Margo Peyton HOF Award Winner!

Margo Peyton, renowned for creating Kids Sea Camp in 2000, will be inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame on September 28th in Grand Cayman at the Hall of Fame headquarters. Her three decades of hard work and groundbreaking contributions to the diving world have earned her this prestigious recognition. (See our story)(See video receiving her award)

Launching Kids Sea Camp as a single mother two and a half decades ago, Margo Peyton has cultivated a global community of families worldwide. (See our gallery) The company’s first family dive trip in Curacao involved just seven families. Today, it has expanded to host over 350 families annually, traveling globally for 20-plus weeks a year. This growth underscores Kids Sea Camp’s significant role in promoting diving as a family activity.

Margo is a pioneer in bringing kids and families to dive resorts when no one even thought to put family groups in the ocean. She has been the CEO of Kids Sea Camp and Family Divers since its creation in 2000. (See PADi blog about Margo Peyton)

She has contributed to over 8,000 youth diving certifications with zero dive accidents. A leader, pioneer, and inspiration to her peers, Margo has dedicated her life to children, family travel, the ocean, and diving. She is a passionate ocean advocate who has promoted education, training, and travel throughout her life.

Margo is also the founder of Ocean Wishes, a charity designed to protect, preserve, and educate through training grants, donations, and conservation.

A note from Drew Richardson, President of PADI and member of the International Divers Hall of Fame

“Margo Peyton has many abilities that make her extraordinary. For decades, she has selflessly dedicated her life to training and empowering children and their families to safely explore and care for the ocean while engaging with diverse cultures. Her pioneering, visionary, and groundbreaking work in training children has been inspirational to thousands of people, dive professionals, and divers – myself included.

Margo continues to be a relentless champion of Kids and has proven that Kids can and should be diving. She has shaped Kids Sea Camp into an incredible multigenerational family experience and one of the few things left in this world that effectively unplugs kids and their families from technology and connects them, the ocean, and this planet. In a world consumed by technology, social media, and electronic screens that consume and define existence more each day, her work bridges the gap and risk of growing separate from nature and each other.

A values-driven professional and caring person, Margo used her superpowers to make a difference across the planet. Although she possesses many superpowers, perhaps at the top of the list would be her ability to ignite positive change in others and inspire many to grow and self-actualize in their lives. This is truly impressive.

A lifetime of safe and enjoyable diving for Kids and families is her love story, and thankfully, one she has chosen to share generously. Her accomplishments and love for diving inspire us to share and be our best selves. Congratulations, Margo, on this well-deserved and prestigious recognition”.

A note from Carolyn Pascal, former Publisher, Sport Diver, and member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame

“The moment I met Margo, I felt her passion for creating something unheard of in the dive industry at the time. She wanted her two young children to grow up appreciating the underwater world she had grown to love. She did not care to leave them at home or in a hotel room while she developed her dive travel business.

There must be other families that would love to keep diving but don’t want to leave their kids behind. Why not offer age-appropriate dive and snorkel experiences that kids could enjoy while their parents dive and reconnect at the end of the day with like-minded families from around the world? Why not a Kids Sea Camp where the whole family could find something to love, a week they will remember forever! Around the same time, PADI was developing learning programs for kids and supplied air snorkeling equipment for youth (SASY), invented by industry pioneer Wayne Hasson. Then, convincing dive resorts to embrace kids and families, grandparents, and even non-divers happened slowly, one by one.

But each year, another destination or two was added, and the summer weeks grew to include other school holidays and unique adventures; even luxury live-aboard dive yachts are now included in the mix. Bucket list destinations on all corners of our water planet were engaged and helped create the best family dive adventures anywhere.

It’s been over 25 years since I 1st met Margo. Her passion for developing something fresh and new for traveling divers of all ages has never wavered. From 1 week in Curacao in 2000 to 22 weeks in 2024 in 13 destinations worldwide, Margo has not only blown away her vision but has turned that vision into a reality for families worldwide. Since her journey in diving, travel, and motherhood began in the Cayman Islands, it is most appropriate that she be inducted into The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in the Cayman Islands this year! Congratulations, Margo. I am so grateful to be a part of your amazing story! “

From Margo Peyton: “I’m truly honored to be inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall Of Fame. It’s a very prestigious and humbling honor. Thank you to the board of directors of The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and The International Scuba Diving Hall Of Fame. Without my amazing travel Dive Team (Our Team), my two kids, Jen and Rob, my wonderful husband, Tom, and my tireless right-hand woman, the KSC Operations Manager Olivia Rapisand, none of this would be possible without their support.”