Amazing traveling with your kids with Kids Sea Camp
Anyone with young kids certainly knows about the lifestyle changes needed to raise children. Among other things, you just can’t go out as much or stay up as late as you did before children (BC). And when it comes to traveling, most parents feel obligated to forgo their dream trips or favorite vacation activities in favor of more family-friendly destinations and accommodations that cater to kids.
This seems particularly true for scuba divers, who too often take a complete sabbatical from the sport while raising their kids. After all, how are moms and dads supposed to go diving with young children in tow?
My wife and I found ourselves in this boat after our boys were born, and although I still managed to finagle my way back in the water every now and then, Carol and I rarely”‘buddied up” underwater, and we certainly weren’t planning vacations that revolved around diving like we once did.
10-year-olds can now become certified divers
I learned that compromising our love of scuba diving for the sake of our two young sons proved unnecessary. Not only was I enlightened to the fact that children as young as 10 years old can now become certified divers, but I also discovered a tour company that catered to families like ours: parents who want a family dive vacation, and the kids get a chance to make new friends and participate in their own underwater adventures.
Kids Sea Camp (KSC) was started 14 years ago by Margo Peyton, a travel consultant, dive instructor, and mother of two who wanted to bring together like-minded people who love the ocean, diving, beaches, snorkeling, and travel. And she offers them the opportunity to share their passion as a family. After initially launching with just one trip and one other family. KSC now offers hundreds of kids and adults each year the opportunity to learn and enjoy scuba each year.
Margo is a Hall of Famer
In honor of her dedication to helping kids and adults gain a greater appreciation for our oceans and to creating family diving events around the world, Margo was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2009. Kids Sea Camp has trained 8,100 certified divers as of 2026.
It didn’t take much persuasion to get Carol and the boys on board. After perusing The Kids Sea Camp list of itineraries, which now includes destinations like the Cayman Islands, Bonaire, Yap, Utila, Fiji, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Roatan, and the Galápagos. We decided on Palau, which I had been told by the famous underwater photographer David Doubilet has some of the best diving on earth. We called Margo and booked the Palau family adventure.
Get your kids trained by the best
One of the biggest draws of KSC is that they can fully train and certify any adult or child 10 years or older during their trip. Our original plan was to have the boys (now 11 and 13) complete the PADI certification program as part of the trip. After all, how cool would it be for them to become certified in the waters of Palau, teeming with marine life and practically unlimited visibility?
We certified the kids over the summer so they could join the other teen divers on the trip. This allowed them to take full advantage of the amazing reefs surrounding this Micronesian island. Our kids had a fantastic time experiencing their first ocean dives with their fellow certified teen divers; however, I did note that the kids who were getting certified during the trip had completed the PADI e-learning prior to arrival and didn’t miss a beat.
Even little ones can dive — sort of
For children under ten, Kids Sea Camp also offers programs: SASY (Supplied Air Snorkeling for Youth), with lots of underwater pool adventures and fun, educational ocean activities. Children ages 8-10 can participate in the PADI SEAL Team Program, a course that, unlike other programs, includes ocean dives where they learn the basics of diving. But regardless of how old they are, the whole point is not just to supervise them, but to get them exposed to scuba diving and have them share the experience with their parents and other children their own age.
Palau has some of the best diving in the world, and the good news is that the hassle of getting there is more than worth it. Since we were traveling with Kids Sea Camp, the long flights and three layovers allowed us to get acquainted with some of the other families in our group. Since KSC has been in operation for 14 years, most of the dozen or so families represented had been on one of its trips before. It didn’t take me long to realize why they returned.
The kids, regardless of age, seemed to bond immediately, while the adults shared a quick camaraderie. This really was the best of both worlds for Carol and me: fun with the kids combined with the freedom to pursue our passion for diving.
Amazing Palau
One of the beauties of Palau is that its premier dive sites are not particularly challenging; in other words, you don’t need advanced open water training or Nitrox tanks to enjoy them. The water temperature was a balmy 84 degrees. While the visibility on most dives was easily 100 feet. Even when it rained, which could happen quite suddenly in this tropical region, it didn’t bother us too much since we spent most of our time underwater.
We signed up with Sam’s Tours to explore the islands. Our first stop as a group was Jellyfish Lake. The marine lake is the bizarre consequence of thousands of years of evolution–over time, millions of golden jellyfish were isolated in its waters. They migrate horizontally across the lake each day following the sun’s rays to capture their nutrients. What makes these jellyfish so unique, however, is the fact that you can swim freely among them, since they lost their stingers from never having to fight off any predators.
Blue Corner
But perhaps Palau’s most famous dive, and thus most visited site, is the Blue Corner. Before swimming out to the corner itself, we descended to about 90 feet (the kids were limited to 45 feet) to see magnificent gorgonian fans, anemones, giant clams, and soft corals along the sea wall, which stretches for thousands of feet.
We were immediately greeted by a cruising gray reef shark, a precursor of things to come. We floated with the current like a bunch of kites in a strong wind. The concentration of marine life, including large schools of jacks, trevallies, and barracuda swimming all around you, was just incredible.
KSC is a regular family activity
Perhaps the only downside to our first family dive trip was that it set the bar incredibly high for the kids. We reminded them not to expect marine life like that every time we go diving, which we all hope, thanks to Kids Sea Camp. We will make it a regular family activity from now on.
Intelligent Travel (Kids Sea Camp) by National Geographic author Rainer Jenns