As the clocks fast forward to herald the onset of springtime, Scouts of all ages will be excited to add to their Time on the Water staged activity badges with the lighter and hopefully warmer evenings ahead. From bell boats to kayaks, paddleboarding to sailing, there are options galore. But for a group of Explorers from Pang Valley, it was time under the water that was sought on a recent visit to Newbury.
Across two separate Thursday evenings, 25 Explorers from West Pang ESU immersed themselves literally into the world of scuba at the Mary Hare School at Snelsmore Common with a Try Dive session run by the skilled instructors at Newbury Scuba Diving Club. Scuba enables participants to enjoy underwater adventure with special breathing kit: Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, in case you wondered where the name SCUBA comes from.
The Explorers came prepared to sink to new depths, some with prior experience but for most this was their first attempt at scuba diving. With experts on hand from the club, getting kitted out was the first test. Receiving their diving masks and fins (don’t call them flippers!), they gathered around the heated pool for a briefing before each having their one-to-one instruction.
“All members of Newbury Scuba Diving Club are passionate about scuba diving and relish the opportunity to share this unique experience with young people,” commented Welfare & Media Officer David Parker. “The young people are giving the chance to feel virtually weightless without incurring the cost of going into space. It is a truly amazing experience that most never forget.”
Once the Explorers were loaded up with their breathing apparatus and had run through some important hand gestures as part of their pre-dive instructions, they left the outside world behind.
Initially finding their feet, or rather their fins, they embarked on a casual swim around the pool, closely monitored and guided by their instructor, before tackling a few challenges and obstacles. Swimming through hoops on the pool floor is harder than it sounds when you have a tank on your back!
“We operate on a 1:1 instructor-to-student ratio for Try Dives with young people,” added David. “The instructor will always work at the student’s pace to ensure that they get the maximum enjoyment from the event in a safe, controlled environment.”
“The instructors were really nice,” commented Explorer Scout, Erin. “The one-to-one lesson was really useful to pick up the techniques quickly, an opportunity I wouldn’t have had without Explorers, and especially not without my friends being there too.”
The longer-term impact of a scuba experience can be so much more than hanging around at the bottom of a swimming pool. It has the potential to be genuinely life changing, as David explains:
“We have seen a single Try Dive session spark a passion in some young people to want to explore the marine world and engage in the sport when they get older. And in some cases, it has even help shaped their future by opening a path to becoming a marine biologist.”
Erin now has her sights set on the big blue. “The scuba diving experience was great,” she said. “I was able to swim so much faster with the flippers, or as I was corrected the fins!! You felt weightless underwater, which was a weird but cool experience that I didn’t really get used to. I would love to do scuba diving or something similar again, now we know the basics perhaps we could go somewhere with sea life to explore.”
If you’d like to find out more, please visit Newbury Scuba Diving Club’s Try Dive page