Q&A: Cristina Zenato

In the first of a two part interview, we chat to the ‘Mother of Sharks’, technical and cave diver – and GO Diving Show 2023 Main Stage speaker - Cristina Zenato about sharks, caves, and the lure of the deep.

Photographs courtesy of Cristina Zenato, Kewin Lorenzen, Amanda Cotton, Paige Colwell & Lucie Drlikova

A: My passion for the underwater world is as old as I am - 50 years and counting. It is a passion for water, no matter the environment. I was lucky enough to be born in a family from the ocean, who always brought me to the ocean. My dad was a diver in the Italian special forces. His images and stories of the underwater world he explored back in the 50s gave me awe and the desire to experience it. I grew up swimming in the wild Atlantic Ocean of the Congolese coast and the Mediterranean basin around Italy and France, or the lake next to my family’s hometown in Italy.

I accessed scuba diving ‘late’ in life, at age 22, when I travelled to the Bahamas to become a certified scuba diver; before then, scuba diving was considered too dangerous and not adequate for a woman of my background and culture. That trip in 1994 would change the course of my life forever. In less than a week, I decided to make the Bahamas my home and scuba diving my life.

A: My love for the Bahamas was at first sight. I fell in love with nature’s wilderness, the unchartered territories, the empty spaces, the people, and the freedom. After submerging in the crystal beauty of the waters surrounding this unique archipelago, I realized I had finally found my home above and below the water. My heart found the same peace and happiness I experienced while growing up in Africa.

In name and sight, the Bahamas trigger the thought of Paradise on Earth, and in a way, they are; living here for the last 28 years has taught me that they are also a harsh and demanding place, and yet I have to find a better choice. I cherish the simplicity of living, the caring hand provided by

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anyone on the side of the road, the smiles and hello shared on any walk, and the eye contact with people. I love being able to let my dogs run over endless empty beaches or through the forest. I love that in less than a half-hour, I can be diving with sharks or in caves and that exploration and expeditions are on my doorstep, not in a faraway land.

A: Being a professional, recreational instructor was the way I could live and work here; however, after reaching the level of Master Scuba Diver Trainer, I stopped my growth and entirely focused on expanding the technical side and my work with sharks. I continued to grow vertically and expanded horizontally. I started diving in 1994; by 1995, I was an open water scuba instructor and, by 1996, a cave diver, and in 1999 a cave diving instructor.

Course Director training came ‘late’ in my career; I am glad it happened this way. By the time I decided to embark on that aspect of my training, I had been a seasoned scuba diving professional and cave and technical diving instructor for 20 years. I feel it helped me understand the responsibility of training professionals in our industry. The decision to take that final step happened during a single conversation with Mark Caney in 2014. I completed my CD course in 2016.

A: The same way we build a long-term relationship, with time, communication, and commitment or what I call ‘dive site fidelity’. I tried to understand their language and interpret it to facilitate encounters; I didn’t create expectations or pretend that they always behaved the same way. I base our relationship on mutual respect and trust. I travel to the site almost daily, and with time, I started to recognize the individuals, give them names,

and collect biological and behavioural data. Each shark has a personality that I learned to deal with and a distinct physical appearance; a folder where images, details, and measurements are registered every six months.

A: There is a beautiful and famous quote I live by from Baba Dioum (1968) ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught’. The day the Bahamas announced the complete protection of sharks in our waters, I felt that I had realized the quote. It was a mix of joy and excitement and a sense of relief and peace of mind, knowing that nobody could touch the sharks from now on. Around 2009 the healthy shark population of the Bahamas became the target of international greedy and destructive

fisheries; that’s when I sprang to action and created a petition requesting the government consider protecting our sharks. United with The Bahamas National Trust and the PEW organization, the legislation came into act in 2011. It is comprehensive legislation; it does not leave room for any loopholes. Being part of the initial movement and watching the momentum it created among the population, their desire to protect sharks, and their work to make it a reality is one of the proudest moments of my career.

A: Of the many encounters, the best part is the moment I locked eyes with a specific shark in the group, as if, in that instant, there was a bridge of communication between the two of us. Sharks watch us and know us; their acceptance of our presence in their world is fascinating and a gift I cherish each time. I remember a blue shark approaching me repeatedly while freediving in Rhode Island, as well as a massive bull shark in Fiji looking straight into my eyes.

The best memories with the sharks and their personalities go hand in hand with the people I met along the way working with them. In South Africa, I sat on the boat listening to someone working with great white sharks, and I could swear it was a great white talking. I shared quiet moments with Rusi in Fiji, a precious person no longer with us who worked daily with bull sharks. Rusi invited me, welcomed me into his world, and shared without hesitation two people who could not be more different yet united without words by our love and work with sharks. n