Tom Peyton Archieven - Family Dive Adventures

Her father started it all

Margo Peyton grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a coastal haven with one of the most diverse marine environments in the US. Her father, Eddie Salvador, was a diver from the 1950s who poured his own lead weights and used an old Deco regulator with a J-valve and a homemade horse-collar BCD—back when gauges weren’t commonplace. Margo recalls her dad telling her that when breathing became labored, it was time to pull the wire on the J-valve and ascend to the surface using the 300 psi reserve in his tank. “What about your safety stop, Dad?” she’d ask. “There was no knowledge of that sort of thing back then,” he’d reply.

Kids Sea Camp is celebrating its 25th anniversary of providing unique, off-the-beaten-path diving experiences for families worldwide. This year marks a truly unforgettable milestone: Margo Peyton, the heart and soul of Kids Sea Camp, was inducted into the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame on September 28, 2024. This prestigious honor recognizes Margo’s 36 years of diving, traveling, and advocating for our underwater world.

He tried to deter her passion for diving, fearing the many things that could go wrong in the 1980s when she began. Nevertheless, he bought her a Deco regulator with a J-valve in 1988, along with an SPG and octopus, which were becoming popular at the time. Margo loved the ocean and learning about marine animals. She spent every summer as a child on the boat with her dad and brother, who hunted for giant bluefin tuna and fished for bluefish, bass, and cod. Encountering massive pods of bluefin tuna, dolphins, orcas, and humpback whales was the norm for Margo.

She learned to love and respect the sea, becoming familiar with basking sharks, great whites, mako sharks, and blue sharks, among others. Her dad instilled in her an adventurous spirit, while her mom nurtured her compassionate heart for saving and protecting animals. Margo worked at the Provincetown Sea Aquarium, where she cared for rescued sea lions, loggerhead turtles, and even a pair of orphaned coyote pups. The aquarium became a second home, and it was there that Margo’s passion for animal rescue blossomed. Over the years, this has included seagulls, kittens, puppies, snakes, pigeons, horses, whales, crabs, rays, octopuses, turtles, and countless others.

Sink or swim

When Margo was just a young child, her father threw her overboard into a school of wild dolphins to teach her how to swim. His philosophy was “sink or swim.” Margo has been a pioneer in the dive industry, encouraging everyone to embrace the family market. Her efforts have resulted in over 8,000 children becoming certified divers without a single diving accident. Her tenacity, courage, strength, and passion for her own kids and the ocean have always been her driving force.

Margo’s dedication to safety alone would merit her prestigious awards. However, her true impact lies in the countless individuals who started as junior divers and have become PADI professionals. Margo’s passion for the “living classroom” she created has resonated with like-minded families around the globe. Her love for diving has shown thousands of couples that having children doesn’t have to mean the end of their diving days. In fact, it’s just the beginning of creating amazing family memories.

Margo’s mission

The concept of bringing together like-minded families who love the ocean, adventure, and travel was unprecedented in the dive industry. Margo had to prove to dive operators in a male-dominated industry that kids had value and that educating and training them was essential. She had to convince major equipment manufacturers that making kids’ dive gear—tiny tanks and wetsuits—was not only financially beneficial but also crucial for the future of diving. She saw a need and was on a mission to fulfill it.

I have personally witnessed Margo’s hard work throughout her 35-year career, whether in the office, at a trade show, or on the island. Margo takes on multiple roles during a typical week at Kids Sea Camp: underwater photographer, artist, MC, mediator, mentor, activities director, hotel consultant, dive team organizer, advisor, events planner, celebration coordinator, presenter, and even shuttle bus driver. As a PADI professional, she often oversees kids and adults in the water.

Daily check-ins

During lunch, Margo takes the time to follow up on daily events, such as cupcake decorating, go-karting, Seal Team demonstration dives, graduation dives, birthday cakes, poetry contests, and treasure-hunt prizes. Her favorite time is spent with the kids, discussing their day, their dreams, and their diving adventures, making sure they are having fun. Margo Peyton spends most of her days in the ocean, photographing the Seal Team or SASY program. In the evenings, she ensures everyone is happy with their day in the ocean and at the beach. During dinner, she loves to walk around and listen to families sharing stories about their day.

