Angie (left) and Ashlyn (middle) then Riley (James’ daughter)
Back in October of last year, we awarded two mentors with the trip of a lifetime as a prize for a couple of essays they wrote. The prize was a trip to Bonaire for a week to get SCUBA certified. The scholarship was awarded through the Ocean Wishes Foundation which teams up with Kids Sea Camp and Buddy Divers Award. On June 25th, they left for this incredible journey and returned on July 2 with certificates in hand. As one can imagine I wanted to know how the trip went and what were some of the highlights and gag reels of the trip. I was able to get with both of the prize recipients, Angie and Ashlyn (Youth Odyssey mentors), and their sponsor, Mr. James Gourley, to discuss the trip and their certification process.
First, I was curious to discover how this opportunity came about in the first place. According to James, the founder of Kids Sea Camp, Margo Peyton, jumpstarted the conversation about the scholarship opportunities through the Women Divers Hall of Fame. As many of you are aware, Youth Odyssey sends out a newsletter once a month and every week we post a blog about one thing or another that we are focusing on at the time. James, being the amazing board member that he is, forwards these newsletters and blogs to his friends and connections in order to get the word out about this great organization he is a part of. Margo finally got curious enough to ask for more information on what Youth Odyssey is and what it is we do. Through this conversation, the topic of upcoming scholarships was brought up and the rest is history. James let the mentors know what scholarships were available to them and to apply if it was something they’d be interested in doing. There were different levels of scholarships that were going on; there was one angled towards kids that could get certified locally (which two of our other mentors received) and then the other level was the full trip to Bonaire and getting a free week of Kids Sea Camp which was donated through the Buddy Divers Award that Margo is a part of; which these two mentors received.
Once I understood how this opportunity was made possible we continued the conversation by discussing what the two award recipients took away from the experience. Angie immediately mentioned how “great, amazing, and beautiful” Bonaire was. She continued saying it was “the best experience in the world” and how she and Ashlyn had talked about how they are going to live there when they get older. She was clearly very taken with the weather and the scenery but when I asked what her favorite part of the trip was she gushed about how “everyone was so nice and friendly. Even the waitresses would be getting off work and just hang out and chat. [She] met so many interesting people.” Ashlyn, on the other hand, couldn’t narrow down exactly what her favorite part was but she had a list of some of her favorite things they did, which included, the scenery, which “was amazing,” and the “most beautiful place [she’d] ever been.” Having never traveled outside the country before she was very taken with the environment. She also enjoyed “all the extra activities they did, like tubing, kayaking, and, of course, diving.” There was one story that the girls shared with me about how they had to do a relay race in a kayak that involved them preparing cake mix. They were apparently in first place until something happened and they flipped the kayak so they ended up coming in dead last, with smiles though. This activity was a part of their Kids Sea Camp class and was designed to get the kids comfortable with each other.
After a story like that, I was hoping they would have some more crazy class stories from Sea Camp. Apparently, on day one, Ashlyn was putting on her wet suit when one of the instructors pushed her into the pool. Naturally, Ashlyn says “what was that?!” and their response was, “you looked a little dry.” Aside from those stories, it seemed the rest of the class consisted of practicing in a pool environment and then transitioning into the ocean. Angie mentioned how beautiful the coral was during the dives and Ashlyn piggy backed on that by mentioning how everything underwater was so clear and clean.
The girls were obviously there to learn the ins and outs of SCUBA but, just like any other class, they only lasted a few hours every day and then they had free time. So I wanted to know how they filled their days while on the island. Both Angie and Ashlyn mentioned the food. It was buffet style for every meal and they made the most of it, dessert being Ashlyn’s favorite part. They also spent time downstairs using the WiFi, tubing, snorkeling, and visited a donkey sanctuary too. There were hundreds of donkeys at the sanctuary; and as they rode around in the truck, the donkeys would follow them throughout the sanctuary. Ashlyn had a particularly profound effect on the 
donkeys since they would flock to her and follow her around everywhere. This lead to the nickname of “Donkey Queen” being coined. Both Angie and Ashlyn had nothing but great things to say about their sanctuary experience and how “cute, funny, and little” the donkeys were. Angie told a story of how one girl had fallen off the truck when the drove over a bump and started to cry. When that happened Angie said her “Youth Odyssey skills kicked in and she jumped out to see if the girl was ok and talked her down into a calmer mood. The whole time [Angie] was thinking, thank you Youth Odyssey for giving me the skills to handle situations like this!” They would also play volleyball until midnight almost every night. Clearly, there was no shortage of activities to do outside of their classes and it allowed them the opportunity to expand their horizons and have a lot of new experiences.
