Dive club celebrates 40 years with dinner and party

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29: The Bermuda Sub Aqua Club is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a special party and dinner this weekend.

Formed in the summer of 1971, the registered charity has taught hundreds of people to dive and prides itself on encourging the appreciation and upkeep of the island’s natural environment.

The club was launched in affiliation with the British Sub-Aqua Club which is the biggest dive club in the world.

Three years after it formed the club acquired the pink building at Admiralty House where its club house remains to this day. Members had originally met at chairman Ray Scott’s house on Corkscrew Hill.

In the early seventies, training took place at Green Bay in Harrington Sound. Divers wore horse collar type twin hose regulators (Adjustable Buoyancy Life Jackets pictured above, rather than the BCDs  (Buoyancy Control Devices) of today.

The club is run by members who give up their free time to volunteer as instructors. Beginner divers are taught at Clarence Cove.

Each weekend, the club organizes shore dives from locations around the island including Elbow Beach, John Smith’s Bay, Warwick Long Bay and Devonshire Bay. Members with boats visit additional sites.

The club also arranges an annual diving excursion, where members spend the weekend at Darrell’s or Paget Island.

This year, some members also went on a diving trip to Cozumel in Mexico for a week.

BSAC is also active in the conservation of the island’s marine environment, taking part in community clean-ups such as those organized by Keep Bermuda Beautiful.

The club also screen films and documentaries on the marine environment, and invites speakers from the world of conservation and exploration.

Two BSAC members are also assisting Dr Tom Iliffe with his research and mapping of Bermuda’s cave system.

Members are involved in the REEF project, which monitors fish numbers and species in Bermuda’s waters. It also helped with the sinking of the Sea Venture and Xing Da, now popular dive sites.

Socially, the club also has an active calendar. Every Wednesday is social night at the clubhouse.