Kid you’re gonna love this.

(A Father’s travel tale on not giving up on making a memorable experience Memorable)

I was a beach kid.  I grew up mostly in San Diego and the ocean has always been a big part of my life. I’d also like to get back into Scuba diving more seriously.  I’ve only gone diving once in the past few years.  Despite years and years of being a bonafide single traveler, I now have a vast preference for traveling with my family.  So, I’ve started a plan on getting them PADI Certified.  

The Gateway activity for scuba diving is, of course, snorkeling.  So a few years ago I took them to St Maarten and Anguilla.  There was a heavy swell on our full excursion day and the snorkling was ok, not amazing.  Kid was just 7 and the ocean was scary.  Snorkeling didn’t quite take the way I wanted it too.  Then, we went to Aruba and my wife and daughter snorkeled watching our bubble trails come up.  My daughter liked it, but it also was not quite the magical experience I was hoping for.  

Then came Bali, or more specifically Menjangan Island along one of the most beautiful reefs I’ve ever seen and kid came alive.  I had to keep tugging her back into following the snorkel guide as she kept racing off to chase fish.  There were so many beautiful fish.  She gave bubbly exclamations and laughter, pointing to another new beautiful living thing under the ocean.  It was FANTASTIC. Not only did I finally share something with her that I always wanted to, she.. really LOVED it."

I suppose that the lesson here is, if you are traveling and expending serious time and resources in the attempt to share something wonderful with your kids, don’t give up. For my family, with the underwater ocean activities, I was starting to think that I just had to let that one go.  As it is now, Kid is asking to be scuba certified as soon as possible, I expect that will start this year (she's 10 now) and hopefully by 12, will have full open water.