Though Angie and Ashlyn were the focus of the trip, James, who was in charge of them, turned Bonaire into an opportunity for some family fun (with his two daughters and wife attending as well). This allowed for Angie and Ashlyn to have some buddies to hang out with. One of James’ daughters was doing a different Sea Camp in order to receive her Junior Rescue Diving certification while James, his older daughter and wife dove every day and did night dives as well. One night James took out Angie and Ashlyn to explore the sea. As you can suspect, Ashlyn and Angie took to the 
experience a little differently. Angie was more cautious and nervous but still said it was an awesome experience and “though it was scary, we got to see Tarpon that were 6-7 feet long, which was really cool.” James elaborated by saying they “were able to guide the Tarpon with a spot light and watch them catch fish on their night dives.” Ashlyn took to the night dive like a fish to water and chose to be up front for the dive so she could see what the spotlight was illuminating better. Because of her eagerness during the dives and enthusiasm to commit to different situations, it was obvious that Ashlyn had a full blown case of the SCUBA bug.
When I talked to Ashlyn about her future plans with SCUBA she strongly expressed her interested in pursuing diving. She mentioned how she eventually wants to become a certified Dive Master and is planning to work towards her Advanced Open Water certification. Ashlyn told me how James was already working with her in order to build on the momentum Bonaire had created. When I asked James about his role in helping Ashlyn pursue her future diving goals he said he was actually “helping out two of our Youth Odyssey mentors, Chris and Ashlyn, in completing their dive goals.” (Chris was one of the recipients of the local diving certifications.) James mentions that, “because of their drive to continue with diving and their natural ability to be comfortable in the water, [he] is willing to invest his time because they are great kids. But [he] is going to challenge them to be better at other things as well.” James has already sent them their e-learning for their Advanced Open Water certification and both Chris and Ashlyn have signed a contract where they promise to keep up their attendance and grades in school. He said he is planning to look at report cards and helping, if needed, to get their drivers licenses. James’ hope is by having the kids be accountable, it will help them push themselves, not only in the diving world, but also in the academic world and elsewhere in life. Angie is interested in furthering her diving abilities as well and, as she gets older and matures, it’s definitely something that James is willing to offer her.
Aside from furthering their diving education, I ask both girls what their goals were going forward with their new certifications. Currently, Angie, who is 13, has the goal to return to Bonaire and explore the island and waters more (she’s created a campaign within her family and friend group to help her goal happen). Being 17, Ashlyn’s goals are more career and college oriented. I asked if she was interested in getting a job in the diving community and she said that, as a plan B, if it worked out, she’d be totally fine being a SCUBA instructor but, now that she’s gone on the trip, she’s “interested in doing more marine work, like maybe working with sea turtles.” Her original plan was to go to school to become a lawyer but, she’s want to be able to travel with her job and being a lawyer isn’t the most conducive to that dream. She’s “changing her thoughts on what major she wants and exploring other fields and ways to travel while still in school.” We discussed becoming an international summer camp counselor and doing work through the Student Conservation Association (my alumni) in order to get her feet wet so-to-speak, in the fields that interest her.
Angie and Ashlyn on Graduation Day
At the end of their week in Bonaire, both Angie and Ashlyn had gained real world experience in traveling, culture, exploring the unknown, realized new passions, and set new goals for themselves. Angie received her Junior Open Water Diver certification, which is a lifetime certification that will automatically upgrade to a regular Open Water Diver certification when she turns 15. Because Ashlyn is 17, she received her Open Water Diver certification. Hopefully, if they stick with Youth Odyssey and continue to keep the Women Divers Hall of Fame in mind, they and other Youth Odyssey participants may be able to further their SCUBA bug through more scholarship offers in varying disciplines like training, photography, diving, and receiving equipment.
Our mentors owe a HUGE thank you to James Gourley for seeing the opportunity for our young mentors to explore new things, Margo Peyton and Kids Sea Camp for hosting and gifting such an amazing experience to two great kids, the Ocean Wishes Foundation for hosting the essay contest, the Buddy Divers Award and the Women Divers Hall of Fame for making this experience possible and giving two deserving individuals the trip of a lifetime and a lifetime of diving adventures. Thank You.
To close, I want to share a poem that Angie shared with me that they created at the end of their Sea Camp experience. I think it shows how much fun they had on the trip as well as how grateful they were for this opportunity and how it has affected them:
As Kid Sea Camp comes to an end, we’ve found that we’ve made more than one friend
To the Ocean Wishes Foundation, we give our appreciation
To the Women Divers Hall of Fame, Margo Peyton is not a shame
We also give thanks to Youth Odyssey, for teaching us honesty, and making us young diving prodigies
Milou, Elizabeth, Laura, and Skye; Peggy, Angie, Brenda, and Coleman, oh my
Although there’s a few we did not mention, that does not mean that they got any less attention
Although we are sad to leave Bonaire behind, we all know Buddy Dive will never leave our mind.