For Margo, one indicator of a job well done is the absence of cell phones at the dinner table, with unplugged kids happily chatting and adults enjoying each other’s company. She ends each day dedicating herself to sorting through the day’s images until nearly midnight. The images ensure that all families have a visual record of the incredible day’s events. Treasure hunts, horseback riding, sunset sailing—it’s all captured for the end-of-week slideshow.

Margo’s passion

Margo’s passion, courage, and determination to establish a kid- and family-friendly dive company in a male-dominated industry are remarkable. She didn’t achieve this alone; numerous courageous and visionary women. As well as the wise men, who also played crucial roles in bringing the company to life 25 years ago. Their contributions are integral to Margo’s journey. The support has been instrumental in her success. This is a celebration of their collective efforts and the progress they have made in the industry.

Today, Kids Sea Camp is a beacon of excellence in dive safety, old-fashioned family fun, and personalized service. Margo’s moment is a tribute to all the vendors and families who believed in her vision. The beauty of her moment continues to be built upon all the moments that families have shared with Margo.

By Tom Peyton, husband and KSC Vice President

I never thought a company like Kids Sea Camp could exist

Taking time to savor life’s treats is not something I did on a blazing summer day in Santa Monica, at a house party with a pool, and I was a thirteen-year-old boy who had assembled my own gear. That’s how I experienced my very first dive. As I was sitting at the bottom of a pool on a J-valve tank, with a twin-hose reg that I thought I had figured out poolside, adults started jumping into the water to ‘rescue’ me. This was not the way I had planned for my own kids to learn to dive, now more than forty years and 2000 dives later.

A lifetime of diving

(From left to right) Adam and Ellie Summers prepared for a night dive at Anse Chastanet Resort, St. Lucia.

Finding a very different kind of diving has revitalized my love of blowing bubbles: diving as a family with Kids Sea Camp. Officially, I learned to dive properly while an undergraduate and progressed through the ranks to PASI OWSI at the PADI College in Sydney, Australia. After working as an instructor in Australia for several years, I returned home to the USA to become a marine biologist. Along the way, there have been many memorable dives. But those dives pale in significance to the life changes I have experienced along the way. Sharalyn and I were married in Belize. We have two children, and we moved to a small island north of Seattle to a marine station.

A little moment, a shared sense of wonder, and an instant rapport gave me an unusual opportunity to gain a completely new and transformative perspective on diving. With my good friend Dr. Bob Rubin, I voyaged on the Quino El Guardian (Booking the trip with Family Dive Adventures) to the manta ray soup of the Revillagigedo Islands. They dropped me, Tom Peyton, and 14 other dive fanatics into the water surrounding four little volcanic specks. Steep-sided, battered by the swell, with a constant current, this dive site was not for the faint of heart. But when we dropped over the side the first time, there was a whale shark, six giant ocean mantas, a pod of dolphins, and more than 40 silky sharks, well, you get the idea.

Meeting Tom Peyton

It was a Scuba diving paradise. I loved it, and I was getting interesting data on the mantas’ wing movements. As I stripped out of my too-thin wetsuit, I realized the guy standing next to me had paused, a silly grin on his face, wetsuit around his ankles, and his heel straps between his toes, eyes twinkling. This bearded, blissed-out guy was just dumbstruck by that dive and was taking a few moments to let it sink in. I don’t meet many people who take time to savor life’s treats as much as I do, and I was immediately drawn to this awesome dive character. Tom Peyton is the co-owner of Kids Sea Camp and Family Dive Adventures. We developed a friendship; these dives touched him as deeply as they touched me. We shared many awesome dives, like-minded concepts about life, and a few good stories.

Tom and I were both missing our families and wished we could share those daily adventures with them. Tom’s wish was more realistic than mine. Since his wife, Margo, is a PADI instructor and mermaid in the Women Divers Hall of Fame, and both their kids, Rob and Jen Peyton, are PADI dive instructors. This was a very doable adventure for them. At that time, my kids were five and ten. My wife was a PADI Rescue diver with 150 dives, but none since our son was born. The logistics were too crazy to figure out, diving with tiny kids, or so I thought. That’s when Tom lit up with delight and schooled me on his wife’s brilliant idea, which turned into a family business.

