Sunset Bay Wharf

Do Participants have to be able to swim?

Yes, but they need not be strong or accomplished swimmers. Wetsuits and lifejackets make it next to impossible to lose a swimmer, and for those who may not so far have exhibited a great interest in swimming, there is no more likely place than here to instill a love for the water. After a week at Beach Camp we frequently hear about kids being much more enthusiastic about attending swim lessons or swim team.

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What is Staffing like?

Beach Camp MMA summer program staff serving approximately 100 kids each week is made up of 2 year around managers, 2 head counselors, 2 evening activity directors, 30 college undergrad counselor/instructors, 20 high school CITs and JCs, 2 head counselors, 1 night watch person, and 1 kitchen manager. Each week has a rotating groups of 6-8 parent helpers in the kitchen and office. All counselor/instructors are lifeguards, with most having grown up here as campers or are returning from the prior season. Our unique location being close to the city allows us to keep long term staff and former campers involved who would have otherwise moved on with their careers, and we do not know of a single other summer program with a higher staff to student ratio.     

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What if my child's friends can't go, or are going on a different Week?

Your child will automatically be paired with a Camp Buddy the moment they get here just by leaving the friend request field blank. This accounts for over half the kids who sign up for overnight camp. Most kids bond closely with their Camp Buddy and stay in touch year around. This dynamic of creating new friendships is one of the main benefits of overnight summer camp, and provides a lot of comfort to young people navigating their way through the ups and downs of school or team sport friend groups.   

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What about friends requests?

Please list your friends group in the spot provided on the online registration form. There is at most two cabin groups for same age campers so friends requests can always be accommodated.

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My child has friends and siblings in different Minnow, Seal, Dolphin, Orca grade groups. Can we just pick a group we think is best and register them for that group, say Seals for example?

Our rules do not support placing more worldly students in with lower grades, or younger grade students in with higher grades as they have the potential of impacting group dynamics or safety, and we ask not to be asked to authorize these requests.

 

 

What if we are not quite sure if our child is ready for overnight camp?

For those thinking about a week away from home for the first time but unsure if they are completely ready, there is no better place than Beach Camp to ease kids into the sleepover camp experience. In addition to pairing your child with a Camp Buddy the moment they get here, kids have a keen sense for the remoteness of their location, so being close to the city makes the vibe here completely different from being dropped off hours away in a remote location. With our close in location your child can attend day camp in their early years and can visit here in the Spring, Also, as a last resort during camp if it comes to it (which is very rarely does) we can even sneak parents in for a hug, or convert your child to day camp, so based on all this there is a near zero chance of ignominious exit during your child's first summer camp experience here. With all these things going in your favor, any pangs of homesickness almost always pass quickly, leaving your child with new found friends, and the wonderful sense of confidence and independence that comes from a week away at Beach Camp MMA.   

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What about refunds?

Since we accept only the $575 down payment at registration, this payment is a non-refundable deposit securing your spot. You can move freely between weeks on a space available basis, but if you would like the option of receiving a cash refund due to illness or any other reason, you will need to purchase your own program cancellation insurance. This insurance is readily available on the web for around 10% of the program fee. One example of which can be found here: www.aplusplans.com  

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We see a lot of activities on your website and videos, do the kids do them all each week?

There are over 40 scheduled activities in the Beach Camp MMA curriculum with campers able to do approximately half the activities in a typical overnight camp week consisting of 2 morning and 2 afternoon cabin group activity sessions, plus Campers Choice activities after dinner. Beach and water activities are dependent on wind, tide levels, and water visibility which vary from day to day and week to week. For campers trying to do every Beach Camp activity in a single summer, the best strategy is to attend one odd number week and one even number week due to the tides being on an every other week cycle between daytime highs and lows. Beach Camp scheduled activities include the overwater Cliff Jump, Climbing Wall, Zipline, Blue Mats/Big and Small Green docks, Trapeze Swing, Slackline, Snorkeling, Bubbleheads, Snuba, Zodiacs, Paddelboarding, Sea Kayaking, Canoeing, Rowing, Fishing, Crabbing, Intro to Sailing/Capsize drill, Sailing, Skimboarding, Beach Bikes, E-surfers, Marine Bio-Walk, Touch Tank Specimen Gathering, Sand Castle Building, Treasure Hunt, Tug-o-War competition, Ninja Gym, Climbing Gym, Onewheels, Blueroom floorhocky, Greenroom dodgeball, Skateramps, Gold Panning/Creek Walk, Beach Vollyball/Frisbee, Marine Bio Family Feud, Campfire/Smores, Bioluminescent Snorkeling, Helipad Yoga, Art Room/Friendship bracelets, Movie Room, Gong Show, Escape Room, Marine Mammals in our Backyard Presentation, and Friday Color Wars.    

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How safe is it, some of the water activities look really scary?

