diving with kids in tow

[paberley]

just found out that I'm pregnant and wont be able to dive until the end of the year. Bummer!

However, do you folks know any where which looks after the kids while going on a dive, either in the UK or abroad.

Having only been diving for approx 18 months, I dont want to give it up now.

I'm looking for hotels, resorts companies etc. Have had www.familydiving.co.uk recommended to me which looks good,wondered if you knew any more.

:rolleyes:

[Keith Lawrence]

just found out that I'm pregnant and wont be able to dive until the end of the year. :rolleyes:Congratulations, but not having children myself and never having been pregnant I'm not sure that I can be much help here ;)

However... I've made a copy of your thread, I've put it down into the Travel Club forums. This is quite a common question and there has been loads of good advice and experience from the TC participants over the years. I'm sure that we can help you with this one!

Keith L
Forums Manager

[paberley]

I've been on yorkshire Divers and some ideas that have come through so far are:-

www.familydiving.co.uk

and Mark warner holidays.

Apparently some resorts have international nurseries nearby which will look after the sprogs from 8am till 6pm. May be an option!! eg this one in Egypt
www.lespetiteselgouna.com

Chin up folks we will get this one sussed!!!:p

[Alison Boler]

Hi
We've been through this in all it's incarnations! There are different issues/suggestions for babies/kids/teenagers believe me!

Anyway, we have carried on having diving holidays throughout the 15 years we've had kids but some compromise is required.

Babies: With babies I would recommend that you consider the following
1. Mark Warner
2. Club Med (check its a diving village)
3. Iberotels
4 Bandos Island, Maldives
5. Breezes hotels in the Caribbean (Jamaica and Turks and Caicos)
6. Many of the all inclusives in Cancun offer babies/kids clubs or nannying arrangements.

These hotels all specialise in small kids clubs and they are very good at it. You would need to check whether they open early enough to tie in with dive boat departures. Many dive operators have seperate morning and afternoon departures which means you can make it work.

We also found that self catering worked well when our children were very small. In some places we arranged via the hotel (if we were having cottages in their resort) or with the dive operator to hire a daily nanny. This was particularly possible on many of the Caribbean islands - we found local ladies through the hotel in Jamaica, Roatan, Cayman. Obviously, you need someone you can take references up on. Or rent a big enough villa and take the grandparents along! Menorca, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Malta, Cyprus are all good destinations for this.

Another idea is this: cut yourself some flexibility by choosing a dive destination that isn't totally dependant on boat diving. If you are somewhere where you can shore dive, you can be much more independant of boat schedules etc and this works well around a family holiday. Places which are good for this are: Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Maldives.

Consider the UK: St Martins on the Scillies is an idyllic location with wonderful diving right off shore. The dive centre there knows all the local cottages and hotels and I'm sure they would help you out. The beaches are sandy and it's a perfect place for a holiday with very young kids. We have a lot of trip reports on this place.

Have you got another couple in the same situation? Consider a holiday with them where you take it in turns to sit for each other. Or share the arrangements somehow.

Look at the trip reports on our travel site which are flagged as "family friendly" for some more ideas.

http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports

Older Children:
Older children ie 5 - 11 year olds want to be kept active all the time rather than being "looked after". Some good ideas here are
1. Mark Warner
2. Iberotels
3. Club Med
4. Sunsail clubs
5. Movenpick hotels

plus all of the "baby" ideas.
Depending on the dive conditions, you can take this age group along with you in a lot of places. The dive boats in warm water condtitions tend to be very large and you can take the kids snorkelling in between the dives. You can either dive in a different "wave" from your partner, or ask the spare dive guide to keep and eye on the children while you are in the water - they are generally happy to oblige, but you need to check first and of course give them a nice tip for doing it.
Teens:
As our children got to about the age of 10+ they were in the water snorkelling with us so much and were so keen to learn that we then taught them to dive (10 and 12) and they have dived with us ever since, which makes things much easier. At that point we just had to moderate where we went diving to make sure that depths and conditions were appropriate (not difficult) and there were still holidays that we wouldn't take them on eg liveaboards.
We've just come back from a week in the Red Sea and there were other UK teens diving on the day boat that they made friends with, which was great.

Don't despair!!! It doesn't mean the end of diving. We took our oldest daughter with us on our first diving holiday post birth when she was 3 months old and we went to Roatan - Anthonys Key Resort. They provided us with a fully referenced nanny (we paid her direct, but it was very cheap) and after diving we all had a great time together on the sandy beaches. She went to Jamaica at 6 months when we did an instructor event there and again we hired a nanny. And we've had all sorts of different family holidays often with diving ever since.
Truthfully, what we've found is that it isn't the diving holiday that is more difficult with kids. It's the regular weekend diving, unless the places you're going are very close so you can get in and out in 1/2 a day, and this becomes more true as they get older and develop social lives of their own.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Allie

[Helen(kohtaokids)]

Hi,

First of all congratulations!!!

I'm setting up a childcare service on Koh Tao, Thailand from May this year so thought I'd let you know about that in case it would help?

The kid's club is called Koh Tao Kids and there's information and an online booking form at www.KohTaoKids.com. We'll happily look after babies and are happy to start early in the mornings to allow parents to get away opn those early dive boats!

As you probably already know Koh Tao is renowned for it's diving - clear, warm water and gorgeous coral reefs :) It's a great place for a relaxed family holiday.

Happy diving!

[nobby108]

I can't comment on Mark Warner, as we've never travelled with them. I certainly have travelled with familydiving.co.uk though. Unfortunately, the whole experience ended up in the County Court as this one-woman band simply refused to refund us for services that she didn't provide. Fortunately, the Court found in our favour, but it still left us well short and disappointed. They may not be around for long though, as they say that they have no money and even asked the Court to allow them to pay our measly £636 back at just £50 per month!

[Andy (treerat)]

We've been traveling and diving with kids for the past 4 years.

There has been some great advice above, with my lot we look at venues ran by Thompson or First Choice and ensure that they have the correct age kids clubs.

Then we take it in turns diving, the best venue we've used so far is the Bonaire in Cala Bona, there is a dive centre there that runs morning trips so it would bepossible for us both to go.

http://www.protur-hotels.com/en/hotels/protur-bonaire-aparthotel.html

Just returned from Lanzerotty but they didn't cater for the under 1s. We normally work it that just one of us dives but when in Thiland and Bala we stayed with the Sheraton group and they offer baby sitting so we both went.

Feel free to drop me a pm if there is anything or anywhere specific we may be able to help with.

Andy