Diving into Family Fun in Fiji

Once you've got the diving bug, it's hard to shake it! But when life changes, and kids come along, it can be tricky fitting in time to follow your passion. Dive enthusiasts Damian and Alyson Hendren understand the problem well - so they arranged for a family holiday to Plantation Island Resort in Fiji, to get their kids, Imogen, 12, and 10-year-old Theo, Open Water Certified. 

"Alyson and I are both divers, and we'd always wanted the kids to learn to dive when they were old enough," says Damian, who brought the family, along with Granddad Greg, to Plantation Island as part of a larger group family holiday. "Before we had kids we went on diving holidays regularly, but once the kids were born it became more difficult. The kids would feel left out if we went out for a dive trip without them, so as a result our own diving slowed down considerably."

Damian and Alyson had visited Plantation Island Resort before, and had taken Imogen and Theo snorkelling, "but diving offers a better experience for getting closer to marine life and seeing more variety. Now they are old enough, we were keen to get them Open Water Certified," he explains.

Award-winning PADI 5 Star Dive Centre Subsurface Fiji has been offering diving to guests since 1988. The safe, calm waters surrounding Plantation Island Resort make it a perfect place to learn scuba diving, and they provide a range of experiences, from teaching kids to dive, to PADI Open Water courses, daily dive trips and visits to dive sites.

Damian and Alyson booked the kids' dive courses online, so everything was set up for when they arrived, and they had both spent time prior to the trip learning the theory. "I was a bit reluctant to do the course as I don't like shipwrecks, but my parents made me, and my dad gave me $50 to complete the theory on time which made me happy!" shares Imogen. "I really wanted to see turtles though." "The things I wanted to see most were turtles, dolphins or a shark," adds Theo. 

Imogen and Theo's certification took place over a few days so the family could fit in with the larger group's activities and events, and on the day of the Confined Water sessions, both kids had been up since 5.30am, having spent most of the previous day travelling. "Solo, the instructor, was so patient with the kids which we really appreciated," says Damian. "He recognised they were tired, so split the sessions over two days so they got a rest."

"The course was really good fun. The buoyancy was the hardest part of the dive course, and making sure I didn't touch the coral," says Theo. "I found the fin pivot quite hard, but Solo was really helpful and showed us how to do it," agrees Imogen.

Next up was tackling the open water training sessions. The Subsurface boats are fast and stable, with plenty of sun protection - a great base for the family to head underwater together. "There are dive computers on the equipment which is so good," says Damian. "Alyson and I had flat batteries in both our personal dive computers, and we didn't have time to get replacement seal kits before we went on holiday, so it was lovely to have computers on the rental gear.

"Because we've dived a lot, we're also used to changing over our own tanks, so it was very nice to sit back and relax, and let someone else set up all the gear for us!"

For Imogen and Theo's open water training, Solo focused on teaching the kids to think for themselves. "He was quick to spot if the kids were finding a task difficult, like buoyancy control - he was good at letting the kids know early on what was happening, and demonstrating to them how to fix the problem on their own," says Damian. 

Once the kids completed their training, it was time for the family - including Granddad Greg - to take their first dive together. "My father, who's been diving since the early 1980s, also joined us in Fiji, and he really enjoyed diving as a family - taking this trip and teaching the kids to dive was a great opportunity for the kids to do something different with their grandfather too," tells Damian.

Despite Imogen's initial misgivings, both kids loved their dives, and were mesmerised by the marine life they encountered around the island. Their hopes of seeing turtles were realised on multiple dives - during one particular dive, they were lucky enough to find nine of them - and there were plenty of sharks for Theo to tick off his bucket list too, as well as an eagle ray. "The course was really good fun, but I really enjoyed the dives after we finished it," says Theo. "We saw dolphins during a surface interval, and we swam through a hole in the reef. We spent lots of time looking at anything we wanted to."

"Diving allowed the kids to see so much marine life, and Solo was great at finding something interesting for the kids to look at, both large and small," says Damian. "Being able to dive allowed them to spend more time appreciating the smaller details on the reefs, like clown fish eggs on anemones, Christmas Tree worm corals, fire dartfish, gobies paired with pistol shrimps, and mantis shrimps. They were also able to see creatures like painted crayfish and lionfish under crevices, which are the kinds of things that are hard to spot when you're snorkelling.

"Alyson and I have dived a large number of places and we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of diving around the Malolo Islands. The area isn't particularly known as a diving destination, but the quality of the dive sites really surpassed our expectations."

Both Imogen and Theo are now fully PADI qualified, which means the family can enjoy years of diving together. Imogen says she's not worried about diving any more, and both kids are excited to get back in the water soon. "Having both kids as qualified divers means we are now able to do more of the things we enjoy on holiday together as a family," says Damian. "The kids both came away feeling confident about diving and looking forward to doing it again."

Click on the links to find out more about how you can book your own family dive trip with Plantation Island Resort and Subsurface Fiji