What do you do when you want to go scuba diving with your family but everyone is at a different skill level?
I recently returned from an amazing dive vacation in Belize. The purpose of this trip was to get my 15 year old sons PADI certified, they have never done anything more than snorkeling. I mentioned this trip to my father (who had previously enjoyed a resort Experience SCUBA but was never certified), and he was interested in joining us. In fact he mentioned it to his brother who was also interested in trying SCUBA for the first time. To be clear, their ages are 75 and 79, so this meant I was looking for a way to get 4 people certified with a collective age range of 15-79! This is really quite a challenge, this is a big age gap and most resorts focus on classes in a certain age range. I should mention that there is NO AGE LIMIT FOR SCUBA diving. As long as you are in good health, and can get a doctor’s note if you have any preexisting health conditions, you are fit to dive. I’ve gone diving with people with spine issues, limited mobility, I even dove with a person who only had 30% vision in a single eye as a result of a stroke. Scuba is rarely strenuous, and most of the exertion is limited to getting into and out of the water. So with a great boat crew, anyone can have a pleasant and relaxing experience diving.
I had done some research a couple years ago on how to get kids PADI certified. It turns out that PADI has a whole set of programs for kids, including SNUBA, SASY, Seal Team, and more. Since my kids are 15, they would be able to do the Youth Open Water certification which allows them to convert to an Adult OW cert when they are older. I somehow came across a company named Kids Sea Camp (Family Divers) which organized trips designed for entire families, and provided for the ability to train various age divers while the certified divers enjoyed dives throughout the day. The trips are generally a week long and end with multiple days of family diving, everyone together (it typically takes 4+ days to complete the PADI OW cert). I had been to Belize for diving previously and knew that it was world-class diving, having the second longest barrier reef in the world. It is also a direct 4.5 hour flight from NYC which is really convenient. I love diving in Asia but convincing people who don’t dive like me to travel 2 days on 3 flights just to get to a remote destination was not going to work. Like I said, Belize is an incredible destination, and I knew we would have a great time.
I booked our trip about 6 months in advance, which is really cutting it close. Kids Sea Camp can fill up very quickly, and this group does not allow the number of attendees to get ridiciulous. You should absolutely plan on booking well in advance if you have a large party, but indeed check their website as they have last minute cancellations that can be a great opportunity to go on short notice. I booked a triplex bungalow that had three bedrooms with 2 beds each. It had a private porch and was beachfront.
The months went by and I slowly assembled and completed all of the necessary forms and details. Kids Sea Camp (KSC) is very meticulous about everything, in order to guarantee a high level of safety, so this was not unexpected. In fact, they routinely emailed and called to check in and make sure everything was coming along. My father and uncle mentioned to me that a very nice woman named Kylie had reached out to help them get some forms completed. The vouchers for the PADI e-learning were linked to the KSC account so that the advanced online instruction would convert to the practical water skills training once we got to the island. In addition, KSC shipped us wonderfully soft and “worn-in” t-shirts that feel great on the skin, as well as a set including mask/snorkel/fins for the kids to keep. It was really nice to get this type of tailored experience. I’ve gone on a lot of dive trips and they are usually focused on the adults, KSC is quite clearly emphatic about the kids having a wonderful experience, and it shows in everything they do.
We arrived in Belize a bit tired from a delayed flight but the KSC team had managed to keep our water taxi from leaving for the destination. We took a shuttle to a quick stop at a local water park and mall where we enjoyed some refreshing pina coladas and a shop where I stocked up on bug spray and rash guards for the kids. We then had a short walk to a boat where we joined a number of families that we would be sharing the week with.
The boat departed promptly for a 2 hour ride to our private island, Blackbird Caye. For those that are not familiar with Belize, the best diving is typically about an hour to two hours from Belize City, the islands are reachable via short flights or water taxis. We didn’t prearrange a flight so the 2 hour boat was slightly frustrating but we were provided cold bottled water and cold towels. The boat traveled through a number of mangrove areas and around small islands before we reached Blackbird, which is located on the East side of the Turneffe Atol, generally regarded as the center of the Belize reef system. Once we reached the island we were given a short intro and tour and then we reached our house. Blackbird Caye is a large island, but the resort area is quite small and compact. This is great because you don’t have to walk far to get to anything. There are a few major buildings on the island:
Dive Hut – right on the dock, rather good dive equipment rentals, tank filling, nitrox, wetsuit drying, fresh fish filet station.
Dining Hall – the main place where you will eat all of your meals, air conditioned
Bar – A lovely little hut on stilts right on the water with a full bar, soft drinks, TV, movies, lots of parlor games, and an incredible view right on the beach. The water around the bar was routinely filled with southern sting rays, cool reef fish, and lots of local birds including pelicans that dive bomb the water in search in fish.
Pool House – A screened in house with lots of lounge areas, afternoon snacks, an attached pool for a quick dip or contained dive instruction, and an attached palapa bar.
