Although the Atlantic Ocean is not located within walking distance of Northampton, the borough will soon be home to a diving school.

It will be located in a huge water-filled quarry just inside borough limits, off Route 329.

Divers Academy International, Erial, N.J., located outside Atlantic City, was granted a variance recently by the borough's zoning hearing board of adjustment.

No one present objected to plans for the diving school.

The unanimous vote by the five-member zoning board paves the way for Divers Academy International to utilize the 50 acre site, with its scenic water-filled quarry, for its school, which will include instruction in underwater welding.

Lafarge Cement Company, Cementon, has leased the quarry to Divers Academy International, headed by Tamara "Tammy" Brown, president and director.

Before Lafarge owned the quarry, the former Dragon Cement Company owned it and mined limestone. Before that, the property was owned by Lawrence Cement, which shipped the limestone by rail car over Main Street and to its plant off 21st Street.

Brown in an interview with The Press said she is planning for a "bottle breaking," similar to a groundbreaking, in January, of the quarry property.

The students, whose ages vary, will undergo six-months of intensive training, much of it being held at its New Jersey facility, except for the final month when the students will train in Northampton.

Labeled a commercial diving school, the school provides instruction in all areas of diving.

With the deep murky waters of the quarry, the conditions are similar to what the students may experience in ocean water. There will also be classroom instruction integrated into the curriculum.

Approximately 250 students annually are enrolled at the academy, with welders accounting for 40 percent of the enrollment. Divers work in many areas including oil rigs in the gulf or ocean.

"We have been operating the academy for 41 years," Brown said, noting offshore opportunities await the graduates.