I’ve recently become a scuba enthusiast: I’ve spent my 20s, 30s and 40s traveling the world and loving all kinds of water sports, including kayaking, SUP, scuba diving and tubing, but there was something about scuba diving such that it always seemed unattainable. And as someone with frequent ear infections, I just found that scuba diving just wasn’t for me.
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Then, when I turned 50, I realized that I had traveled to all seven continents and over 100 countries, but I was still looking for something new. So it turned out to be a scuba diving. Getting certified has changed my travel life because now I can return to my favorite countries and vacation spots and explore in a completely different and unique way: underwater.
Making scuba diving a family activity
Once I realized what I was missing out on, I decided to get my family involved as well. But my teenage boys, 13 and 15, were on the fence. It wasn’t that they were against scuba diving, more that being New York kids, scuba diving wasn’t on their radar. I was hoping to change that with an epic family adventure.
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Adventure came in the form of a summer vacation trip to Fiji. My children agreed to try and completed the previous course. My youngest son even got his certificate before we left and his brother decided to take the training this trip. It was planned that my younger son and I would go diving every morning, while my older son would go through training. We then spent the rest of the day enjoying Fiji with my non-diving husband.
The magic of underwater swimming
I am often asked why I love scuba diving so much. Partly, I think, because I came to it so late. For three decades I have traveled the world listening to divers recount their amazing encounters. I didn’t feel jealous because I had my own scuba diving encounters in the Maldives, Belize and Tahiti.
What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was how much diving really changed my perspective on travel. For me, scuba diving is not a thrill and an adrenaline rush. Anyway, it’s the exact opposite, its magic is listening to the sound of my breathing underwater, no cell phones, no arguments and no busy mind wondering what to do next. Instead, snorkeling forces me to be in the moment, focusing on whatever is right in front of me, whether it’s a shark, a seahorse, or a colorful coral.
Why I wanted my kids to love scuba diving
This meditativeness is also why I wanted to share it with my teenage boys. Their lives are so full of school, sports, friends and commitments that I wanted them to have the opportunity to slow down and be with nature.
There was a second reason I hoped to turn my children into scuba divers. As a mom of two active, sports-loving boys, I’ve often felt like the odd woman out. My husband spends a lot of alone time with my boys playing and watching sports, and I loved the idea of scuba diving as an opportunity to share a special activity with them.
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To be honest, there is a third reason. Any teenager knows that traveling with them can be a challenge – there’s constant why-do-I-need-to-do-this back-and-forth. Snorkeling was perfect – you spend time together underwater, in a place where there is no talking or arguing, and we all just enjoy the moment. I hoped.
How Fiji turned us into an underwater family
When trying to decide where to get my son certified in Fiji, I settled on Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort. Not only is it one of the best family resorts in Fiji, it also has some of the best diving in the country.
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It was a great fit and turned out to be one of our most successful family trips because we mixed up alone time in the morning while snorkeling and still spent time together as a family in the afternoon and evening.
Making the most of our days
The resort is known for its strong kids program (called Bula Buddies), but anyone with teenagers knows it can be hard to talk them into participating in group activities, so I didn’t have high hopes for my boys joining in on the activities. children’s club. But Sefa, the Bula Buddy for teenagers, was the perfect fit. He was young (26), active, fun and had a strong “cool” quality that suited him (without trying). In other words, he was the perfect big brother for my boys.
My boys quickly went scuba diving with me in the morning (my oldest passed his certification in a few days), but spent an equal amount of time not scuba diving with his Bula Buddy, doing activities like fishing, tubing, hiking, and building and manage their own rafts.
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I was worried that my husband wouldn’t enjoy the trip since he didn’t dive, but he was more than happy to be alone in the mornings and we could spend the rest of the day as a family. The resort has daily family activities planned, including visits to the local village and school, kayaking to the salt lake, hiking to nearby waterfalls, and daily snorkeling trips. And since these activities included other families, everyone made new friends.
Fiji will be our first family scuba diving trip together, but definitely not our last. And maybe one day I’ll even convince my husband to join the underwater fun.