About Cristina Zenato - the Shark Whisperer
Cristina Zenato is Head of Diving at UNEXSO, Grand Bahama Island, a world- renowned shark diver, and a member of the Women Divers’ Hall of Fame. Cristina is sharing her considerable knowledge of and experience.
Cristina was born in Italy and grew up in the middle of the rain forest of the African Congo until the age of 15. She started diving in 1994 during a vacation to Grand Bahama, fell in love with both diving and the island and decided to make the Bahamas her home, and diving her life.
Fluent in five languages, Cristina has become the Diving Operations Manager for UNEXSO. Still with the original passion for diving of when she started, she actively teaches and guides divers daily.
Passionate about sharks since childhood, Cristina found her place under the mentorship of legendary Ben Rose, from whom she learned the art of shark feeding and tonic immobility. In 1996 she became the shark feeder trainer at UNEXSO. She created a course for a shark-friendly experience and has educated divers about the beauty of these creatures and the need to conserve them and their environment. Through the ‘shark feeder course’ she has created a new series of passionate shark ambassadors who share their gained experience and knowledge about sharks to many more divers.
She has created a shark dive logbook, to track sharks’ behavior and presence in relation to the variable factors of the underwater world and the surface. She has collected and conserves a photo ID library of the sharks appearing on the dives around the island. Cristina’s unique gift is to be able to put sharks into a state of hypnosis. Sharks respond comfortably to her touch and approach. Cristina uses this technique to remove hooks, parasites and to educate people by viewing sharks differently. Her non-profit work in shark conservation is countless and she has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Science, Pianeta Mare, Ushuaia and diving magazines around the world in more then 20 different languages.
Parallel with her passion for sharks is her love for cave diving. Certified as a cave diver in 1996 in Florida, in 2001 after hundreds of cave dives, she became a cave diving instructor. Cristina has dived all the available and lined caves on Grand Bahama, and has accumulated experience in the caves of Florida, Bahamas and Mexico. Her passion for cave diving has brought her close to another environmental issue on these fragile islands – the conservation of caves and water flow. As a cave instructor, Cristina volunteers to map two of the major cave systems on Grand Bahama. The two-years project and the final survey will be used by the Bahamas National Trust to extend the protection to the land above the entire aquatic cave system. Together with the survey project, she works on creating the associated marine protected area.
Cristina believes in the power of education and knowledge, especially of the younger generations. She believes:
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
~ Marie Curie
Editor's Note:
I have met Cristina about ten years ago when filming at her base, UNEXSO and instantly became friends. It was not hard to like her. We share our passion for our oceans, sharks and yoga. The next year I returned to the Bahamas again with a group of Miss Scubas for a Yoga, Scuba Ultimate Girls Getaway.
What I love the most about her is the way she feels and talks about "her sharks." If it was up to her, there would be no shark killing, no shark fin soups served in restaurants, but most importantly people would stop fearing and hating sharks. If people could see these docile creatures through her eyes, the sea would become a safer place for sharks.
Exciting news about Cristina: Her non-profit, The People of the Water is organized to conduct and distribute training, education, research, and studies relating to water, ocean and environmental issues, affecting both the people and the animals of said environments. |
Learn More About About Cristina Zenato's Shark Diving and Shark Feeding here
Written by Cristina Zenato, California. Photo Credit: Szilvia Gogh