Celebrity

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's Emotional Post-Split Vacation

The couple looked "serious" but "cordial" as they spent time with their kids in the Bahamas, says a source

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Published on July 6, 2015 07:30 AM

Their marriage is over – but they’re still a family.

As they announced they are divorcing after 10 years of marriage, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner spent the week with their three children in the Bahamas.

“The family felt it was important to be together and they were together. The family is united and, no matter what, will protect the kids,” a source tells PEOPLE.

Affleck arrived on June 28 at Baker’s Bay, the secluded private resort community in the Abacos where the family owns a home, and Garner arrived on their wedding anniversary a day later. The next day, June 30, they revealed they’re divorcing.

Despite the tranquil setting – and their joint decision to prioritize co-parenting their three children – signs of their strained relationship were impossible to hide.

In a moment away from Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3, Affleck – who was still wearing his wedding ring – and Garner sat on stairs to the beach together but had “no physical contact” while having a “serious” and somber conversation that lasted for only a few minutes, an onlooker tells PEOPLE.

Though Affleck, 42, appeared to be “distracted” during the conversation, he and Garner, 43, “seemed to be cordial to each other. They would look at each other and speak and then both look away in silence,” the onlooker adds. “A lot of the time, they seemed to just stare off into space.”

Garner and Affleck plan on continuing to living together at their estate in Pacific Palisades, California, when at home, but the end of their Bahamas trip (Affleck flew out solo on July 3 while Garner departed on July 5 with their children) marked a return to work for the busy stars.

Affleck is slated to appear at a Comic-Con panel for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in San Diego on Saturday and Garner will soon begin filming Miracles from Heaven in Atlanta.

“These are two people who really tried to save their marriage and worked really hard at it,” another source tells PEOPLE of the former couple, who privately separated months before their public announcement and are planning on entering mediation to ease the process of dividing their assets. “Ultimately they had grown apart and they did what was best for their kids.”