THREE GENERATIONS OVER 20YEARS WITH KSC
THE DANK’S FAMILY LEGACY WITH KIDS SEA CAMP KSC AMBASSADORS: THE DANKS FAMILY
By Carol Danks a.k.a “Badass Grandma” Margo often says there are only 17 summers. She advises others to spend them wisely. Time, after all, is the only investment we continually make, yet we never know the balance in our account. The Danks family spends it wisely. August 2021, in St. Lucia, was a bittersweet trip for the Danks family. We had enjoyed – been thrilled – by 14 consecutive summers together at Kids Sea Camp (KSC) somewhere around the world, interrupted only by COVID the preceding summer. It was to be the last for the whole family. Three granddaughters had graduated and taken on new interests outside of scuba diving. At ages 19, 19, and 21, getting everyone to make time for summer vacations had become more challenging. But let us start at the beginning. In 2007, when we learned about and booked our first KSC through a friend of
Margo’s, Heather Crowder, who owned Annapolis Scuba, our KSC adventures began in Curacao. Joe and I(Grandma and Grandpa) had just started scuba diving a few years before, and our 2 sons enthusiastically had also picked up diving. The whole family loved Kids Sea Camp Curacao – granddaughters, then 4, 4, and 6, were enrolled into the Kids Sea Camp custom-designed SASY program for 4-7-year-olds. SASY included fun activities like swimming with dolphins, painting, snorkeling, and learning about the ocean through games and presentations. Our sons David & Mark were established divers, David’s wife Mara preferred snorkeling, and Sharon also enjoyed diving. We loved having the whole family together, and our precious time choice was a scuba diving family vacation. The following year, Margo suggested Roatan, and the pattern was solidified. The girls enjoyed mastering their swimming
skills, snorkeling, and making new friends. Swimming with the dolphin and horseback riding were the girl’s favorite activities. We enjoyed our time together as a family and had plenty of time apart with our adult kids diving and exploring Roatan. ARE WE GOING NEXT YEAR? On the first day, after the KSC treasure hunt, Ayden had the chutzpah to ask me, “Where are we going the next year?” Her mother was appalled at the question, but Joe and I knew the family was hooked on Kids Sea Camps from that point forward. Each year, Kids Sea Camp sends out goodie boxes filled with T-shirts, SCUBAPRO fins, mask & snorkel sets, tote bags, and other gifts for the kids, which creates so much excitement about their upcoming trip. We continued on to Bonaire at Buddy Dive, where the girls were introduced to the PADI Seal Team and were actually able to adorn
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