasting over 4,500 dives by the age of 30. He is a PADI Staff Instructor and a Technical Instructor, having earned his Tec 40, 45, and 50 certifications. Since the age of 6, Rob has traveled the world with Kids Sea Camp and has trained with many incredible instructors along the way.
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He graduated from USC with a Bachelor’s degree in Business.
We are very proud to have him on our team. Rob’s two passions are fishing and diving. He enjoys teaching PADI Pro courses and is one of the very few instructors worldwide qualified to teach the PADI Junior.
Kids Sea Camp instructors are active PADI professionals committed to maintaining their skills and rescue training. The KSC Dive Team is evaluated regularly by parents, students, and fellow pros, reflecting our pride in their knowledge and expertise.
We offer instruction in seven languages: English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, French, and American Sign Language. Additionally, we have instructors worldwide who specialize in assisting divers with special needs, including autism, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and those needing extra care.
Josh Comay (USA)
KSC Tour Guide
Josh has been diving with Kids Sea Camp (KSC) alongside his family since 2008. An avid underwater photographer and a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, he is now semi-retired after a long career as an IT and entertainment executive.
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When he’s not diving for KSC, Josh spends his time teaching high school students calculus and other advanced mathematics. He looks forward to the day his grandchildren can join him as KSC divers.
Kiley Thueson (USA)
KSC Representative
Kiley started diving with KSC in 2021 while she was working in Roatan at Turquoise Bay as the coral restoration and dive academy manager. She loves teaching people (especially kids) how to dive and about the importance of the many components of our oceans.
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Kiley is passionate about ocean conservation and loves to see how diving can change people’s perceptions of the ocean. She grew up in Texas and graduated from UT Austin with a BS Computational Biology.
Woody Tinsley (USA)
Master Dive Instructor
Lord (almost) Doctor Woodrow Tinsley III, known as Woody, is a hero at Kids Sea Camp and a police officer in East Hartford, Connecticut. He has delivered babies, saved lives, and is dedicated to public safety diving. Woody is married to Sally and is a father of six—three daughters and three sons.
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Woody is certified as a Diveheart special needs instructor and buddy. He has certified over 750 divers and received awards such as the PADI Elite Instructor and PADI Community Service awards, along several police medals. Woody teaches popular courses like the Zombie Apocalypse Diver Certification, and he holds some pretty fun World Records in diving.
Special attention
The dive team travels on Kids Sea Camp family group trips each year. If you have special needs or language requests, call us and request accommodations during your reservation. We will do our best to ensure we have what you need for the requested trip. In some cases, private instruction may incur additional costs.
Sven Blank (Germany)
KSC PADI Dive Instructor
Sven, our German rock star at Kids Sea Camp, has been traveling with us since 2011. He is a PADI dive instructor and a new father. Now, his entire family joins us every summer, and we are thrilled to have Sven as one of our PADI professionals. We are even more excited to have his family diving with us.
Peter Kockish (Germany)
KSC PADI Dive Instructor
We met Peter in Roatan and were impressed by his ability to teach and connect with children. Peter is fun-loving, nurturing, and a perfect fit for KSC. He is an experienced special needs instructor as well as a technical diver.
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Peter dives with us a least two weeks a year. He has a strong passion for conservation, particularly in coral restoration. Peter leads by example, and we are proud to have him on our team.
Bigs Eggert (Germany)
KSC Tour Guide
Bigs Eggert has been a fixture on all our trips to the Philippines for over ten years. She is a Master Scuba Instructor and an excellent guide for our KSC weeks in the Philippines.
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Her ever-present smile and sense of humor make her professional demeanor seem effortless as she interacts with the KSC families. She enjoys both the adults and the children during our trips. Over the years, she has become not only a trusted business partner but also a devoted member of the Kids Sea Camp and Peyton family.
Kendall Williams (USA)
KSC PADI Dive Instructor
Kendall has been diving with Kids Sea Camp since she was certified as a PADI Junior Open Water Diver. She and her family have traveled with us all over the world. Currently, Kendall is in school pursuing a career in nursing, which is a great fit for her, given how well she interacts with children.
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She is nurturing, kind, and protective, much like a mama bear in the water. Kendall loves inspiring the next generation of divers, and we are incredibly proud of the adult dive instructor she has become.
Sharon Koen (South Africa)
KSC PADI DIve Instructor
Sharon is a PADI Instructor who has been working as a freelance instructor with Kids Sea Camp in Palau for the past seven years. She has a passion for teaching kids and will be joining KSC this summer. She is originally from South Africa.
Jesse Alpert (USA/PALAU)
KSC Media Guru
In 2014, Jesse participated in his first KSC in Palau. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology and is passionate about photography, videography, and rebreather diving. We are lucky to have Jesse as our primary videographer and photographer for most of our KSC weeks.
Doug Donnell (USA)
KSC PADI Dive Instructor
Doug is a retired U.S. Marine who has been diving since 1999. He grew up surfing in Santa Cruz, CA, and his love of the ocean has been a mainstay of his life. He started diving with Kids Sea Camp (KSC) with his family in 2019 and fell in love with the KSC concept. He became a Dive Master, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, and an aspiring underwater photographer all with KSC. Now he loves sharing his passion for the ocean and knowledge of scuba diving to ensure KSC families have safe and fun diving experiences.
Rob Mackichan (USA)
KSC PADI Dive Instructor
Rob is a PADI instructor and a KSC full-time photographer. He has been teaching with KSC since Jan 2023. He is also a Freediving Judge and is becoming a Technical and Cave diving instructor. From Roatan