Our 2023 annual Women’s Dive Day on July 15th is an opportunity to shine the spotlight on some amazingly accomplished women from around the world who dive!
These women come from diverse backgrounds and have even more diverse careers. From students to CEOs and recreational divers to PADI professionals, they all have one thing in common – a love for diving that has inspired and changed their lives!
This year’s Women That Dive illustrates the diversity of our shared scuba diving community, our joint passion for the sport, our commitment to the ocean, and our shared impact.
Ivana Inglesina
Occupation: Full-time PADI Course Director
Year Certified: Pro Diver since March 2015
Number of dives: Over 3,000
Certification: PADI Platinum Course Director
Ivana developed a true passion for our oceans through diving. Since becoming a dive professional, she has become the happiest she has ever been. Ivana says she wakes up every morning doing what she loves and lives her dream to the fullest. Ivana deeply enjoys sharing her knowledge, experiences, and passion for diving. As a Pro mentor, her most important rule is ensuring diving is fun (and safe!). It is much easier to learn while smiling for real. Motivating divers, especially women, to pursue their dreams is one of Ivana’s greatest joys.
Follow her on Instagram: Pro_Dive_Vibes
Becky Surassamee Nonruecha
Occupation: Scuba Instructor and Freediver instructor
Year Certified: 2007
Number of dives: Over 4000
Certification: PADI IDC Staff Instructor and PADI Freediver Instructor.
What Becky loves about diving is marine life and its amazing impact on her life. Taking the PADI Open Water Diver course in 2007 was the best decision she has ever made. Becky says she is extremely happy to be included here as a dive professional to let people know she has nothing but love and passion for scuba diving and freediving.
Follow her on Instagram: bigoceanworld
Manuela Kirschner
Occupation: Underwater Photographer and Author of ID-books
Year Certified: 1988
Certification: PADI Instructor
Number of dives: Over 4,500
Manuela has loved the underwater world since she first put her head underwater.
Diving and underwater photography have given her the opportunity to show the biodiversity of our “water world” with its wonderful fish and other marine life. Manuela says that big or small, very rare or less rare, they all contribute to the overwhelming richness of the world’s oceans. They need our attention, and we must take care of our oceans and the animals in them.
Manuela’s goal with her pictures is to show the breathtakingly beautiful underwater world to as many people as possible so that they love it and protect it.
Follow her on Instagram: silentworld.magazine
Abingdon Mullin
Occupation: CEO, Pilot, Scuba Diver
Year Certified: 2010
Certification: PADI Advanced Open Water
Number of dives: 75
After her first intro dive in Bocas del Toro, Panama, Abingdon fell in love with diving. She remembers seeing reef sharks swimming between silver-dollar-sized jellyfish, and the colors were absolutely incredible. This trip convinced her to get her dive certification, which is why she loves diving! Abingdon says that when you see life underwater, it changes your view of the world. Diving gives you so many gifts. Life’s problems disappear when you drop below the water and become part of nature. It’s addicting and rewarding. Through The Abingdon Co., she has been grateful to be able to support fellow divers, not only through their high-quality watch offering but also through previous partnerships with Girls the Scuba and the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
Follow her on Instagram: theabingdonco
Julia Aveline Rabenjoro
Occupation: Student
Year Certified: 2017
Certification: PADI Junior Rescue Diver
Number of dives: 210
What Julia loves about diving is the endless opportunities and doors it has opened up for her, meeting new people, finding new passions, and exploring a new world. Julia says that diving completely changed her life because it introduced her to a love for the ocean, making her want to be a future marine biologist. Julia is planning to keep scuba diving a part of her life for a very long time!
Follow her on Instagram: julia_into_the_blue
Hannah Rose Douglas
Occupation: 2022 OWUSS Scholar, Marine Scientist, Science Diver.
Year Certified: Open Water in 2015, Open Water Instructor 2021
Certification: PADI Instructor (& Scientific Diver)
Number of dives: 412
For Hannah, diving opens a doorway to an entirely different world, separate from hers. The sights, sounds, and sensations of the underwater realm are fascinating to her. Many people that Hannah has been introduced to diving have told her that it feels like “being in outer space” once neutral buoyancy is achieved. In her opinion, the feeling of weightlessly gliding over kelp fronds or coral reefs is even better as you can control your rise and fall simply with your breath.
When Hannah first experienced the underwater world, it changed her life. Hannah is now a marine scientist, scuba instructor, scientific diver, and photographer in training!
Follow her on Instagram: subsea_rose
Rose Huizenga
Occupation: Founder of @CoralCatch and Co-Founder of the Gili Shark Conservation
Year Certified: 2014
Certification: PADI Instructor
Number of dives: Over 1,000
For Rose, the ocean is the most magical and peaceful place on earth. Rose says that the moment she leaps off the boat, she is submerged into a different, serene, mysterious world, with no idea what she will see!
Follow her on Instagram: gilisharkconservation
Christine Dorrity
Occupation: Business Risk & Compliance Consultant
Year Certified: 2017
Certification: PADI Advanced Open Water with Nitrox & Dry Suit Specialties
Number of dives: 450
Diving changed Christine’s life in ways she never expected. Underwater, Christine feels free and at peace. Christine says that the underwater world is a place she can go to forget any problems and stress. Finding an additional creative outlet through underwater photography has been very important to her. It has allowed her to bring her love of the ocean to those who cannot see it for themselves. Christine strives to connect others with the ocean in a way that will make them want to save it as much as she does.
Follow her on Instagram: christine.with.a.sea
Charlotte Faulkner
Occupation: PADI Course Director and Training Manager
Year Certified: 2007
Number of dives: Over 5,000
Certification: PADI Gold Course Director and Specialty Instructor Trainer
Diving has changed Charlotte’s life so completely that she is unsure what she would do without it! From her first pool lesson and open water dives in the cold UK, she just clicked with diving. Charlotte realized that by becoming a PADI Instructor, she could share her love for the ocean with others. Charlotte has worked globally and met amazing people and her husband along the way! Now, as a PADI Course Director, Charlotte loves teaching others to teach people and to have an amazing career like her own.
Follow her on Instagram: sharkycharlotte
Shireen Shipman
Occupation: Mechanical Engineer (Shipbuilding & Aerospace)
Year Certified: 2018
Certification: PADI Rescue Diver and Drysuit Specialty Diver
Number of dives: 610
Immersion in wildlife is one of Shireen’s favorite parts of scuba diving. Her most memorable moments underwater have included being flirted with by a monk seal, investigated by a humpback whale calf, circled by sharks, hugged by a harbor seal, followed by fish, gnawed on by California sea lion pups, and dancing with giant manta rays.
Scuba diving has allowed Shireen to create amazing friendships with other women. She has shared many laughs with other female divers on dive trips locally and worldwide.
Follow her on Instagram: theshiplady
Celebrate PADI Women’s Dive Day on July 15th, 2022!
Uniting PADI Women and all divers around the globe for people and the planet.
