Sun and Sea for the Kids This Summer
Time flies so fast, doesn’t it? Before you know it, it’s summer already, and you’re left wondering how your kids will spend their free days. How are you going to get their faces out of the many screens in their lives and out into the sunshine?
Mountain and Sea Adventures’ Summer Shipboard Catalina Camp would like to offer you a solution.
MSA’s summer Shipboard program engages participants in the science of marine biology, environmental stewardship, and character building. The program offers snorkeling, kayaking, sailing, hiking, camping, surfing, paddle boarding, crafts, and games. They will get to visit the diverse and beautiful Catalina Island—secluded beaches, night games, and new friends await them.
Apart from the outdoors, the kids will also enjoy living aboard the MSA’s vessel the Wilderness Explorer. “Our ship has a full galley, a dining room, and a full living room where the kids hang out,” Chad Wycoff of Mountain and Sea Adventures says.
MSA makes every effort to ensure its team is properly prepared for their jobs, and takes pride in in their intensive training process.
“We train them the beginning of March. All of our staff go through an intensive training; lifeguard, CPR, first aid, and marine biology curriculum training, everything. We take them out to the island and we get them all ready to run our school-based program at Emerald Bay Catalina. By the time summer comes, our staff have already lead thousands of kids through programming at Catalina. They are well seasoned and prepared for our summer campers.”
Six-nights or one week camp costs $845, and 12-nights or 2 weeks costs $1760.
“This camp includes all meals beginning with dinner on the first day through lunch on the last day, equipment, instruction, activity leaders, lifeguards, ship transportation, and lots of fun! Wycoff says.
Wycoff adds that they are holding an early bird sale until March 9.
“If anybody registers two kids, you’ll get $100 off for both kids plus they’ll get the early rate. That’s basically $200 off for each person,” he says.
Being a non-profit organization, Mountain and Sea Adventures is also committed to helping the kids who cannot afford to go to their camps.
“Every year we do fundraising to try to bring kids to camps that can’t afford them. We got a grant from a foundation last fall for $20,000 and we were able to bring two schools to camp, where the kids only had to pay $30 each. There were about a hundred kids for three days at the island. You know, most of these kids had never even seen the ocean before, being from the high desert and from the city.”
You can help other kids and contribute to their cause by clicking the “Donate” button on their website. Mountain and Sea Adventures is located at 820 S. Seaside Ave., Terminal Island. For more information, call (310) 519-3172 ext. 980 or visit www.mountainandsea.org.
