So you want to go on a scuba diving trip with the whole family, and you have found out about Kids Sea Camp to teach the kids and un-certified adults to dive.  Now you want to know what to expect. Will it be diving all day long? Can non-divers join? What if you have kids of different ages? Have no fear, my family recently went on vacation with Kids Sea Camp and I’m going to give you the details you need to have a great vacation. 

With Kids Sea Camp, parents can dive up to 3 times a day. Kids who are getting certified, ages 10 and up, will be in the pool and ocean, and kids under 10 have the option of the Seal Team or SASY (Surface Supplied Air System) program. My son was 7 when we visited and he did the SASY program, which is recommended for 5-7 year olds. Kids have to be 8 years old to do the Seal Team program. 

Rest assured your kids will have the trip of a lifetime while you are out diving. Kids in SASY and Seal Team do excursions for part of the day and learn to scuba dive for the remainder. This ensures they have lots of fun while learning.

Here are some of the places Ethan went with the Sasy Program:

Camana Bay 

Camana Bay is a newly built area on Grand Cayman with upscale shops and a gorgeous beach. There are lots of restaurants to choose from and an ice cream shop – which Ethan quite enjoyed. 

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Crystal Caves

Now seeing bats up close doesn’t get me excited but the kids went on about it for days after the trip. Crystal Caves on Grand Cayman is a natural attraction with stalactite and stalagmite crystal structures as well as bats!

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Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Garden.

Here, Ethan learned a lot about different types of birds and animals. He was so excited to see a cashew fruit up close, he didn’t know what they looked like. As the parent, one of the things I loved was that while I was learning to dive he was having his own experiences and then we could come back together at the end of the day and all share something awesome about our days.

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And of course learning there was time spent learning to Scuba Dive – the staff is incredible! Ethan fell in love with Genevieve his guide/instructor

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And the highlight for this kid? Snorkeling with Stingrays – and not at the stingray city that they take all the tourists to, but in the ocean. It was the first time all of our famly were out on the boat at the same time. LOOK at that smile. This kid who we can hardly get to do a nice smile for photos had the biggest, most genuine small on his face.

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Katelyn & I were doing the open water certification which was pretty awesome. Denys is an advanced diver so he was off with the other certified divers. I really liked that not all our lessons were in the pool which is the difference between getting certified on vacation versus at home. It helped made the experience more fun because I could see the beauty of the undersea world while learning. Each day we had one open water dive in addition to any pool work. Some of the dives were incredible. We saw turtles, stingrays, and many different schools of fish.

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The highlight for our 11 year old was when we were both finally certified and were able to dive all together as a family. Of course, in true Kids Sea Camp style, it was an epic dive to a shipwreck.

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What did we do while we weren’t diving? We spent time relaxing on the the beach, though it wasn’t a beach for swimming. The sunsets were gorgeous. Since it’s a camp experience during the day, the kids all connected and were entertaining each other. In the evenings there were always some activities that you could participate in like watching a movie and karaoke.

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One of the things that made this trip even more special was Tom and Margo, the owners of Kids Sea Camp. Margo loves to get women and girls diving and what’s more, she loves helping families have the diving trip of a lifetime. I was there for my birthday (which I didn’t tell them ahead of time) they went across the island to find a dairy free cake so that I could have a cake on my birthday. It was such a sweet and unexpected gesture and it’s something speaks to how much effort they put into making sure that every family has an amazing time.

And yes, there is downtime. I loved sitting on the beach of our hotel, Cobalt Coast Grand Cayman Resort, with a glass of wine and watching the sunset with Denys while the kids playing in the sand or with all their new friends. Our 11 year old made friends that she still emails and chats with weekly and they are all planning for the next Kids Sea Camp when they can all dive together again.

Your family will have an epic experience at Kids Sea Camp. Whether you are a seasoned diver who wants to dive with the family and get in 3 dives a day, want to have a dive experience but be all together and everyone can do something fun, want to get your children certified so you can dive all together, or want to have a vacation that includes a little bit of everything, Kids Sea Camp is the perfect family vacation.  Read how this trip transformed my life here.