It really is the only family diving camp

Kids Sea Camp Inc. is the only family camp I would consider sending my kids to. Kids Sea Camp is for families who love the ocean, travel, and scuba diving. I started a family late. And I have no desire to have them hare off to neat places without me. I want to join them while experiencing the things we love. Sharing new places with my kids in entirely different ways and providing them with a unique perspective on the world through their eyes. Kids Sea Camp is designed to allow just that.

Tom explained that the kids learn about the ocean and how to dive. The older ones (age 10+) get honest with PADI dive certifications. The younger ones, ages 5-9, gain experience through fun scuba games called Aqua Missions that introduce them to the basics of the sport. Age 5-7 follows a SASY program geared toward swimming and snorkeling. Then there is the PADI Seal Team curriculum, which sets them up for certification the moment they hit that magic decade mark.

Thanksgiving and diving?

This sounded like a fabulous idea, and a set of fortuitous circumstances combined to open up our Thanksgiving holiday and leave us with close friends looking for an adventure. Margo and Tom said they would serve a traditional turkey dinner at Buddy Dive Bonaire and all the diving we could want. So, three adults, one of whom had never put her face into saltwater, and four kids (seven, eight, twelve, and twelve) took the plunge and headed to Kids Sea Camp Bonaire to dive. My son Abel was a SASY, and his friend Henry was a SEAL. Henry’s brother, Ollie, and my daughter, Ellie, were in the PADI Jr. Open Water course. Our friend Libby completed an open-water course, and Sharalyn and I just signed up to dive. Together. What a concept.

Kids Sea Camp idea is revolutionizing

As it turned out, the Kids Sea Camp idea revolutionized our understanding of family dive vacations. The drill is simple; the diving kids meet their friends and instructors each morning after breakfast. The diving adults are free to head off to dive with the other adults. And dive at outstanding dive sites, with top-notch guides, lovely fellow divers, and a wonderfully competent and entertaining dive boat crew. When two tanks have been sucked as dry as PADI allows, we return to the resort to eat more good food than should be legal.

Our offspring are happy to learn and play in the ocean with their friends. We don’t see the younger set until mid-afternoon; a little scheduling magic with big implications for bonding with other adults, and allowing kids to own their newfound skills. Then, tired and victorious, we get our kids back, damp and bursting with tales, in time to rest up for a siege of the dinner buffet. After dinner, there are often some presentations – a couple of times, I talked about marine research, which is my day job. Then everyone passes out in preparation for doing it all again.

Buddies at Buddy Dive

It is difficult to overstate how pleasantly unusual this family dive vacation was relative to all my other vacations. The diving was fantastic. Buddy Dive in Bonaire was a joy, but the difference here was the structure and quality of the experience that I could share with my family. I watched my daughter conquer fear and physical difficulty to become a PADI-certified diver, just like her mother. Ellie glowed with triumph when she came up from her final certification dive. She did a complicated thing with minimal support from her hovering parents. That has proved to be an accomplishment that has significantly shaped the months that followed.

It was such a simple joy to have her find me a young spotted drum and share that giggle at its silly dorsal fin again. tube across the azure waters of the Caribbean, he embraced the experience as challenging as his little arms could squeeze. And Sharalyn and I could connect underwater in ways we hadn’t since before we had kids. It was such a simple joy to have her find me a young spotted drum and share again that giggle at its silly dorsal fin. It was a reaffirming delight to watch her strap on the gear. Check it, and look out for the other divers doing the same.

My diving daughter

My daughter left Buddy Dive Bonaire with one dive short of double digits. She made it to 18 dives on another trip. They were so impressed with Ellie’s skill and her attention to safety. The Kids Sea Camp ethos of ‘safety over all things’ is deeply embedded in her. A second Kids Sea Camp family dive trip to Anse Chastanet, St. Lucia, fell into our lap. Ellie has nearly 30 dives, and Abel has a PADI SEAL with eight dives. My wife, Sharalyn, and I have hooked up all over again on a sport that has given me everything. I love seeing their expressions when discussing where we might all dive next as a family. Roatan? The Philippines? Fiji? Time will reveal everything, but I am sure more Kids Sea Camps will be in the future.

This is an article by Dr. Adam Summers. Dr. Summers is a professor at the University of Washington in Biology and the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences. He has written more than 150 scientific papers and was the fish guy for Pixar’s Finding Nemo.

Margo Peyton’s Journey to becoming a diving pioneer