Office – A nice air conditioned office with a well outfitted gift shop.
Our house (the triplex) was appointed with the basics, including plenty of closet space, drawers, high powered air conditioning, and a safe. The water pressure in the bathroom was probably TOO MUCH, which was great as this is always a source of complaints on dive trips and specifically liveaboards. Our rooms were cleaned daily and were nice and fresh. These aren’t exactly luxury staterooms, hey what do you expect you are on a private island in the middle of the Caribbean. Of the three rooms we had, two were the same and one was a lot larger and nicer, just an FYI if you plan to book it in the future.
The house was enclosed by big netting and had two hammocks which were incredible. There was also a number of chairs and a small sofa out front, where you could put your feet up and enjoy the view of your own private beach. Here is the one problem we all agreed on, Blackbird Caye has some really nasty flies that are quite voracious and can inflict some nasty bites. We read about this elsewhere so we brough bug spray, but really I’m glad I bought some heavy duty DEET 25% in the little shop before the boat tour because you need the heavy stuff to keep these guys off you. The island is regularly sprayed with a smoke solution which kills off the bugs for a while, but they come back in a day or so. Luckily there was a nice breeze most of the time that kept the bugs away, but when you are sitting near the docks or waiting on the boats to leave, you absolutely MUST use bug spray.
There is apparently a masseuse on the island but they were changing staff when we were there and massages were only available on the last day. No complaints from me, I get plenty of massages from sea creatures on dives.
Before dinner we got a briefing in the bar hut and learned what to do each day. For those who are familiar with dive vacations, its what you would expect. The rule I follow is every hour I reach down and grab my bathing suit. If it is dry it is time to dive, if it is wet it is time to eat. That’s basically what you can expect here, but pay attention to the timing if you have multiple groups in your party.
The meals are all held in the dining hall, but there are snacks in the morning near the pool and a pre-dinner snack at the bar. These included candy-covered pineapple slices, cinnamon rolls, small finger sandwiches, donuts, guacamole, hummus and chips, conch fritters, and shrimp ceviche. The food was generally good and satisfied everyone. Of note would be the BBQ on Half Moon Caye, the Jordanian meal cooked underground, and the final dinner.
Each morning, my kids and my father and uncle gathered by the pool for instruction, while I headed to the dock to take a boat to a dive destination. All of the dives are 5-10 minutes with two exceptions. The Elbow is a well known dive spot a bit south of the resort and takes 25 minutes to reach, and there is a day trip to the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye which take an hour.
I observed the scuba instruction and Emmie handled my kids and the older divers together with incredible class and poise. They all loved him and he made them quickly feel comfortable in the water. The staff at Blackbird Cay is INCREDIBLE. Serena and Shadi run the resort and are the types of professionals that all dive travels like to find. They checked in regularly, offered all sorts of ideas, suggestions and help, and are really great people to be around. Dive trip experiences are always determined by the staff, and Blackbird Caye has some of the best people I’ve ever seen. My dive guide was Elroy and he was a superstar, giving me some pointed and ideas to improve my experience in the water. Also, I have to mention this, he dives with a mask without a strap! For those people who do a lot of diving, you know how skilled you have to be to do this. Perfect retronasal breathing control! I’m still scratching my head at how this is possible.
We visited a few of the well known dive destinations such as Playground (amazing shark experience), Aquarium (huge variety and number of fish), as well as the Blue Hole. The kids couldn’t dive to that depth required obviously so we snorkeled around the hole and the reefs very colorful. I’ve done the Blue Hole and never got much of a chance to see the outer reef, which is superb.
Closer to home at Blackbird, we dove twice at the Witconcrete wreck. This was probably the best wreck dive of my life. This ship is massive and perfectly positioned in 60 feet of water. The experience is surreal with crystal clear water, white sand all around, and waves breaking over the top of the ship that look like clouds that are waves. It was a very special dive and luckily they allowed up to dive it again later in the week as a family.
The KSC team is amazing. Margo, Olivia, Kylie and Robbie are such great people and I really enjoyed talking to them at meals, their passion is contagious. They were all very active with the cameras on each dive and captured a lot of photos of my family during the dives, which they give to everyone for free at the end of the trip. The company is called Family Divers, and its probably because they really make you feel like you are a part of their family. They each have so much experience and great stories, from hearing about Margo training kids with special needs to dive to Tec diving chats with Robbie, what an incredible family-run business! They were celebrating their 25 years of KSC during our trip, we could really see how their passion and drive created such a remarkable business which provides a well needed service for the dive industry.
All in all, this was an amazing trip. My kids, father, and uncle got PADI OW certified, we dove with reef and nurse sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, a variety of turtles, eels, toadfish, HUGE crabs, lobsters, and got to observe the amazingly beautiful reefs up close. The entire time, the incredible staff made us feel comfortable and safe and provided for everything we could possibly need. I would recommend the folks at KSC to anyone who wants to create a great dive experience for their family.
