REFLECTIONS ON KIDS SEA CAMP’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY
By Carolyn Pascal
When you’re invited to an anniversary celebration, you expect memories to be shared, jokes to be cracked, and glasses to be raised. I wasn’t prepared, however, for just how nostalgic I would become, or for how much I’d want to reminisce with anyone who would listen about the days that added up to the years that became decades of being part of the Kids Sea Camp journey.
Since we were also celebrating the partnership with Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire, I found myself retelling the story of the delightful and decisive dinner we had with owner and patriarch Martien van der Valk 20 years earlier. It was there that Margo shared her vision, and he embraced it wholeheartedly (good wine was involved). The concept of a Kids Sea Camp, centered around diving experiences for the whole family, was far from a “no-brainer” at the time. It wasn’t long before women found their place in diving, let alone children! And as much as everyone talked about growing the sport of scuba diving, adding women and children to the plan was a big leap of faith for most.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that we moved from NAVY Dive table calculations to dive computers, from “horse collar” BCs to BCDs, and from basic black to colored dive equipment and wetsuits. Underwater cameras were large, strobe lights were larger, and you had 36 opportunities to get the shot with one roll of Kodak film. Dive operations were just beginning to partner with resorts to offer dive travel opportunities with more creature comforts than divers were accustomed to locally. This transformative time for diving was accomplished primarily face-to-face, on landlines, and with 800 numbers (online searches and bookings, social media, WhatsApp, and Zoom were Many years away).
But forward-thinking entrepreneurs like Martien and his family understood the vision. It helped that we all had young children of our own. We were in the dive travel industry and wanted to share what we loved with them. Were there other parents who wished to continue diving and traveling, and didn’t want to leave their kids behind? Would they be interested in “giving them a week they would remember forever”? Well, it turns out, yes, there were, and yes, they would!
PADI also saw the potential and began offering more and more age-appropriate kids’ dive courses and certifications that focused on safety, learning, and fun. The kids were our real-life, real-time market research. So, on the very first Kids Sea Camp dinner, when they formed their own kids’ table, when they sprang out of bed early every morning, when they kept in touch with their new friends, and when they told their parents where they wanted to meet up the following summer, Margo knew she was on to something!
Inspired by the old Jim Croce song about saving time in a bottle, I titled one of my early articles accordingly. I knew the moments were precious. I knew that the days were long, but the years would fly by. And my six-year-old daughter somehow became a 32-year-old mother of three today. I honestly cannot wait until they, too, will enjoy these foundational experiences that will become an integral part of who they are. It’s not just the underwater adventures that open their little minds up to a whole new world. It’s getting out of their neighborhood bubbles and meeting families from different worlds, who share a global humanity and love for our water planet that they may not find with their friends at home. In the meantime, I am blown away by the stories I hear about how Kids Sea Camp has become a life-changing experience for other kids.
From 7 kids the first year to over 8,000 kids certified by the 25th year, you can only imagine the ripple effects felt in every corner of the world. Over 50 of these kids have become PADI divemasters, 30 dive instructors, and counting. These KSC alumni will be training the next generation of divers for decades to come. Margo has also been a consistent mentoring presence in too many young lives to mention. I am particularly inspired by the number of young adults that she engages in various roles, over dozens of weeks each year, as interns, instructors, and contributors in their particular area of expertise. Each one has carved out a special place in the Kids Sea Camp Family, which also features VP, founder of Ocean Wishes, a 501 (c) (3), and husband Tom Peyton. Tom never lets us lose sight of the big picture in every little moment, especially when it comes to leading karaoke nights or afternoon volleyball challenges. Son Robbie has risen through the KSC ranks to become a PADI OWSI, MSDT instructor, and technical diver. He’s been involved in sales and training at KSC for years, but to me, he’ll always be Young Robbie, showing his friends how you can be just as fun-loving and safe playing underwater as you are on land.
I so enjoyed this special week, where Martien’s granddaughter Noortje pursued advanced certification, and Granddaughter Pleun began her PADI Jr. Open Water as well. There were 100 attendees who were enjoying their 1st, 10th, or 20th Kids Sea Camp adventure on one of two back-to-back weeks. I was particularly taken with a 10-year-old girl named Athena. She was so very enthusiastic about getting her PADI Jr. Open Water certification during her very first Kids Sea Camp, a mother/daughter trip that I knew would be a special “time in a bottle” moment for her diving/journalist mom, Holly. So here I was, a Gramma, with over 40 years of diving under my belt, bonding with a pearl of a girl—the whole world her oyster—and I couldn’t help but wonder what she might have to say about Kids Sea Camp on their 50th Anniversary!
Visit kidsseacamp.com for more information or click on the link to Athena’s beautiful story, “Becoming a diver.”
