Ocean, camping, island.
‘The ocean is approached as a place of wonder and learning,
where confidence is built slowly through understanding, trust, and play.‘
19 – 23 December 2026 / Camp Cecil, Isla Espiritu Santo, Baja California
Mexico
Our family freediving retreats are designed as gentle, immersive trips that empowers parents to confidently and calmly take their children into the ocean while teaching in-water skills to both parents and their young explorers.
Bring your family to a place of striking contrasts, where the raw stillness of the desert meets the ever-moving, life-filled sea. Hosted at Camp Cecil de la Isla on Isla Espíritu Santo, a UNESCO World Heritage site off the coast of La Paz, this five-day retreat is Ocean Travel’s family freediving offering brought to Baja California: an exciting, immersive escape that empowers parents to confidently and calmly bring their children into the ocean, while teaching in-water skills to both parents and their young explorers. The retreat is shaped directly by Hanli and Peter’s own experience raising ocean-confident children, now aged three and six, across reefs, lagoons and open water around the world. Rather than teaching children to freedive, the week centres on equipping parents with the awareness, skills and mindset needed to guide their families safely into the water. Children develop confidence not because they are pushed, but because they feel held, by their parents, by clear systems, and by a respectful relationship with the ocean.
Learning together.
Rather than teaching children to freedive, the week centres on equipping parents with the awareness, skills and mindset needed to guide their families safely into the lagoon and reef. Children develop confidence not because they are pushed, but because they feel held, by their parents, by clear systems, and by a respectful relationship with the ocean.
HOW TO GROW AN OCEAN FAMILY
Throughout the week, parents are introduced to practical ocean assessment skills, including how to read conditions, assess risk, and make sound decisions when children are present. Understanding waves, currents, visibility, and weather becomes a shared language, replacing uncertainty with informed confidence. Safety is woven into every experience through adapted freediving protocols designed specifically for families, with an emphasis on supervision, communication, and conservative decision-making that never relies on bravado or pressure.
CAMP CECIL DE LA ISLA
We are based at Camp Cecil de la Isla, a low-impact, leave-no-trace camp set on a remote stretch of Isla Espíritu Santo, where desert cliffs meet the open sea. Days begin with the sound of waves and the ocean just steps from your tent, and end around shared family meals under vast, star-filled skies. It is a gentler, more grounded pace than a typical Ocean Travel expedition, adapted deliberately for families, so that parents can focus on their children and the water, not on logistics.
Our Camp Cecil hosts, the TOSEA team, are a family-run crew with deep roots in the region, bringing warmth, safety-focused expertise, and a genuine love of sharing Baja’s desert and ocean with visiting families.
SMALL GROUPS, WHOLE FAMILIES
As with all Ocean Travel retreats, this trip is kept small and personal. Hanli and Peter host and guide in the water and on land throughout, giving each family real attention as they build confidence together. You will share the week with a handful of like-minded families, getting to know one another over meals, water sessions and evening reflection under the stars.
ISLA ESPÍRITU SANTO MAGIC
Isla Espíritu Santo sits off the coast of La Paz, its turquoise waters so clear they seem to glow from within against a backdrop of towering cacti and sunbaked desert mountains. The island’s calm bays and protected coves offer gentle, shallow water that is ideal for families finding their rhythm in the ocean, while sea lion colonies and rich marine life reward those ready to explore a little further. It is a setting that lets children move at their own pace, from quiet swims close to camp to open-water encounters with the island’s playful residents.
PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE
Isla Espíritu Santo remains wild and untouched today because of the extraordinary conservation efforts of local and international partners. In the 1990s, the island faced the threat of large-scale development, including plans for a resort casino, but through years of persistence, advocacy and collaboration, the land was gradually purchased and ultimately donated to the Mexican government for protection, helping establish it as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Families leave the week with a firsthand understanding of why that protection matters, conversations about conservation arising naturally from days spent living lightly on this rare, wild coastline.
INTENTION & FLOW OF THE WEEK
The deeper intention of the retreat is not to create young freedivers, but to nurture ocean-literate families. Children leave with a sense of belonging in the sea, and parents leave with the confidence to continue exploring safely long after the retreat ends. The ocean becomes not something to fear or conquer, but a place of shared joy, respect, and lifelong connection.
Five days and four nights, built around a gentle progression from arrival into immersion. After arriving to La Paz and crossing by boat to the island, the first day is about settling into camp and easing in with a first family swim in the calm, clear waters. From there, mornings often begin with breathwork or gentle movement, followed by time in the water building confidence and exploring the surrounding bays together, with wildlife encounters, like swimming alongside sea lions, unfolding organically in this protected, biodiverse environment. Ocean sessions are balanced with rest, reflection and slow moments on the beach, and evenings bring the group together for shared meals under the stars. The retreat closes gently, with a last family swim before the return to the mainland.
2026 DEPARTURE
19 – 23 December 2026 / 5 Days, 4 Nights
