Kids Sea Camp: St. Lucia Poetry
What an amazing night of poetry
The poetry night always held on the last night of the Kids Sea Camp week is normally a special night. But this week at St. Lucia seemed even more remarkable than normal. Maybe it was the gentle rain with the moon dancing in-between the clouds that brought our families prose and verve a little more to the surface. There was a little more energy and edge during the night.
As Dylan Thomas would say:
No one went quietly into that good night.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night
This poetry contest live up to the Thomas’ poem. A memorable night — a special night — that Margo and I will remember forever. Thank you all for putting so much effort into the evening.
Let’s go chasing rainbows. In Anse Chastanet, during the Kids Sea Camp Thanksgiving week we saw five single rainbows and two double rainbows spreading across the caribbean sky.
First place: Teen Boat Dive Briefing, The Poem
By Tyler Jenss
Today our dive will go sixty feet deep,
And forty five minutes is the time to keep.
To get in the water, just do a big stride,
Then fill up your BC and wait for your guide.
When you get the Ok, you can start to go down,
And put in your regulator so that you don’t drown.
Watch for rocks and sand, because they can go fast,
And if you see an eel you may get harassed,
But if it starts coming towards you just give it a kick,
And keep an eye out for some slippery dick.
When you get two thumbs up, start to head to the surface,
But don’t go too fast ‘cause you’ll make Kenton nervous.
Swimming straight to the boat can lead to decapitation,
This would undoubtedly ruin your family vacation!
When you get to the ladder, go up one-at-a-time,
First take off your fins and then start to climb.
A bang from the boat means an issue atop,
So ascend at one-foot-per-second with no safety stop.
If you hear there’s a problem, don’t ask any questions,
Just go to the surface and then wait for directions.
Keep an eye on your air, and let it be known,
Seven hundred pounds is our caution zone.
If you run out of air, do not be upset,
And the number one rule is, try not to get wet!
First place
By Emma Svitil
When swimming around in the deep ocean blue,
I’ve found some thoughts that just come to you.
Granted some are silly, like my hot dog joke.
But others are profound and need to be written.
We’ve reached many epiphanies down there in the blue,
and now I’d like to share one of mine with you.
The first dive I went on I saw many a thing.
I saw corals, rocks and some long lost ring,
but the one thing I saw that really stood out…
Was none other than the trumpet fish with his long snout!
I remember him clearly as I swam through the arch.
He was silver and shiny and made my heart lurch!
Afterwards as I swam on, thinking on this,
I realized-with me, there was something amiss.
See I’ve always thought I was different and special,
much like this fish I was shiny and precious.
But I suddenly realized that no one else cared.
They didn’t remember that trumpet fish there.
No one on a dive boat says “Did you see that?”
About the poor trumpet fish and others like that.
All everyone cares about is rarity and size.
But they don’t believe unless they see it with their eyes.
I think some of us believe we are fish in the pack.
We’re trout’s and the guppies and the gold fish snacks.
We’re here for a while, we swim around, float.
Then we get eaten or kidnapped or both!
And we think no one cares, we think no one has noticed.
We see the divers swim on, and we see them demote us.
They turn us into another object, a thing.
A backdrop for all that they want to be seeing.
And maybe it’s true. Maybe we are just some fish.
But that’s not important, what’s important is this:
I will never forget that one trumpet fish.
That fish was so special, he couldn’t be missed.
At least by me, see, that’s where it counts.
I can travel the world; I can make my rounds,
But I won’t forget him and that’s where its true
That that is how somebody feels about you.
For most of the divers you may not be special.
They’ll swim on by, and then they’ll just board the vessel.
They they’ll leave and forget and move on to the next. But for one person, just maybe, they’ll stay and they’ll rest.
They’ll take all the pictures; they’ll put you in logs.
They’ll remember there depth and the exact time and all.
Or the things that happened the moment they saw you
That one special fish
The best of all
You.
Second place
60’s Diving Medley: (sung to the tunes of Nat King Cole’s “Love” and The Weavers “Lion Sleeps Tonight”)
By the Molkentin Family
S: is for the Sea that we explore.
C: keeps us Coming back for more and more
U: is the Underwater life galore
B: The Bubbles
And A: we sure Adore. Kids Sea Camp.
Divin’ trips with kids sea camp are just the best
They fulfill our family’s diving quests.
Kids sea camp’s shown us new spots on the map
Utila, Bonaire, Palau
The Grenadines, St. Lucia and Yap
Come, along and join the family fun
Kids dive safe
Under Margo’s thumb
Grab your mask, your fins.
