Boomer parents have long been fond of getting their kids to ski, hike and engage in adventure activities. Scuba Kids are the next wave. The largest scuba-certification group–PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors)–reports that scuba certifications for children 10 to 14 are up, unlike nearly all other age categories. Two years ago PADI and Scuba Schools International (SSI) lowered age restrictions, introducing pool-based programs for kids as young as 8 and clearing 10-year-olds for ocean diving (with a guardian). The previous cutoff for such certifications was 12.
Manufacturers are responding with scaled-down, lighter equipment. Sales for kids’ gear start at about $600 a set and are up 20 percent over last year. Resorts from the Bahamas to Hawaii are retraining employees and adding courses and scubalike options to teach the young.
Wayne Hasson invented SASY–Supplied Air Snorkeling for Youth–several years ago to let his 5- and 7-year-olds easily grasp simple diving concepts. Kids wear air regulators, hoses and tanks filled with 45 minutes’ worth of air. They check their gauges the way divers do, and use masks for a taste of scuba. There’s one catch: their BCs–that’s buoyancy compensators for you landlubbers–won’t let them sink. SASY units cost $500 apiece.
When they outgrow SASY, kids can enroll in pool-based programs designed to prepare them for junior open-water certificates that–after written and water certification–allow them to dive with a certified instructor or parent down to 40 feet. PADI’s Drew Richardson says water activities present an alternative for kids who don’t excel at other sports. “Scuba is noncompetitive,” he says. “You don’t have to be exceptionally fit or the fastest.” But you do have to be aware of your surroundings and react within a split second.
The National Association of Underwater Instructors, the second largest international dive-certification organization, decided not to lower its scuba threshold. “There is a law of readiness,” says NAUI’s Jed Livingstone. “Kids tend to be exuberant, emotional, feeling invincible.” The risks are great, including the changes in lung pressure that descending even a few feet can produce. Moreover, dive tables that dictate the safe rate of ascent were not designed for kids. Dr. Kelly Hill, a diving specialist, worries that nitrogen bubbles in the body’s cells can bind to the edges of growth plates in children and inhibit normal growth.
Still, there are parents who believe kids are naturals at sea. Jean-Michel Cousteau knows something about family scuba. He’s been diving since he was 7 and took his own son under at 4. His Fiji resort uses SASY and other kid-friendly gear. “We spend nine months of our life in liquid,” he says. “We are used to it.”
Diving also seems to inspire kids’ environmental sensibilities. Allie Blodinger, 15, a ninth grader in Broward County, Fla., who just learned to scuba with her father, Barry, an accountant, last July, has already cleaned up fishing lines underwater in the Florida Keys and plans to volunteer as a do-good diver again later this year. She always picks up rusted cans and other “gunk” when diving. She says, “It’s the right thing to do.” Like most young divers, Allie has always felt comfortable in water and appreciates the sense of feeling “like you’re going into space.” “When I was little, we used to hold our breath playing Little Mermaid in a friend’s pool until we turned blue,” Allie recalls. And now–with scuba–she can stay under the sea as long as she wants.
How to Get Started
Bubblemakers: Offers basics for swimmers. For locations, check out padi.com.
Seal Team: The next PADI step for kids. More information at padisealteam.com.
Scuba Rangers: From SSI. An alternative to PADI’s Seal Team. See scubarangers.com.
