CRISTINA ZENATO PART II
In the conclusion 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
Q: Sharks obviously have a special place in your heart, but so do caves. What is it about cave diving that attracts you so much? A: The caves have a sense of eternity; although they change, they change too slowly in our lifetime to feel it when swimming through them. They hold a sense of time different from our fleeting lives and provide a sense of security. When I cave dive, I feel as if I am swimming through a beautiful book on the geological history of our planet. It’s as if browsing through an enormous library carved in stone. Caves tell us what it once was, what it is, and what it will be. They provide a sense of mystery and discovery; no matter how many times we swim down the same passageways, they uncover realities we were unaware of and offer answers and surprises. There is something melodic in the sound of the unwinding exploratory reel, that gentle scratching of the spool in the silence of the breaths. The light is sweeping from side to side, the mind trying to decide where to go based on feeling the cave, understanding its formation and development, in realizing that at that moment, the cave has agreed to speak to me or better that I have learned to listen. Caves keep my sense of curiosity alive; they teach me lessons I can surface and carry with me. Caves prompt us to live to the fullest, in the now, and to enjoy every unique moment. Eventually, I discovered that caves gauge a place’s health level and all that’s around them. I cave dive for the love of cave diving paired with the desire to surface and share with others the importance of their role, the lessons they can teach us, and how to embrace life at a different level. Q: Between all of the epic cave-diving explorations you have been involved in and all types of shark diving, what are some of your greatest recollections? A: A tricky question to answer, as I consider each moment a great moment; however, I believe these are some of the Exploring inside a cave system
Cristina with her ‘children’
most remarkable: the first time and every time after that when one of the Caribbean reef sharks I work with has decided to put her head in my lap and allowed me to pet her, dropping all barriers, fear, mistrust and saying through her behaviour, at this moment I trust you, at this moment I am with you. That relationship is never taken for granted, and each time I cherish it as a special moment. I can add that time when I witnessed an octopus giving birth in the middle of a night dive. I had been checking on this mama for quite some time. With incredible timing, I decided to swim over to her hole during a night dive as she was expelling all of her hatchlings with powerful blows. I remember the boxfish that would see me coming and swim under my stomach for the length of the dive to leave once I ascended, swimming through billions of bioluminescence in the middle of the darkest night or discovering species crustaceans before they were catalogued and photographed. Ultimately, the best recollections are the encounters with the silent inhabitants of the world capable of sneaking up behind me without as much as a whisper, no matter the size,
I remember the boxfish that would see me coming and swim under my stomach for the length of the dive 28
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