Advice for first trip with our JR diver.

[aslinterpreter]

Hello everyone! This is our first post here. Our son is 10 and will be taking class this coming spring to become a JR OW diver. My father was a dive instructor when I was growing up, but sadly passed awaytwo years ago and was never able to see his grandson dive. He has been asking to get certified for a few years, and we told him that when the time came we would do everthing the right way, and only if he was ready for it and would never push him into it if he did not feel ready.( I was scared to death of diving as a kid, but my dad forced it on me anyway. Now it is something that I cherish, but ti was a completely different story back then!)

Anyway, on to our question. My wife and I would like to take him on a dive/family vacation around the end of July or first of August 2010. We work for a both Carnival and RC, and have been to the Caribbean with our son more times than we can count, so we would like a different destination. We will be using some of our almost one million AA miles for this trip, so the price of the plane ticket is not a factor. We would like a place that has great shallow dives, and some fun top side attractions as well. He is 10 after all, and I know he would need some variety.

We are open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks for your time and your help.

 

[Louie]

Hi aslinterpreter,

I am assuming you are flexible in terms of where you start your trip (and a million airmiles can be so useful). So a nice place with fun on-land activities and shallow dives - I'm just throwing out some suggestions:

Australia/Great Barrier Reef - Definitely a variety of activities on land, especially if you like the outdoors. While the best bits of reef are probably out further, you can do daytrips to near-by sites and there's lots of shallow not-so-demanding dives. And it's the drier cooler part of the year in July/August so it'll be less oppressive outdoors.

Red Sea - Sharm/Dahab - See a bit of Egypt on land (depending on your itinerary and route) and do some diving off the Red Sea coast (there are nice sites like Ras Mohamad). But it can get quite hot on land July/August.

Fiji - Maybe one of the islands (Taveuni or Kadavu). I'm not sure if July is past stormy season though.

Well, good luck whatever you decide on. It's bound to be great!

 

[Doc]

Your post paints a conflicting picture.

You and your son may have been to the Caribbean "more times than you can count", but he's never been diving there, right?

You talk about an easy introduction into diving for him, shallow reefs and "fun topside activities"... these two features in combination universally crush the overall quality of a reef, and I'm sure you wanted him to see pretty fishes, as well. Understand this: Cruise Ship Ports mean that available diving anywhere nearby will be marginal as compared to an Island that does not have such modern conveniences. What you may have previously experienced in the Caribbean is not the be-all and end-all of "our pool to the South".

I would take him to one of the many Caribbean islands that you are already familiar with, as is he. On his first of many warm water/pretty fish dives, he is likely not to notice or see very much outside of "fish and rocks". It will likely be 25 or more dives before he gets past the "Gee, I'm diving" phase.

Take him to a comfortable place, let him understand what is going on with his diving skills. Put him with a good DiveMaster, ghost along- well out of the way if you must, and let hime develop his new skills with a pro.

I have seen a delightful adventure provided for a ten year old diver as his folks took him to the Philippines. There was a potential for current and the dive boats weren't as simple as those in Cayman (let's say), but since he already had about 125 Caribbean/Texas dives logged, the transition was relatively easy for him. He still needed watching like a hawk, after all- ignorance is bliss, and he had no idea what difficulties he was being guided through.

Take your own example as a guide. Start easy, stay that way for a while.

 

[robint]

Diving with a Junior, 10 year old diver, can be challenging in many locations just because of the depth restrictions. Most adult divers are not going to want to be restricted to 40' depth dives, and having your son on the same boat with them may cause a mutiny! Also, the stamina of a 10 yr old is not that of a 13-14yr old, so 2 dives is all they can do per day and usually not every day. Topside activities are a must. (I am very familiar with this as our daughter got certified at 12 and was pooped by noon each day after 2 dives and needed food and nap, and she was a very active kid! It also made her very cranky. By age 13-14 she was fine after 2 dives.)

For those reasons, I would recommend you contact some dive ops in Grand Cayman and Belize. Both have things to do other than dive, and also the chance for him to dive shallow. They will need to know his age and see if they have a boat they can put him on each day that is not going to affect other divers.

Bonaire would also be excellent for the diving as you can do shore dives so you can pick your depth and go at your own pace. There are lots of DMs there that you can hire to dive with you if you want, too. BUT the bad thing is that Bonaire doesn't have alot of other activities beyond scuba and snorkelling. There is a wind-surfing place on the other side of the island, but you won't want to do that every day.

I am sure some people will recommend the florida Keys, but I think the topside activities there are non-existent. The diving is shallow there, for the most part, so it is good for Jr. divers.

robin

 

[aslinterpreter]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the ideas so far. My wife and I will start going over them together and narrow it down!

RoatanMan, you are right. We have never been able to dive with him before. We will not be so closed minded about our final choice.

