Buried treasure

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR -- Holding their plastic shovels aloft, children knelt

down and looked at their handiwork with pride.

Only a little tanned face smeared with gold glitter and topped with

wavy brown hair remained poking out of the sand.

“I like being buried,” announced 7-year-old Jenna Giammalva.

Next time you see a child buried in the sand, try this for fun: ask

them a question with an answer that requires the use of their hands.

Although Jenna said it was her first time being buried at camp, I was

assured that someone was buried every day at the Pirates Cove Beach Camp

in Corona del Mar.

Just yards away, another handful of campers played a different game in

the sand.

They were making candy, cakes, sugar and chocolate, they informed me.

At what age does the sand go from being a fabulous toy to an

uncomfortable nuisance?

Sand-romping time is just one of the many activities for campers from

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’s also water time, snack time, lunchtime, crafts

time, game time, theme park day and dress-up day, said 11-year-old

Nicholas Pardini.

While there is new registration for the camp each week, many repeat

customers fill the 45 slots, said Kelly Brull, the supervisor of all four

Pirates Cove camps, in Corona del Mar, San Clemente, Dana Point and

Huntington Beach.

The children enjoy it so much, they don’t want to leave. Or in Jenna’s

case, she almost couldn’t leave.

When it came time for her to get up out of the sand, she found herself

in quite a predicament.

“I’m stuck,” she squealed as another camper stood over her buried

form, yanking on the two skinny arms that had been worked free of the

sand.

When she finally emerged, sand clung to her like the glitter on her

cheeks, but she didn’t seem to mind.

FYI

Who: Children ages 4 through 12

What: Pirates Cove Beach Camp

Where: Corona del Mar, San Clemente, Dana Point and Huntington Beach

Information: (949) 644-3151

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* SCHOOL’S OUT is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Danette Goulet visits a summer camp or program in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.