​Becoming a diver

Is Kids Sea Camp a dream?

By Athena Gennone, age 10

Pale rays of tropical daylight filter through blue-tinted water as a ball of thin silver fish passes me by. Underneath, long streaks of flourishing orange corals stretch out, trees planted into the sandy floor. Is this a dream? No, it’s Kid’s Sea Camp!

My mom and I are at Buddy Dive on the beautiful island of Bonaire. It is more than a tropical family dive vacation; it’s a mother-daughter adventure that changed my life.

Here’s my experience of becoming a diver at the Kids’ Sea Camp!

I woke up on August 10 with the excitement of this new world in my eyes. This wasn’t a regular vacation day; this was the day I started my PADI Jr. Open Water (JOW) course at Kids’ Sea Camp!

When I was dressed and ready, I walked out of our brightly colored orange-and-yellow room, which stood out vibrantly against the surrounding turquoise water. I see the unearthly, gentle water lapping at the wooden dock to the left. My mom and I walked past the Blennies restaurant, enjoying the turquoise views, before turning toward the staircase to the dock below.

Meeting my instructors

As we walked down the steps, we saw the Kids Sea Camp and Buddy Instructors (Vanessa, Madi, Sven, Joe, and Mark), who waved to us from beside a round wooden table, topped with a large umbrella and a sign that said “JOW class.” They were warm, welcoming, and as lovely as anyone could ever be. They were helpful and kind, always lending a hand, but also allowed me to be independent and gain experience doing things on my own.

Before I did the open-water dives in the ocean, I had to complete my confined training dives in the pool. The Camp this week had a full JOW class of 12 kids, ages 10 to 15, with 4 PADI Instructors and other divemaster assistants.

The first day was challenging

On my first day, I learned how to set up and use my dive gear, including my BCD (buoyancy control device), regulator and gauges, air tanks, fins, mask, and snorkel. The first day was challenging, and I felt as though I’d never get it, but as the course progressed, I was required to take apart and reassemble my gear many times, and I began to understand. Over the three days of the course, I had it memorized and was ready to go each morning. My excitement towards the end of the week was to show my mom that I could get my gear set up and ready to jump off the dock and enjoy a dive with her.

During my course, I learned PADI diving skills and basic hand signals that evolved as we progressed toward becoming a diver.

Floating in divine heaven

The very first morning, I remember sliding my fins on and stepping into the shallow end of the pool with my gear on. We were split into our four groups, always with our instructors and buddies. We were practicing the pool skills we would use again in the ocean. My first breath underwater felt as if I was floating in divine heaven, the sun rays glimmering like golden gates through the water in front of me.

My excitement is bubbling inside me

On the day of my first open-water dive, we finished setting up our gear, had a dive briefing, and then a snack of green grapes. I remember my excitement bubbling inside me as I walked down the metal staircase that led into the calm, clear ocean.

The weight of the shiny grey tank decreased as I slipped into the water. I slid my long fins onto my feet as tiny waves lapped at my chest. My BCD, inflated with air, helped me stay afloat as I paddled over to my buddy, who waited patiently for the rest of us to join.

I dipped my face into the salty seawater and saw a bright teal parrot fish scuffling among the white sand and chipped pieces of coral that lay upon the bottom. My vision was a bit clouded by a light fog that blanketed the inside of my mask’s glass.

I learned to equalize my ears

When my head bobbed back up, Madi was looking at me expectantly. “Sorry,” I mumbled silently as she began to speak. The instructors briefed us on what we would be doing underwater. After we discussed the dive plan and signals, we held our deflator hose in the air and descended. I learned to equalize my ears.

I watched my buddy’s face light up as a small school of sparkling fish swam underneath us. One of them stopped to examine my fin, then kept swimming. My buddy Hadley was already ahead of me, waving for me to pull myself away from the extraordinary sights that I wanted to enjoy more of.

Signaling underwater

The other instructors and kids were diving alongside in their buddy teams as we headed to the training area. Vanessa turned to check on me as I had stopped again to observe two little angelfish swimming side by side. She asked, “Okay?” by making the okay sign with her hands. I nodded, making the same signal back to her.

As we passed a thicket of colorful coral, a huge yellow spotted eel emerged from its hiding place. Vanessa pointed to it, gave the diving group time to look, and we moved on. Another group of KSC kids, recognizable by their Scubapro dive gear, followed, their fins kicking through the water eagerly as they passed us by.

We descended to 20ft. I equalized my ears again. My buddy looked at me with a bit of concern in her eyes as she, too, equalized and then signaled, ‘Okay?’ I signaled back to her. We then watched a school of silverfish part as they swam past us.

UGH! The mask skill

My instructor, Vanessa, stopped again to check on us, then turned to point out a tiny spotted drumfish in a cleft within a piece of coral.

We finally reached the training area, and my instructor signaled to me to demonstrate the mask removal and replacement skill. If I didn’t have a regulator in my mouth, I would’ve groaned louder than the blue whale calls. This was not my favorite skill.

I had practiced taking my mask off many times in the pool, but I reluctantly nodded and peeled my mask off my face. Squeezing my eyes shut tight to keep out the salt water that would soon surround my face. My instructor’s hand was gently holding me so I could put my mask back on. Grabbing my scuba mask strap and pulling it over my head, pressing my mask against my face at the top, looking up, blowing air from my nose, and clearing my mask. When the flooding salty seawater had been emptied out of my mask, I opened my eyes.

Vanessa gave me an enthusiastic high-five and continued to ask the other students to remove their masks one by one. This was how we did each skill, one at a time, with big high-fives after each of us completed one. After our skills were done, Vanessa would take us on a short, fun dive.

Diving is so mesmerizing

She pointed into crevices to show us an octopus, and we saw white Spotted Drumfish and little fish called Sargent Majors. Vanessa loved pointing critters out to us, and we would bundle around her to peer at them, creating a pod of young divers. After the fun dives, although only for a few minutes, we would head back the way we came. My heart always sank as we came closer and closer to the end of our precious dives. I was snapped out of my thoughts one dive when my buddy rapidly tapped me and pointed to something exciting, like a long, white, and yellow-spotted eel dancing on the sand below.

On another dive, I looked up to see a massive silver fish with dark silver stripes jiggling out from its stomach and back; it was almost bigger than me. A Tarpon! My blue-gray eyes widened, and I signaled “cool” to my buddy, falling behind in the group as I stared at the Tarpon, its long fin disappearing into the water. Diving is so mesmerizing.

Time flies underwater

Twenty minutes could fly by, and it felt like twenty seconds. At the end of each dive, we headed to the Buddy Dive metal staircase that spiraled out of the water and up to the dock in front of us. Vanessa signaled “Okay?” to the diving group and instructed us to ascend slowly. We all gave her a final “Okay” as she lifted her inflator hose above her head, and we followed her like clones to the surface.

I inflated my BCD, feeling my weight lighten as I stopped kicking. Vanessa, taking her regulator out of her mouth, congratulated us on a class well done, and she climbed the stairs to the dock. She waved for us to follow, and I removed my regulator from my mouth. “That was so awesome!” I exclaimed happily after every dive.

Thank you, Mom and Kids Sea Camp

On Friday afternoon, while walking back to our room, past the Blennies restaurant and the turquoise water and white-sand beach, the colorful lizards scuttling along our path, the tropical birds singing melodies from the palm trees rising toward the still-bright sun, I shared my day with my mom. I thanked her for this experience, as it would stay a fond memory in my head and create a special place in my heart forever.