Beach Camp's unique location allows our signature youth challenge activities to be placed over the water thus providing a safe and forgiving landing zone. In addition, we provide buoyant neoprene wetsuits and booties and bright colored rashguards which eliminates much of the risk associated with pool or lake based swim activities. Although in the short run, a safer week could no doubt be spent in coder camp or on the couch playing video games, in the long run, a week spent here overcoming challenges and perceived risks, learning water and boating safety and resourcefulness, and developing an appreciation and respect for the environment and the inherent risks in outdoor adventures, will pay safety dividends lasting a lifetime. Parents can also take comfort in another unique aspect of the Sunset Bay Wharf which is we have a full panoply of dry land activities so there is never any pressure to do anything on the water if the conditions are not optimal for the activity in question. Also, unlike most oceanfront adventure programs, we are only minutes from the entire range of medical resources Seattle has to offer.

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What if something new comes out on the web about the dangers of summer camp? 

There's nothing easy about being a parent these days and trying to identify and protect your child from real risks. Although your daily news and online review feed can make it seem like things are getting more dicey for your child everyday, I think we all realize deep down that the opposite is in fact the case. One thing that is certain, however, is that with 8 million kids attending summer camp each year, there are 16 million or more concerned parents and grandparents  supplying a ready made demand for clickbait danger stories and online reviews in the run up to summer camp. Widely reported subjects from prior years include headlice, meningitis, mold, lyme disease, undiagnosed fractures, forest fires, smoke from forest fires, e-coli, bats, mushrooms, dehydration, chemicals in water bottles, nut allergies, flash floods, insecticides, herbicides, solar eclipse, flesh eating bacteria, sharks, sunburn, sunscreen chemicals, tsunamis, kidnapping, bullying, choking, mosquito borne illness, brown recluse spiders, tetanus, jellyfish, murder hornets, redtide, toxic shellfish, bears, cougars, concussions, HCM heart attacks, and of course covid. None of these risks are completely made up, all are within a statistical realm of possibility, but none are anywhere near the top in summer camp incidents, and all need to be put into perspective with respect to the actual chance of harm weighed against the benefits of the summer camp experience. It is easy to have a one in a million zero tolerance policy when it comes to unsafe things with safe alternatives. But for everything else, protecting your child involves weighing the actual chance of harm against your family’s own personal view on the lifelong benefits of summer camp for your child's growth, development, and personal confidence. 

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Are there any Day Camp programs?

Beach Camp offers a subsidized Day Camp program for Minnows (Grades 2-3) and Seals (Grades 4-5) only. Day Camp is an introductory short-day program with separate Day Camp activity groups focused more on beach and dryland activities. The underlying premise of the subsidized Day Camp Program is that children will graduate to the the Overnight Program as soon as they become ready.

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Where do the kids stay?

Kids stay in modern cabins and cabanas that accommodate retreat groups and Beach Camp staff in the off season. All have normal indoor plumbing and clean respectable bathrooms, so no traipsing down trails in the middle of the night to the bathroom.

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Are there a lot of Mosquitoes, last time we stayed on the water my kids got lots of Mosquito bites?

No, we're on saltwater not a lake where Mosquitoes live! You won't even need bug repellent unless unusually sensitive to any kind of bug bite.

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Is there anything expensive we need to buy?

No, we supply wetsuits and booties and colored rashguards for the week, so all you need is normal going away from home items which will be listed in your welcome pack email.  

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What is your ratio of staff to participants?

Each cabin or activity group of of 10-12 campers has at lest two camp counselor/instructors.

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Can you accommodate special diet requests?

Yes, we provide both vegetarian, vegan and gluten free meal options, but not guarantees against cross contamination in the cooking process. 

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What time is pickup and Drop off?

Drop off is at 3pm on Sundays,  and pickup is at 11 am on the following Saturday.

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Is there a store for snacks etc.?

Yes, and you can charge up your store credit account online prior to check-in.

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How to be a Jr. instructor/CIT?

Applications are sent out in the Spring to graduating Orcas from last season who expressed interest in the CIT program. CITs are chosen based on space available and prior experience and performance. See the CIT tab under Employment for further information.

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Should we make/bribe our child to go to Beach Camp if they don’t want to go?​

Beach Camp is in fact the antidote to almost all that troubles today’s youth, from smart phone addiction, to bullying, to sedentariness, to excess homework, to overeating, overparenting, and year around soccer leaving no time for anything else. A week at Beach Camp each summer can and does reset a child’s outlook putting the pressures of modern adolescence into the small and transitory perspective they deserve. But the antidote needs to be given in time. Minnows (grades 2-3) and Seals (grades 4-5) and middle school boys who’s reluctance stems from physical or social fears, almost always come to embrace the Beach Camp experience. Older girls and some boys with more developed brains and personal convictions against attending may need to wait for the influence of highschool or college friend groups to embrace the challenge of beach and water outdoor pursuits and their benefits.          

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Our highschooler is interested in Summer Law but we want them to be a coder when they grow up and worry this might distract them from applying themselves in math class, what do you think?

While coding may be synonymous with financial success at this moment in time, the future is likely to look very different. Having been around long enough to remember machine code and assembly language pushing and popping things in & out of the accumulator, it seems inevitable what is in store for software coding and coders as we know them today. One interesting thing about Beach Camp is we get the occasional billionaires kids here and I've enjoyed asking them what their parents think they should do for work, with the most recent response being most memorable  "... my dad says he doesn't care what I do, just find something that can't be done by a robot..."