“A safe place to dive as a family”

My husband Doug and I have been scuba diving for the better part of 25 years. Before having kids, we enjoyed diving together in many dive destinations worldwide. Diving has always been a pleasant temporary escape from the everyday world for us. It provides a quiet peace we have not often found on the top side.  Doug and I are retired US Marines, and when we had our sons, we stopped diving like most families have done when starting a family.

When our youngest turned 10, the age PADI allows kids to become Jr. open water divers, we heavily fostered both boys’ interest in becoming certified divers. Doug and I were very excited to have our boys as dive buddies; it was a long-awaited dream come true. Josh and Sam started their course at home, at our local dive shop, and then we flew to Jamaica to complete their PADI courses.  We quickly learned (before finding Kids Sea Camp)that most of the dive industry does not seem to cater to youth divers safely. Smaller gear and experience were rugged to come by.

After the certification process we experienced in Jamaica, we felt it was rushed. Those dive instructors were not at all nurturing and clearly did not understand the difference between a child student and an adult.  After waiting over 10 years to dive with our kids, we wanted them to have a safe, fun, positive experience. We did not want them to be scared; unfortunately, that was exactly what had happened in Jamaica.  After returning from that trip, we began searching for what we, as parents, considered a safer option.

That is when we found Kids Sea Camp, and what a fantastic find it was. A place where families from around the world could come together and meet other like-minded families and enjoy a safe, fun scuba diving family vacation.  There was plenty of time together with our boys to be enjoyed while there was also time apart.  Our first Kids Sea Camp was in the Cayman Islands in 2019. Josh and Sam met other certified diving kids to have fun and create new friendships with them.  They dove with knowledgeable, kid-friendly instructors who improved their diving skills and kept them safe. We all had fun with karaoke, Pirates, treasure hunts and many other family activities throughout the trip. Doug and I had a worry-free trip and enjoyed scuba diving with our boys on the family dives and with other parents on the adult dives.  Doug and I could not have been happier watching the kids bond, sing, dive, laugh, and enjoy every day.

Sadly, shortly after that wonderful week, tragedy struck our family, and our oldest son, Josh, passed away. This devastated our family, and it was next to impossible to navigate the best way to move forward and experience joy again, for Sam’s sake. If that wasn’t enough, COVID showed up. An understatement would be to say it was an especially difficult time for us. Grief is not a straight line, and we all have our own way of dealing with pain. As a family of three now, we came together and supported each other, understanding that we each had our own path. One by one, we decided that it was time to live our lives while remembering our beloved Josh.

Doug was the first to take the step forward and asked us to attend another Kids Sea Camp. This resonated with us as it was when our family last experienced a joyful time with our son Josh. It would feel good to get back in the water again and experience that quiet, healing peace of the sea we all longed for.

Doug and I wanted to continue diving and we were hopeful that Sam would enjoy being our buddy.  We agreed on St. Lucia Kids Sea Camp, where we met Margo and Tom. I was still deep in grief while Sam was 12 and was hesitant to dive after everything that we had been through. Margo paired him up one-on-one with a very nurturing and friendly Kids Sea Camp instructor. We relaxed and watched and allowed the Kids Sea Camp magic to happen. Before we knew it, Sam was in the water (with me tagging along) on some fabulous dives where he seemed to enjoy every minute. Doug and I enjoyed diving with Sam and his instructor throughout the trip. We have continued to go on more family dive trips with Kids Sea Camp, and we always dive with Sam as a family whenever we want to.  As you can imagine, we had some difficulties throughout this time of our lives, but the KSC staff was always ready and willing to allow us the private space we needed whenever we needed it.  Sometimes, that meant not diving and doing other things together as a family; sometimes, it was diving with Sam on the kid’s boat, and sometimes, taking additional courses to learn more about diving. Nothing was ever forced on us; we were encouraged to go at our own pace, march to our own drum, and do what we wanted when we wanted. (See our new Catalog)

Over the next few years, we became ready to live and experience more, so we decided to try Fiji. Margo and Olivia told us about the world heritage sites and the amazing diversity in diving there.  They shared the spiritual feelings, nurturing behavior, and personality of the Fijian culture.  The thought of the music, beauty, and peace that Fiji could bring to our family convinced us to go. I loved the vibrant reefs and fabulous topside views. I had also begun to work in a fulfilling job back home assisting homeless veterans; that along with the support of my family allowed me to progress in my grief journey. Diving is peace for me, and I could do it every day. I love to think and be in my own mind while seeing the underwater world. I am grateful for KSC and the world of destinations they offer.

Sam took longer to process our tragedy. He was very young when we lost Josh and losing your brother is a difficult and unique journey to work through. There were many times that Sam chose not to dive and be in his own space and that was okay. As much as we wanted him to embrace diving like we did, he needed to make his own decisions. To us, diving was not to be forced, and we gave him the space and time to focus on things more important to him.  Doug and I love diving; it brings us peace and joy. After a few years, we decided to go on a trip with Tom and Margo without our son. He was now old enough to stay home. Sam was able to just take a week and decompress from his difficult school schedule while Mom and Dad had a fabulous week diving in Little Cayman.  That was one of the hardest things to do and we missed him every day, however it was healing for all 3 of us.

This past year, Sam decided to join us in Belize and enjoyed diving with us as well as with the other teens. It was fantastic to see him enjoying diving again. I hope that he will develop a love of diving that rivals mine, and we will keep offering him the opportunity to dive and travel with us. He needs to find his own passion. Doug and I love traveling and diving with Kids Sea Camp and the staff. What this company offers to families is personal, unparalleled, and priceless.  Margo, Tom, and Olivia feel like family to us. We have made lifelong friends with too many other divers to mention. Doug and Tom began the journey to dive master a year ago in the Philippines, and just recently, in 2024, Doug became a PADI instructor and will, hopefully, going forward, be a special part of the caring dive team that helped our own family grow and heal.  I will tag along for my peace, and we will buddy up with Sam when his schedule allows.

We will be forever grateful for the last week we shared with our beloved son, Josh. We have so many memories and photos to look back on from that first week and the eight additional trips we’ve been on with Kids Sea Camp. I hope to have many more. We continue to travel this grief journey, but we have KSC for peace, fun, new friendships, and opportunities.

By Jessica Donnell