Courtesy Margo PeytonAn avid diver, Margo Peyton has devoted much of her life to introducing kids and their families to the dive world.
Born in a small seaside town in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Margo Peyton has always been tied to the ocean by her love of family. “My father started diving back in the ’50s and would pour his own lead weights,” she says. “I learned to swim from his fishing boat. For us, the ocean was part of our culture, history and tradition. Diving just seemed to be part of my DNA.”
Upon graduating from college with a degree in travel and tourism, Peyton moved to Grand Cayman, where she earned her PADI Divemaster certification alongside the legendary Bob Soto and worked as a travel agent, putting together and leading trips around the Caribbean. Soon, Peyton purchased Caribbean Adventures and World Dive Adventures, which she ran for 14 years.
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“FOR US, THE OCEAN WAS PART OF OUR CULTURE, HISTORY AND TRADITION. DIVING JUST SEEMED TO BE PART OF MY DNA.”
—Margo Peyton
Courtesy Margo PeytonAdding to an array of honors, Peyton was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2024.
After becoming a mom with the birth of her son Robbie in 1994 and daughter Jen in 1996, Peyton realized a critical need in the industry for family-friendly dive resorts and children’s programs. “So many people I talked to felt like they had to give up their passion and couldn’t travel because there was nothing for children to do at dive resorts,” she says. “It just didn’t exist.”
Motivated by this, Peyton launched Kids Sea Camp in 2000 to promote diving as a family group activity and introduce children to the underwater world. She later opened Family Dive Adventures for families who wanted to book individual vacations.
In 2024, Peyton was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, adding to an impressive list of honors, including a PADI Lifetime Achievement award and membership in the Women Divers Hall of Fame. To date, Peyton has certified over 8,100 young divers.
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Courtesy Margo PeytonPeyton’s work has touched thousands of young lives.
Q: Why is it important for the dive industry to be inclusive of children?
A: Children may only be 20 percent of the world’s population, but they are 100 percent of our future. If oceans are important to our future, then so are kids.
Q: Why is diving and Kids Sea Camp so beneficial for kids?
A: These days, I feel like kids don’t want to be as social. They prefer to sit and text each other. They get nervous, and they have anxiety because talking to someone is uncomfortable. Likewise, parents don’t remember how to talk to their kids.
I think diving takes the awkwardness out of everything because it’s an outdoor sport that requires connectivity. It requires two people. It requires you to be buddies. It requires you to connect not only to each other, but to the underwater world and marine life. It’s tangible, and it’s physical.
Every day at Kids Sea Camp, children are playing volleyball and paddleboarding. They’re talking about what they saw on a dive. They’re taking rescue courses and learning about coral restoration. They’re engaging with their families.
Q: What could the dive industry learn from your business?
A: If I could give advice to the dive industr y, I would tell them to help people reconnect. Have destination nights and open your store to the community. Host summer picnics, try out gear at the pool and do group trips. My business is now 25 years old, and it’s still growing because the parents that I have coming now were the kids who came 20 years ago. It makes me think about Peter Pan, when they go to Neverland and remember what it was like to be a kid. That’s kind of what it’s like when adults come to Kids Sea Camp.
Q: Why did you decide to start the Ocean Wishes Foundation?
A: It started as a way to raise money for local kids in need when we travel, whether it’s for school supplies, clothes or fresh water. Later, the foundation developed to include scholarships, because there are so many kids out there who can’t afford to dive. Diving is not a cheap sport! We’re also working on educational programs to inspire children and their parents to get involved in their local communities and protect the ocean. We do a lot with the Reef Renewal Foundation International, for example.
Q: What’s your proudest achievement?
A: What I do is not about making money. It’s about love. It’s about connectivity. I was a single mom, and my own mom was in a mental institution from the time that I was 10 years old. I built an amazing family, not just within my own family, but within a community that touches 300 families a year. Kids Sea Camp creates lifelong relationships centered on the ocean and the planet. It’s almost something that you have to experience, but it’s magic. It’s really magic.
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Courtesy Margo Peyton
Milestone Moment
“Having children changed my life,” says Peyton. “I didn’t want to leave my kids behind whenever I went on a dive trip, and most of my clients at Caribbean Adventures and World Dive Adventures didn’t have kids yet. When they got married, they just stopped diving, or they would form a guy’s club and leave their wives and kids at home.”
Starting with one trip to Curaçao and just seven families, Peyton created family dive travel events at PADI Five Star Dive Resorts around the world where all ages could come together and blow bubbles. Soon, Kids Sea Camp’s success enabled Peyton to sell Caribbean Adventures and World Dive Adventures to focus on her new business full-time.
Peyton’s carefully curated itineraries include shared quality time as well as age-appropriate programs that allow parents the privacy and dive time they crave while their children learn to breathe underwater in a safe, nurturing environment. Peyton also strives to foster an appreciation for the ocean through PADI AWARE, beach clean-ups and more lessons about what it means to be a responsible diver for life.
