A Victoria diver is setting out to tell the story of what’s beneath the waves off of Vancouver Island.
“It’s a completely different world . . . and the ocean’s one of those things that is still so unexplored,” says John Roney, a passionate diver who is happiest under the sea.
Suited up in over 70 pounds of gear, Roney enters the waters at Ogden Point — ready for a journey into the unknown.
“Every time you go down there it’s a completely new experience,” says Roney, who works as a professional film editor.
So when the pandemic hit last year, the 27-year-old decided to start filming his underwater adventures for a movie.
“The pandemic meant I could focus more on just filming locally which is great because obviously traveling isn’t an option it really just gave me an opportunity to do so much more diving where we live here which is some of the best diving in the world,” says Roney.
The film is entitled Beneath the Emerald Sea, with much of the shooting taking place around south and central Vancouver Island. Roney says he’s already come face to face with a wide array of underwater characters.
“We’ve got the world’s largest octopus live in our waters. We’ve got these animals that are cloud sponges that live for literally thousands of years,” smiles Roney.
The process of filming his underwater exploration has taken countless hours and there’s many more to go.
Even with the long hours, Roney says his pandemic-proof hobby has been a constant source of joy.
“Diving has been a godsend during COVID,” says Roney.
For one you’re breathing your own oxygen so you’re not really worried about breathing other people’s air but it’s been great because it’s one of those activities where you can forget about everything else that’s happening,” adds Roney.
John aims to complete his film by the fall of this year.
Cole Sorenson
Kevin Charach
