My son was in the open ocean and loving diving!

My whole family is loving Kids Sea Camp 

We got to Bonaire Kids Sea Camp a day early to spend a little time getting used to the place. My kids, although avid swimmers, had never really felt comfortable in the ocean. Kids Sea Camp changed everything. The first day in Curaçao, my kids wouldn’t go past where they couldn’t touch the bottom of the water. By day two, they were swimming the channel with local kids, back and forth. I was thrilled that he was loving it!

I had spent my whole childhood enjoying the ocean, and I’d always watched Jacques Cousteau and even got to go to some of his lectures through Cal Tech in California, but after seeing Jaws, I was terrified of getting eaten. Years later, after a really wonderful impromptu snorkeling shark experience with about 50 wonderful leopard sharks, I finally became a scuba diver, a rescue diver and then a divemaster. I finally realized many of my dreams of interaction, observation and the amazing feeling of being in what I think is heaven that scuba diving has to offer. I thought my kids would never see it that way. They were always nervous because of the shark movies they’d seen, whether we were snorkeling or kayaking. Those days are over now.

My son, who really had an aversion to studying, read his scuba certification book nightly with an enthusiasm I had never seen. He worked hard, and his instructor, Steve, worked with those kids in amazing ways. Every day, I saw a personal and intellectual growth in both kids that I could never have imagined. The best part is, they were just having fun and had no idea what huge obstacles they were overcoming.

I have to say, the most exciting day for my husband and me was the day we dove with them for the first time. I dove with Megan in PADI Seal Team, as she wasn’t old enough for the full PADI open-water certification. She actually showed me around the “In Ocean lagoon” and knew what animals hung out where what their personalities and tendencies were and how to interact with them. She took me to all the different areas so I could experience all her new friends: the friendly stingrays, the enormous goliath grouper and the blowfish that just loved to hover right in front of your mask all the time. We laughed and giggled underwater at all their personalities as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She monitored my air and me as if she had to make sure I would be OK in her newly found playground. It was great!

My husband went with Michael on his PADI open-water dive. My son had done it. He was certified. He could go out off of the rocks with his equipment and make good decisions about the current and depth; he was really good at buoyancy and was a natural at looking out for others. There he was in the open ocean, loving and appreciating its vast, amazing beauty with respect and awe, just as I had always dreamed he would get to do.

Michael’s always been like me, feeling close to animals and nature. I used to try to describe to the kids the amazing and beautiful experiences I’ve had as a diver, how it feels to lay on the sandy ocean floor and look up through the Kelp with the sun shining through, how it feels to play copycat with the sea lions, what to do and what not to do so you can enjoy being a guest in their world. Now when we talk about it, Michael gets that same look, that one only divers know and share.

This experience wasn’t available when I was a child. We could only watch the occasional Jacques Cousteau special and dream of what it might be like. But now, my children and I have a world of exploration, beauty, and heaven to explore together. It would be impossible to describe the feeling, as a parent, that I have every time I think about the joy on their faces at their own accomplishment, and whenever I remember the relationships, both human and animal, that they developed through Kids Sea Camp. We’re going again, for two weeks, to do different programs. My kids, who love piles of presents under the tree, were ecstatic when I asked them if it was OK if we did a really small Christmas so that we could go to Kids Sea Camp instead.

Nothing in the world has given them what Margo’s Kids Sea Camp gave them, and we are so fortunate that we have the opportunity in today’s world to give our kids this gift that will start them on a path that will last a lifetime. I am so grateful to Margo for having this dream for her and her kids and making this program a reality for those of us who see the great value in it but never really thought it was a possibility. Not only is it a fun thing to do, but it makes a huge change in the children and the parents who have done this.  Our lives will never be the same, and we have been truly blessed by the experience. 

Margo is a mom and a diver, so she has high expectations as a parent and that makes me as a mother feel safe and comfortable at her Kids Sea Camps.  This was an amazing family experience that we will treasure forever and hopefully will continue to create new ones each year.

By Gloria, (Happy Sea Camp mom) of Michael and Megan