Scuba Man makes a splash at Cubs

On Monday 16th October the cubs were delighted to welcome John Chambers to HQ to give a talk on his life as an underwater camera operator.

But to get things started we first had a fun game of “climb the rigging” – sadly, no photos exist of “shark attack” as your photographer was busy issuing orders!

You will however be pleased to learn that your cubs appear very well versed in “scrubbing the decks” should you ever have any jobs for them to do on your yachts or even just at home. Next, we had a relay race with a twist. We had to get into scuba gear and race, (I mean walk very carefully as per the risk assessment) having struggled into ill-fitting fins, mask and snorkel & carrying a very heavy lead weigh belt. Thankfully, no toes were smashed in this fun game. Unsure which team won as Baloo joined in at the end.

Scuba Relay Race

John felt this game was a particularly good approximation of his day job.

Then we all sat down for the talk by John about his work as an underwater cameraman filming on a wide variety of shows including: Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Film set and rumour has it even Top Gear’s very own Stig. While we sat quietly and listened we also all got plenty of opportunities to ask John thoughtful and interesting questions eg favourite place, favourite animal.

John also showed us a cool video clip of an octopus fighting off a pyjama shark!

We were also lucky enough to get a close look at some of the Scuba and camera equipment used. As well as try on a very heavy BCD with Tank ! And helpully explained what to do if you are facing with a Great White Shark while swimming (“look ‘em straight in the eye”) and what not to do while diving under very thick ice (“do not get lost”).

Search and Rescue / find the buried treasure hunt

Having sat still for a while it was time for another great game inspired by John’s tales of getting lost under thick ice, our venerable leader, Baloo made a search and rescue game on boards with shopping trolly wheels

After some scary Jaws theme music, the cub with the most thought provoking question (as chosen by Scuba Man) was Tom – who ably assisted by Eloise, carefully unfuled the tarp covering a wild beastie on the stage: Jacob the Orca.

Great night and all the cubs sat down and paid full attention. John was very impressed. We all enjoyed it very much and we were delighted to have him in.

I hope these pictures give an idea of what we did.

If not – ask your cubs !