Our dive trip to Rarotonga

[Frosty]

Hey folks I wasn't sure where to post this so please feel free to move it if I have it wrong.
Hey folks. We are just back from 8 days of fantastic diving on Rarotonga.
We have four boys aged 8,12,13 and 15.
ALL of the kids now have scuba diving experience and they ALL just LOVE to dive.
The 15 year old now has Padi Open water certification
The 13 year old has Junior open water certification.
The 8 year old is a "bubblemaker"-Ie he did a scuba "dive" in the swimming pool down to 3 feet with no problems at all so we took him for a "propper" dive in a 1.8m (6 foot) deep area of a lagoon. He took to it like a duck to water.The little rotter was busy "telling" his dad and the instructor what to do using hand signals whilst swimming around looking at the fish and coral.We were laughing so hard our masks were fogging up.
The 12 year old was struggling with mask clearing and equalising during the first pool session for his Junior open water and was getting a bit upset.
The instructor talked with me and I asked if maybee I could try 1 on 1 doing the drills with him in the pool. REALLY good guy he agreed totally with giving it a try.With me the 12 year old was sitting on the bottom of a 10 foot pool playing paper,sisors,rock quite happillly so equalising was cracked .Then another game with mask off and no worries.Mask back on and cleared all good.
Even so it was decided to give him another year before trying a full OW with him. Instead the instructor tested him on the basic skills needed for a DSD dive and we went out and did 2 10 meter/30 foot dives with him.
He loved every minute of the diving but showed his age and lack of maturity so it was a good call not going to JOW with him.
And the "old man" got to get in 14 dives all around the island. Including some swim through type cave diving and up close and personal with a turtle or two.
All in all a really fantastic dive trip to Rarotonga thanks in a BIG part to the guys at Cook Island Divers.
I can't recomend those guys too much. The instructors and DM's really went out of their way to make sure everyone had a really fantastic time but also extremely safe.

 

[TSandM]

That's who we dove with when we were there -- was your DM/guide named Ian? We were very pleased with them.

 

[Frosty]

Yup you have the same guys. Greg is the owner,Ian is the main instructor and Nga (said nahhh) and Toru are the two native DM's
ALL really great guys and ALL went out of their way to make sure the kids were safe but enjoyed the diving.
The only danger when diving withg them is drinking Gregs Home brewed beer after a dive. Whewee that stuff has a kick.

 

[freewillie]

Sounds like a great vacation. Great to see your family enjoying scuba. I can see you are all making memories and vacations that last a lifetime.

My 13 year daughter just certified as well for Jr OW diver. She begged and pleaded to complete her certification after an intro to scuba dive on our vacation to Turks & Caicos. I'm very excited to have her as a new dive buddy.

The family that dives together stays together. Have great time diving with the family.

 

[Frosty]

Sounds like a great vacation. Great to see your family enjoying scuba. I can see you are all making memories and vacations that last a lifetime.

My 13 year daughter just certified as well for Jr OW diver. She begged and pleaded to complete her certification after an intro to scuba dive on our vacation to Turks & Caicos. I'm very excited to have her as a new dive buddy.

The family that dives together stays together. Have great time diving with the family.

How do you feel when you dive with your daughter?
Last dive with my son I'm not getting my groove on because I'm beeing the extra attentive buddy.

 

[freewillie]

It's a lot of fun.

When she did her intro to scuba she was coming up the ascent line hand over hand and was looking at her best friend. She started making this sweeping gesture telling her friend to "breath!" making sure not to hold her breath during her ascent. As a parent I knew even on her first dive she had the basic concepts down.

During our Catalina trip she was a little cold. I actually hired a dive guide since that was her first cold water dive in a wetsuit and was my first time to Avalon dive park. At the end of the dive she makes the low on air sign. Was were actually just about to surface, but at least I knew she was monitoring her own air. I was impresseed that she keeping an eye on her air.

The diving together part is just plain fun. She is my little sports buddy and goes skiing with me and now diving. I just enjoy spending time with my kids, and this is just one more thing for us to share. I know scuba has it's dangers, but as the examples above I feel okay with her ability to be a safe dive buddy. It's a wonderful thing for us to share.

Hope you and the kids can as well.

 

[Frosty]

willie Yea thats about where I'm at with my guys. Its great fun showing them this great underwater world. I guess its a matter of relaxing and letting them improve with time in water