Strap on your BCD
See the peacock flounders, trumpet fish
And anemone
Dive KSC from dawn to dusk each day
Night Dive with the needle fish that dot the bay
We love the fringing coral
And the fish
That this trip would never end
Is our only wish…Because
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, we came to dive
St. Lucia is a small sovereign island
in the East Car rib Be an Sea
Land of cultural history, gracious, smiling people
The Pitons and Anse Chastanet
Anse Chastanet offers sanctuary, a safety haven
For turtles, fish and ray
St, Lucians protect and honor
their living treasures
So ecology will stay
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, we came to dive
We saw glass eyed snapper, and parrotfish
And yellow headed wrasse.
spiny lobster, big crusty crabs
And spotted eels in the grass.
Our kids’ favorite fish swam along the rocks
It was called the slippery dick
The green sea turtle and octopus
Were my own most favorite picks!
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, we came to dive
The ca- ta- Marran took us all on a voyage
To see the sun set and bats fly
A little champagne, appetizers and dancing
We wish we could have stayed all night
We learned herbal healing
rode bikes through the Jungle
Sampled chocolate and played in the sand
Dining right next to the beach was cool
As was listening to the steel drum band
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, we came to dive
Thanks Kids Sea Camp
Thanks Scuba St. Lucia
This Thanksgiving week was really cool
Anse Chastanet is a special place
A real Caribbean jewel.
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive. we came to dive
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh… we came to dive
Third place
(sung to the tune of theme song for the Spiderman cartoon)
By Peter Hays
Kids Sea Camp
Kids Sea Camp
Loves to get their divers damp
Aquatic life of every size
Swimming by before their eyes
Look out- here comes Kids Sea Camp!
Can they dive?
Take it from me,
They’ve been diving in every sea
Can they swim through the waves?
Dude, these divers are really brave!
Look there- there goes Kids Sea Camp!
In the darkness of night
Their dive lights will shine
With the beams of their lights,
The reef life they will find.
Kids Sea Camp
Kids Sea Camp
International Kids Sea Camp
Everywhere they explore
Every diver comes back for more
Let’s go- diving with Kids Sea Camp!
With Margo and Tom and their crew
Kids Sea Camp explores the deep blue
With each dive there’s something new
If you want to get wet,
Your very best bet,
Is to dive with Kids Sea Camp!
Fifth place
The Non-Divers Experience
By Jessica Hart, Bailey Lavinsky and Susan Hultgren
We’re so lazy,
We don’t want to go.
We’re on vacation,
Leave us a-alone.
We’re so lazy,
Can’t you see we’re slow?
We heard it’s fun, we still don’t want to go.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls,
Stick to the oceans and beaches that you’re used to.
We know you’re gonna hike it yourself or nothing at all,
But we got two babies to haul.
Bike, bike baby
Jungle bike, bike baby
Jungle bike, bike baby
Jungle bike, bike baby
Jungle!
Can’t climb this!
Look man we can’t climb this.
These killer steps up and back down, No!
We can’t climb this!
Ring the shuttle. Bring it down.
It’s breakfast time!
We sleep in late, got nothing in our day.
That’s what divers say hmm-mmm,
That’s what divers say hmm-mmm,
We went to a mud bath,
But couldn’t find no mud- uh-uh! Uh-uh!
At least that’s what divers say (hmm)
That’s what divers say (hmm)
Sixth place
By Emma Przybylo and Audrey Sarin
Now we’re all here, the whole family, all 8
Although 1 of us was a little bit late
She was detained by the wind and snow
But finally was allowed to go
We’ve all been doing our own special thing
For Raman that meant playing the guitar so Tom could sing
The kids were playing volleyball, paddle boarding and such
And Nani was relaxing, not doing too much
Sunita’s favorite part was the chocolate tasting
Tina talked about saving the ocean and not wasting
Phil’s gotten better, so now he’s around
So now all 8 are here laughing, one happy sound
Thank you Kids Sea Camp,
We’ve had so much fun
Nani, we’re ready for another one!!
By Rainer Jenss
Thanksgiving was upon us,
To give our spirits a lift.
There really is np question,
Kids Sea Camp is a gift.
A friend is many people
Throughout our given life.
Some always seem to top the list,
And that’s Rob and his wife.
But there are many others,
The ones we met right here.
Maybe if we’re lucky.
We’ll meet up with them next year.
Thanksgiving this year was special,
It gave me time to think;
How special Kids Sea Camp really is,
Even though it went by in a blink!
By Zachary Nathanson
I love octopi
They are really great
They are super smart
And they can open jars
This poem is ending
So remember this!
By Gahan Family