Travel expert Terry Ward has tips on the best destinations for both kids and urbanites.

Q: What’s a good Caribbean destination for taking newly certified kids on a summer adventure?

A: My nieces are newly certified preteens and teens, so I’m also pondering this question as destinations continue reopening. I reached out to Margo Peyton, president of Kids Sea Camp and Family Dive Adventures, for her advice on Caribbean destinations for family travel. Placencia, Belize (where she happened to be on a Kids Sea Camp at the time), ticks a lot of boxes: “You’re diving on the second largest barrier reef in the world; it has a lot of marine life for kids to learn about. Right off the beach there’s snorkeling with manatees,” Peyton says. “Teens love learning about invasive species like lionfish, and hunting them. There are schools of amberjacks. And nurse sharks are a great introductory animal, they follow us around the reef like puppies.”

Belize and other family-friendly Caribbean dive destinations—like Bonaire and Roatan—are featured on the Kids Sea Camp events calendar.

Q: My partner and I are dreaming of getting back to Europe and want to hit a city that mixes culture and diving. Where would you go?

A: Lisbon, Portugal! I was there in 2020 and was amazed by the excellent diving—wrecks, reefs and lots of tec opportunities too—all within an hour of Lisbon’s lively cafes, fado bars and world-class museums (including a new one dedicated to the Portuguese affinity for cod, aka bacalhau). “It’s a big surprise for many divers to find such great diving so close to the city,” says Arlindo Serrão of Portugal Dive. “If you dive with a rebreather here, you almost have to shake away all the fish that approach you.” I had a similarly fishy experience on air during a dive off Fonte da Telha beach last year. If you’re in Portugal this October, bookmark Diving Talks, a new international dive conference featuring explorers like cave diver Jill Heinerth and tec instructor Marissa Eckert.

Q: I feel OK traveling now, but I’m worried about potentially bringing COVID-19 to my destination. What can I do to travel responsibly?

A: Whether or not to travel during the ongoing pandemic is a very personal question and has to do with your own comfort level. If you’ve decided to travel, familiarize yourself with your destination’s rules. Every country has its own requirements about tests, masks and other pandemic-related precautions. Learn them before you go and follow them once you’re there. The U.S. State Department’s COVID online hub is a great place to start—it offers a portal where you can ask COVID questions or access country-specific information like entrance requirements and infection rates.

There’s also no harm in exceeding the requirements. When I went to Mexico with my children earlier this year, I got COVID-19 tests for all of us two days prior to our departure from Florida to do as much as I could to avoid bringing the virus with us. Negative COVID-19 tests aren’t required to enter Mexico and I didn’t have to show the results anywhere, but it helped give me peace of mind.