By Cathy Wakely
I have always loved the sea. I would read about it, dream about it, and aspire to live beside it one day.
“I can see the sea!!” shouts seven-year-old me from behind the car. It was the highlight of my year. Growing up in inner-city London, UK, our summer trip to Margate, on the coast, was a much-anticipated event. All three children in the back seat competed to be the first to see the sea! I always won!
When I met my unique, excellent, and fabulous husband, we didn’t share much about common interests, and we were far too competitive to take up each other’s hobbies since, having only just started, we were at a huge disadvantage! So we resolved to start something new together. Our honeymoon was in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and we decided to learn to scuba dive. Imagine our shock when we were presented with books and exams on our honeymoon! (Way before e-learning!). But we learned together, and both of us became utterly mesmerized by the underwater world, the beauty, the color, the action of the reef, and the peace in our hearts. The strands of love woven together to create our family tapestry had begun to take shape, and scuba diving was one of those strands.
Dave and I traveled the world to dive on every vacation, and we also took up diving in the cold and murky waters of the UK. We loved to be at one with the sea in all its forms: cold, warm, crystal clear, murky green. We loved the camaraderie of diving, the discussions about our underwater adventures, the concern from all of us for protecting the environment, and the lack of concern for what we might look like as we come out of the ocean, with hair everywhere and snot pouring out our noses! Diving is a great leveler!
Fast forward a few years, and we live in Eswatini, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, with two small children. We continued to dive, but it became more complicated, trying to find places where childcare was available to cover the parents of us who were going diving. I was delighted when a friend from America visited and brought “Scuba Diving” magazine, which Dave and I devoured from front to back. I was drawn to an advert for “Kids Sea Camp,” which sounded like the perfect vacation for our little family! My children, Holly and Zebedee, were only 1 and 2 at the time, but I cut out the advert and saved it, and it came with us halfway across the world as we set up our new home in Bermuda.
When Holly turned four, I looked at the advert and inquired about Kids’ Sea Camp trips. So began our journey of diving as a family and strengthening again that strand of the rope of love that binds us together. I hoped my children would love the ocean like we did, and hopefully even scuba diving, but I had yet to learn how much they would love it!
We went to Curacao on our first Kids Sea Camp family dive vacation, and after that, there was no question of seeking out other vacations since we had found the winning deal! Kids Sea Camp family vacations are amazing! They are an actual holiday for the parents, who get to spend time with other like-minded parents who share similar values and a similar love for the ocean and the environment, and for sharing this with their children. The parent boats are a haven of hilarity and fun, which can be enjoyed knowing that your children are having their absolute blast doing PADI SASY, PADI SEAL, or diving on the kids’ boat with the incredibly highly experienced Kids Sea Camp dive team that not only supervised our kids but mentored them, thought them and became like family to them. From Margo and Tom to Woody, Olivia, and many others, they have inspired, encouraged, and nurtured our kids to love diving and travel.
Watching Holly and Zebedee, then 4 and 5, being taught all sorts of childhood fun by the older children brought me so much joy. They would be carefully watched as they jumped off the dock, ran around the beach, and did crazy stuff like learning new high-five maneuvers from teenagers! It was heartwarming to see “the village raising the child,” and the other children vacationing with us were so kind and loving. It just made for an amazing couple of weeks for all of us!
We were hooked!
Children see things differently from adults and learn with other children, furthering their dive education while having so much fun, framing diving with a new perspective. Diving becomes the child’s hobby and the parents’ since they control their decisions, diving, and responses. The children come off the boat full of excitement at what they have seen, what they have done, and what they have achieved. The children share their experiences, forming friendships that can continue throughout the year. The children vacation together and have amazing fun. They switch the tables around in restaurants so they can eat together, and their world is shared through the eyes of one another, not just through the eyes of the parents.
Meanwhile, The parents love watching their children connect, enjoying crab racing, shell collecting, sunsets, basketball, hammocks, and hilarity while they sit at the bar and chat through the day, laughing and joking and sharing some of the challenges of parenthood. Some of my best friends, with whom I have shared the most from my heart, are friends from Kids Sea Camp. I have learned so much from such fascinating people and the challenges they have overcome. I would love to spend my whole year with them, but if it is just a couple of weeks of the year, I will aim to repeat them every year!!
Kids Sea Camp has been much more to our family than a dive vacation. It’s been a place to meet interesting new people and a place to meet old friends with whom we had spent previous Kids Sea Camp weeks. It is a place for children to unite and be kids again while learning fabulous skills and enjoying the fun of new and old friendships. Kids Sea Camp is a space where you feel physically and emotionally safe. It’s great to see old faces you trust, whom you know will look after your children, underwater and above the water. It’s a space where you can connect with friends and feel safe to share your anxieties or concerns with the high points and celebrations. Kids Sea Camp is a place to learn from other parents, providing different perspectives on approaching things.
Oodles of fun
These are the reasons we have gone back to Kids Sea Camp time and time again. The key to a vacation is fun, and Kids Sea Camp has oodles of it. The key to fun is developing relationships, and the opportunities are plentiful at Kids Sea Camp.
The side benefits of traveling the world, experiencing other cultures, necessitating occasionally being uncomfortable are, of course, all there as well. Still, they are not limited to Kids Sea Camp and are just a function of traveling with children. However, Kids Sea Camp can make it all stress-free, easy, and safer.
When we returned from Palau on Continental, most of our group was on this same flight. The children started to play together, play cards, color, share stories of the week, and keep one another entertained. We had so many comments from the others on the flight about what a joy it was to watch them, and “Are you all a big family?” The air stewardesses came and handed out ice cream from first class to all of them! These moments are unique, and Kids Sea Camp, Tom and Margo Peyton, and their incredible kid-friendly dive team create them in abundance.
Loving KSC is easy
There are not enough positive words to express my love for everything Kids Sea Camp has provided for our family over the past 20+ years. My children Zebedee and Holly both live by the ocean in Australia. Holly became a Divemaster and then an instructor via Kids Sea Camp and is now a PADI Course Director at the age of 21, with over 2000 dives, working full time as a dive instructor in Queensland, Australia, whilst also studying at university. She and her partner have set up their own dive company. Learning from and working with Margo and Tom Peyton at Kids Sea Camp was invaluable; they provided a wealth of experience and generously shared their home, hearts, and time. We are so very grateful for the direction provided. Zebedee also loves to dive, but you are likelier to find him out on a surf break in the early mornings than donning scuba gear.
Happy 25th Birthday, Kids Sea Camp! A quarter of a century has been well spent shaping a future generation of ocean enthusiasts and environmental protectors. Thank You!!