I also liked the recommendation of backing off and allowing him to dive with the DM. As both my wife and I are ASL interpreters and can carry on a full conversation underwater, I am sure we would be trying to talk with him the whole time if we just hovered there!

Thanks again, and we will report back what we finally decide.

 

[diversteve]

How about Maui? There's multiple shore dives that get interesting at around 20', several diveops specialize in that so would be able to provide a DM for you. Shaka Doug or Maui Dreams Dive Co. in the South (Kihei area) or Pacific Dive in West Maui (Lahaina) are options. We did a whole dive at Wailea Beach and never broke 40', saw families of puffers, 2 turtles, pipefish, lots of reef fish etc. Sheraton Black Rock is pretty shallow also from what I remember.

And several of the boat-based diveops - Lahaina Divers & Extended Horizons are two that I'm pretty sure of - do Certification and Discovery Dives in the afternoon just off Maui so your son would probably fit right in. Morning dives would be too deep though probably.

Plenty of other things to do there also, the Maui Ocean Center, Helicopter rides, Sailing, Volcano touring, theres a steam train, hikes, etc. The Grand Wailea Resort has a large waterpark on the premises - maybe guests only - but you might check - or convert miles and stay there?

Or Curacao, although there's less to do there on the surface, some of the diving starts just 50' offshore and staying around 40' on top of the dropoff you'd still see some interesting things. I chased flounder around off Habitat's dive dock in 6-8' of water and the reef there started around 30' straight out. At Varsenbaai, we found seahorses at 38' off the mooring, 100 or so squid just off the divedock in 15' of water and coming back in there were turtles in 6' eating the seagrass. The dive operator said they're always there.

You might be able to work something out with the DiveBus also and have them put an extra DM on for your son. They pick up in the Willemsted area and take you to sites nearby. Other things to do there are the SeaAquarium and the Ostrich Farm. There's also a swinging pedestrian bridge downtown he might like. One other dive he could definitely do is the Tugboat - it's one of the recommended dives on Curacao and is sitting on the bottom in 20'. There's also some nice beaches on Curacao - most of them have diving just offshore also.

 

[Stu S.]

All of this you probably know.

There is great diving at many locations that are not particularly kid-friendly. Spending a week as the only kid at a resort would be no fun. Many locations don't even have a McDonald's. And...at some places, we see adult public behavior that is not rated "G" or "PG".

There is a lifetime of diving ahead for this youngster, but limited time to be a kid. Hawaii is probably a kid-friendly as one can get. He will be ready for more places in a few years.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

There is some great advice from a lot of people here, but I guess the best is remembering the depth restrictions and the fact that what may be easy for you (long surface swims, or getting up the ladder on the back of a dive boat with a big tank and a lot of weight) is not so easy for him.

Stick to either nice shore dives with small surf entries, or if going on a boat look for these with duck board at the back, and staff available to help.

Lastly he is certified so don’t smother him too much! Its one of the great things about this sport, that a child can be an equal with their parents, and enjoy something in common.

I teach a lot of kids to dive and they are often better than the parents! Have fun!

Kev

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[vladimir]

Bonaire would also be excellent for the diving as you can do shore dives so you can pick your depth and go at your own pace. There are lots of DMs there that you can hire to dive with you if you want, too. BUT the bad thing is that Bonaire doesn't have alot of other activities beyond scuba and snorkelling. There is a wind-surfing place on the other side of the island, but you won't want to do that every day.

I think I have myself written a version of Robin's thumbnail description of Bonaire a few times. It's a good encapsulation. But then I ask, what constitutes "activities" for a 10-year-old? The truth is, I have no idea. (I imagine texting 10-year old girls with salacious gossip, but hopefully not.) But it would be easy to arrange sailing or kayaking. Windsurfing is a great idea. The caverns in the park and the pink flamingoes are cool, maybe, and the goats on the side of the road in Rincon? Donkey farm? Maybe not.

Even as a 15 year-old I found diving to be incredibly cool. Are today's kids so jaded by Grand Theft Auto Vice City that they're impossible to amuse? That would be a shame, because without a doubt, Bonaire is the best location for diving with a child that I have ever been to.

 

[RJP]

Do you want a "vacation with diving" or do you want a "dive vacation"?

If the latter, Bonaire would be my recommendation for all the reasons recommended above. Do note there is very little if anything else to do there besides diving that would interest a 10yr old. (Or this 40yr old!) Flamingos? Donkey preserve? Goats on the side of the road? C'mon, the kid's gonna be bored to tears! Feeding him? You won't find chicken fingers or macaroni and cheese on too many menus on Bonaire.

If however, you're looking for a vacation with diving then Hawaii is where you want to go. Great diving for sure, but when not on the reef there's a million other things to do, plus your hotel will have a half dozen restaurants plus another 50 within 5 minutes walk/drive. There will be a kids program, you'll have slides and waterfalls in the pool, and all the things that a 10yo could ever possibly desire on a vacation that he'll remember forever.