While many people enjoy a multitude of recreational activities on dry land, others take to the water — in some cases, under water — for adventure.
The Sault’s Richard Evans has been a certified scuba diver since 2012.
“I’ve always loved the water and I’ve always loved summertime. That’s always been my thing so I just decided to try scuba diving. It's been a natural evolution of my summertime activities,” Evans told SooToday.
He has gone diving at Mamainse Harbour 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of the Sault and in the waters around Bonaire, a Caribbean island located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the coast of Venezuela.
However, there are many fascinating underwater sites near Sault Ste. Marie.
One such example is located in the waters near Pointe des Chenes.
“There’s a little two-seater plane that was sunk on purpose for divers to look at and there’s a shipwreck just west of the airplane. It’s a wooden shipwreck from the 1800s. It’s pretty old but very preserved because of the cold temperature. It’s about 40 feet under the water,” Evans said.
That sounds eerie but such sites fascinate Evans and his fellow scuba divers.
“I'm a history buff and I love looking at the past and the way things were,” Evans said.
Scuba diving also offers the excitement of locating missing objects.
“A camp owner contacted a group of us and asked us to find his wedding ring. We found it within 10 minutes. It was nicely seated at the bottom of the water. We’ve found watches and lots and lots of golf balls,” Evans said.
Because of the many dangers involved, scuba divers must be trained and certified.
Scuba divers should never dive alone, Evans emphasized.
“It’s part of the regulations. You should always be diving with a buddy.”
Evans recalled his early days under water after being trained and certified as a scuba diver by instructors at the now-closed Sault Scuba Centre on Northern Avenue.
“It was a unique experience. Of course you're apprehensive at first, breathing with an apparatus underwater, but after you get over that it becomes extremely calming. The only thing you hear is your own bubbles or the whizzing of boats going by. It’s complete serenity.”
Superior Diving Services, owned and operated by Justin Jones on Gore Street, is now the go-to place for Sault scuba divers.
Jones directs new divers to complete an online course before instructing them in private swimming pools and, finally, in the open waters off Pointe Des Chenes before certifying them.
“They fill the scuba diving tanks with air. It's definitely air, not oxygen, because oxygen does become toxic at a certain depth so you want to have mixed air, like regular air that we breathe,” Evans said.
What would a newcomer to scuba diving need in regard to equipment?
“You can rent scuba air tanks. You can buy just a simple wetsuit and a vest that holds the air tank and a regulator and you're off to the races. Around here, because of the cold weather you need hoods and gloves and boots. You can go with a ‘sky’s the limit’ approach to buying a lot of equipment like in any sport or you could keep it simple,” Evans said.
While no formal scuba diving club exists in the Sault and area, a social media page entitled Sault Ste. Marie and Area Scuba Diving has over 500 members.
“After you get trained and certified you start meeting with other scuba divers and when you’re diving you look after each other’s safety. You form a bond with these people, they become friends and almost like a family,” Evans said.
Evans said the deepest he dived was approximately 110 feet below the surface.
“After that it gets very cold and dark and it's very hard to see. But I would recommend scuba diving 100 per cent. It's very calming for me. It gets me in my zone.”