Marine Owen – RAID Examiner, UTD Instructor Trainer, PADI IDC Staff
Ladies, are you tired of being asked if you really dive?
“Oh sure, girls can jump in the water with a nice little bikini, but actually go on a serious dive and enjoy it? She’s probably just following her boyfriend or husband…”
I heard many comments like this in the past, not so much these days.
Diving is a man’s world, or so it is said. Because we are women; because we don’t weigh as much and are not as tall; because we don’t need to shout out that we are the best; some people just assume we can’t “really dive”. Admittedly, sometimes we look like an albatross, ungainly before takeoff, with double tanks on our back and a stage tank on the side, or even going up a ladder with a single tank after a long dive. We might look a little frailer on land, but last I heard, diving was about being underwater and our kind watery friend Archimedes is always there to lend a helping hand with carrying the equipment.
So ladies, forget about trying to answer those “do you dive” questions, just jump in and show everyone what you can do! Diving is a fish’s world and mermaids are most often portrayed as women; all you need now is some Freestyle Divers Academy training to get you perfectly comfortable in the water and to show that you stand out from the crowd.
How about starting your next dive by finning backwards? Or start on the boat by showing how you master your state of the art, scalable equipment, followed by a pre-dive routine that leaves everyone wondering if you’re a professional diver?
I’m a 5’3″, younger looking blonde who doesn’t take herself too seriously. My technical equipment actually weighs more than I do! Since I started diving side mount – even with a single tank – people on the boat now ask me about my system, not whether I like diving or if I need help. Once we jump in the water, I know I can rely on my training to cope with pretty much anything that is going to happen. Discussions at the end of the dive these days are more about how I did it rather than “did you get scared?”
After years of hard work, I managed to break through many barriers and achieve my goals both under the water and on the surface. I have dived deep, 100 metre plus reefs and wrecks, learned how to dive a rebreather, used mixed gases with accelerated decompression, dived in caves and overhead environments as well as used a DPV to help me pull my equipment along in the water. All of these skills were acquired and mastered one step at a time and I was lucky enough to have fantastic instructors who built me up along the way. .
So yes! Women can really dive, can tech dive and can become instructors! With proper training, great equipment and close support from the Freestyle Divers training team, you will surprise yourself about what is possible. As someone once said, nothing amazing ever came out of the comfort zone, so why not push yourself, just a little, outside yours? You will be amazed about what you can achieve from a little coaching with the right teaching methods and the right instructor. All our training is in building block courses that you can take at your own speed, and we have highly competent female and male instructors. So why not offer yourself the first steps and show everyone what you are really capable of?
Or you could join one of our project teams! We have lots of topic areas to choose from including exploration, marine conservation, photography and videography to name but a few. Check out our projects page to see what interests you most.
