Sudbury scuba dive group to mark major milestone

John Varney and his late wife Diane, joined the Sudbury Dolphin Aquatic Club in 1975 to be able to do an activity as a couple.

The Sudbury man is still active with the diving group, which is marking its 60th anniversary this year. The club began in 1958, training at a pool in Falconbridge.

The aquatic club still offers scuba diving training, but the eight week course is now conducted at the Laurentian University pool.

Varney is the current vice president of the club, and helps teach new scuba divers how to dive so they can obtain their certification.

"I just like being underwater. I think I'd dive in a swamp if I had to."

In order to receive their certification, all new divers must do four dives in open water as part of their exam. Varney says that happens at Fairbanks Provincial Park.

"It's nice clear water up there."

"The site that we use is an old boat launch, but a very short distance off shore there's a drop off in either direction, cliffs that go down to about 70 feet, very quickly," he said.

Community clean-ups

The diving group also provides clean-ups in local waterways, including Fairbanks, around Bell Park on Ramsey Lake, and the harbour at Little Current.

"There's car batteries, mufflers, tires, and you name it, it ends up there," Varney said in reference to the clean-up at Little Current.

He says club members usually find lots of bottles deep underwater.

"If we think they're antique kind of bottles we leave them there so that divers can see them in the future, but if they're broken and pose a hazard [we pick them up]."

Impressive shipwrecks

Varney says he uses his scuba diving skills to check out shipwrecks deep underwater.

"I was able to get an archeological license to do underwater work for all the water surrounding Manitoulin Island, which is a big area."

Underwater archeology requires a government licence if divers plan to pick up artifacts from shipwrecks.

Varney says there are lots of shipwrecks around Manitoulin Island. He says he recorded about 18 to 20 wrecks in that area.

"There's one between Kagawong and Spanish, it's a 300 foot steel haul freighter that's down there. The deepest part of it is about 140 feet deep and the shallowest part is about 75 feet."

"It's impressive."

Varney has recorded about 1,600 dives since he started in the mid 1970s, most have been in northern Ontario. All four of his daughters are also certified scuba divers.

Anniversary plans

The Sudbury Dolphin Aquatic Club is planning several anniversary events this year to mark its six decades of existence.

Varney says there will be an invitational dive in July at a location still to be determined. There is also dinner and dance being planned for October. He adds they hope to have older charter members of the group be a part of that event.

"I've dreamed up a little thing that if anybody does 60 logged dives in our 60th year we'll have a little award for them, a crest or a wall plaque, something like that," he said.

Varney says he continues to dive and still enjoys teaching others. He stays active in the group for his love of being underwater.

"I just love scuba diving."

"You know the phone never rings when you're down there. It's quiet. It's peaceful and of course you're weightless."