With today’s hi-tech distractions and busy schedules, diving and watersports offer a unique and laid back family experience in the Caribbean
Forget traditional road trips and theme park getaways, more families are heading to the Cayman Islands for dive and watersports vacations. With its year round sunshine, calm shallow waters, incredible reefs and white sand beaches, Cayman is the perfect summer playground for families who want to share a unique Caribbean adventure. Summer is off-season, so family-friendly resorts and watersports companies offer great deals, including dive programs and activities for kids, who like nothing better than splashing around. Cayman is the ideal place for youngsters to discover their inner Jacques Cousteau and become ocean explorers.
“It was amazing because I felt I was a fish,” said 9-year-old Elena Rankin of her Bubblemaker experience, a kids dive course. “I saw lots of cool things under the dock, including a baby stingray.” Her family vacations in Grand Cayman every July, and with parents and a brother who are certified divers Elena took the Bubblemaker with Red Sail Sports to give it a try. She enjoyed blowing bubbles in the pool, but says the real adventure began when she dove a second time in the shallow water around the dock at Morritt’s Tortuga Club with her dive instructor. Proud parents watched as the youngest member of the family discovered the undersea world. “We were thrilled that Elena enjoyed herself and took to it so naturally!’ says her mom Jen Rankin. “We feel it will prepare her to be a great diver in the future.”
The Bubblemaker is the first in a series of dive courses and certifications developed by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) for children and teenagers from ages 8 to 14 years old. “The intent is to direct young people into diving and kids are a natural,” says LeRoy Wickham, PADI Training Education Consultant. PADI members Red Sail Sports, Divetech, Ocean Frontiers and the Southern Cross Club all offer kids scuba courses. Red Sail Sports and Divetech also offer the SASY (Supplied Air Surface for Youth) program that allows kids as young as 5 to gear up and blow bubbles while swimming around on the surface of the pool, but just watching the action below.
Elena enjoyed her scuba experience on Grand Cayman’s East End. On the other side of the island Divetech hosted more than 100 kids during two-back-to back Kids Sea Camps, which included dive courses and other water-based fun. The Cobalt Coast Dive Resort was booked solid with families from all over the world during the weeks of July 13 – 20 and July 20 – 27. Diving parents explored Cayman’s famous drop-offs and reefs while their kids attended sea camp. In addition to scuba lessons and diving, the kids learned about marine identification, conservation, digital photography and more. Divetech staffers were teachers and supervisors, none more involved than owner Nancy Easterbrook, who has been hosting summer sea camps for 10 years.
“The kids are little sponges, anxious to learn and explore, and to impart the value and fragility of the ocean and its inhabitants to them at a young age is invaluable,” says Easterbrook. “The staff loves teaching kids… it’s rewarding with all those smiles and hugs! I always say that they become new ambassadors to the oceans.”
Grand Cayman is one of several destinations where Kids Sea Camps are hosted. The program is the brainchild of Margo Peyton, a scuba diver and parent who faced a dilemma during dive vacations. “When I went off diving I felt guilty,” she said. “There was no place where a parent could go to experience the ocean with their kids, like skiing. Nobody had a ‘bunny’ slope for kids in diving – it didn’t exist.”
Peyton discovered she wasn’t alone, many diving parents worldwide felt the same way. To serve this niche market she teamed up with PADI, destination partners and sponsors to launch Kid’s Sea Camps, a thriving program that brings families together every summer to share a passion for diving and the sea. Peyton estimates about 5000 kids have been safely certified to dive at some level through the sea camps, thanks to partners like Divetech.
“They are fantastic and one of the best teaching facilities worldwide,” she says. “Cayman has become our front door for families – it is absolutely one of the best destinations we can offer.” The Southern Cross Club in Little Cayman will join the Kids Sea Camp family next summer.
The Kids Sea Camp program has a loyal following that Peyton says spans generations and has a high repeat rate. Lasting friendships are forged, everyone stays in touch, and many kids continue their scuba education. “Many kids have written back saying they used their Kids Sea Camp experience, photos, and art for ‘show and tell’ at school – how cool to share that with others,” says Nancy Easterbrook. “They write ‘I became a certified diver this summer!’ and that is very rewarding.” Young Elena Rankin can’t wait until she turns 10 so she can become a Junior Open Water diver and join the family dive fun in Cayman next summer.
About Us
The Cayman Bottom Times is news collaboration by five leading dive operators to promote the superb diving of the Cayman Islands, and keep the diving public informed of important developments and events. Divetech, Ocean Frontiers, Red Sail Sports and Sunset House in Grand Cayman, and the Southern Cross Club in Little Cayman, all members of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, represent more than 100 years of solid experience in a destination that is recognized as the birthplace of recreational diving. With a unique combination of deep wall and shallow reef diving, several wrecks, and world-famous Stingray City, the Cayman Islands has cemented its place as the top diving destination in the Caribbean. Offering diverse and wide-ranging dive programs on both Grand Cayman and Little Cayman, the members of this dive group represent the best Cayman has to offer; Divetech (www.divetech.com), Ocean Frontiers (www.oceanfrontiers.com), Red Sail Sports Grand Cayman (www.redsailcayman.com), Sunset House (www.sunsethouse.com) and the Southern Cross Club (www.southerncrossclub.com). For more information about Kids Sea Camp visit www.familydivers.com. For more information about Cayman Bottom Times visit The Cayman Bottom Times