Dive travel with small children

[HFGill]

My husband and I are expecting our first child (great news, super excited, etc) and we're wondering if anyone has advice on maintaining a dive hobby with young children. Pre-covid we would go on trips 3-4 times a year which may not be realistic for awhile, but I would hate to give it up completely till our kid is a teen.

Does anyone have tips for taking kids along? Bring someone along to babysit? Find hotels with childcare? Just drop the kids off at grandparents and go by yourself haha? Thanks

 

[arew+4]

Grandparents are really good option especially if the can/will shoulder some of the financial burden. With one child you will probably get lots of help, add another one or two you might be looking at an extended hiatus. We had a fifteen year mostly dry spell, a couple dives here and there, a cruise with a dive and the teen and tweens in kids cluds.

When the twins turned 15 got all the kids certified, now we do 11-14 day trips once a year primarily to shore diving Mecca's. (Reduced cost and teen friendly scheduling)

 

[rick00001967]

nothing wrong with travelling without the kids. it could be good for you all to get a break once a year from each other. as long as you have someone willing to watch them while you are away of course.
i do know some people that bring along a family member or friend so they have a sitter with them. sometimes the cost of one extra plane ticket is worth it.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Congratulations!!!

While the baby is an infant, drop it off with the grandparents. We have traveled with our children since they were 3 months old but not on a dive trip. At 11 months we took our daughter to the Amazon rainforest and spent all day in a dugout. We would jump in the water and swim taking turns on who stayed in the canoe with her. No problem at all.

When they get a little bigger, just strap a life vest on them, hire a private DM, and let them snorkel above while you dive. my daughter is 5 now and has a great time. Depending on where you are, you might find an auntie in the village who can babysit. Or absolutely leave them with the grandparents. I've also brought friends and family on trips who can entertain the little one but mostly she just comes on the boat with me.

Oh, and get one of the life vests that has a handle on the back. makes it a lot easier to scoop them up out of the water or dangle them over the side.

 

[HFGill]

Thanks for the replies Def some good suggestions and I don’t feel as hopeless anymore haha.

 

[Centrals]

I have seen plenty parents with young one/two on diving trip.
Local baby sitter or the parent go diving one at a time, no long daily trip from the resort. Extra consideration if parents do decide to bring the kids on board. Properly fit life jacket is a MUST.
Medication is very important and mossie net is highly recommended in tropical area.
No need to worry about it.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I and my wife are both diving instructors. We never gave up doing our scuba holidays after we had sons.
Our first scuba diving holidays with a baby was in August 1991, in Sardinia. My son Adriano was 11 months, being born in September 1990.
We went with a couple of friends in a small camping area near the Tavolara island, at Capo Coda Cavallo, renting a "tucul", some sort of bungalow. We did carry a BAT-7 inflatable boat with a 35HP Evinrude engine.
Also the other couple had a baby, one year older than our one (so he did already walk, our one was just crawling towards the water, and of course swimming with his small buoyancy helpers on his arms). Difference was that the wife of my friend is not an instructor, she is just a very relaxed diver, who mostly preferred to stay on the boat whilst I, my wife and our friend (also an instructor) were diving, and keeping care of the two babies. When also she wanted to dive with her husband, we did make two subsequent dives, so the couple staying on the boat did take care of the children.
It was a nice holidays.
The following year we also went to Sardinia, but on the west coast, at Hotel Capo Caccia. The diving center at the hotel was being run by a girl who was a previous student of my wife, named Daniela. She is a PADI instructor.
So we did dive with the inflatable boats of the diving center, typically alternating the one of us who did keep the baby while the other was diving. However at that point our son was almost two years old, he was already swimming very well and snorkeling in the sea without floating devices, and so, with the help of Daniela, we started training him to scuba dive with a small 3-liters pony tank, in the pool of the hotel.
The next years, our son was already using the scuba tank in the pool for the whole year, and when we went again to Capo Caccia, in Sardinia, he was ready to start diving in the sea (of course at minimal depth, 4 meters max).
Since then, our scuba holidays were a mixture of making real dives at the diving center, and these minimal dives with our son.
In 1995 we got a second son, and we started again with the same route.
When both children were already good divers (the older was 10, the younger was 5) we stopped relying on Daniela's diving center at Hotel Capo Caccia, and started again renting an apartment during holidays and using our old Zodiac inflatable. At that point, all our dives were with our children. Typically one of us with one son, while the other parent and son did stay on the boat. Then we did swap. Due to the different age and expertise of our sons, with the older it was possible to make some serious dive, including the caverns of Capo Caccia, whilst the younger was still diving in just a few meter and with no overhead.
I think that time spent underwater with our sons was some of the best time of our life. And, as said, we started very early with both: at 2 years in the swimming pool, at 3 years in the sea.
So good luck with your baby, you will enjoy doing scuba holidays with him: perhaps not the first year, but since the second year he will be happy to be there with you!

 

[drrich2]

1.) Once the kid is born, you'll get a sense of how robustly healthy or 'sickly' it's prone to be over time, and how well you tolerate being apart days on end. Also whether it's 'colicky' or otherwise high maintenance and can be consoled by other people besides you (or even you).

2.) Stick to destinations with a health care provider readily available. Ear infections, bronchitis, a bad case of impetigo, 'oh crap he swallowed an object, what'll we do,' things happen. Cruise ships have infirmaries (and can deal with bronchitis and bad impetigo...speaking from experience with our kid on Royal Caribbean ships). U.S. destinations like the Florida Keys (ready access to U.S. healthcare), or Grand Cayman, might be wise while the kid's an infant.

3.) Grandparents vary widely in openness and enthusiasm for the 'free baby sitter' role. Maybe have grandma spot you a couple weekends (date night, etc...), and see how enthusiastic and perky she is about it afterward.

4.) Some places, like cruise ships and all-inclusive resorts, may have nurseries and kids' clubs...but how enthused are they about you leaving the ship/resort while they've got the kid, and being unavailable by phone? Some dive op.s at some destinations offer morning and afternoon dive trips, so you could do one and your spouse the other, swapping out childcare.

5.) Your trust level leaving your kid with strangers will be an issue. We hear of sex abuse and there are legitimate concerns about risks. On the other hand, if you are determined to helicopter parent your child past all risk you may drive yourself nuts.

To sum it up, don't make any hard and fast plans till you've had the kid a few months. See how illness and accident prone the kid is, how whether dumping on the grandparents (er, 'providing a special bonding opportunity') will go well, then book a trip to a U.S. destination (e.g.: Key Largo), Grand Cayman or a big cruise ship. Take grandma (or a friend or aunt - 'Will daycare for cruising') along if possible.