ACCORDING to local diving instructors, Saudi women have shown great interest in diving in the Red Sea over the past five years. Diving is a hobby for many but for some, it has become something they enjoy teaching.
“It is no longer a male-dominated field,” said diving instructor Ghada Fadili who has been diving for 15 years and who has given lessons to many women, both Saudi and non-Saudi. She said that when she started diving, she wanted an instructor who understood her fears and would encourage her. That instructor turned out to be Sarah Baghdadi, executive director of public relations at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Baghdadi succeeded in strengthening Fadili’s confidence in herself in the water so that she followed her instructor’s example and became an instructor as well. “Some people ask why I am always smiling,” she said. “The answer is simple: Because I have been in the same place as the beginners and I know their fears. I try to help them overcome their anxieties instead of remaining tense and afraid.”
“Thank God, I really enjoy diving and I love seeing others enjoy it,” she said. Naturally Jeddah’s weather and warm climate help in attracting women to diving and lessons can be given year-round. Numbers do, however, increase in summer. Fadili explained, “I teach 7 or 8 students every month in the summer and I know my fellow women diving instructors are doing the same or even more.”
People dive in order to disconnect from their troubles and problems, she pointed out. Psychologists, she said, sometimes recommend diving to patients for therapy. “It is amazing how free and filled with joy you feel underwater as you observe the beauty of God’s creation in another world. Every dive is a new experience and you may see a new creature or you may find something that was lost. You learn not to expect anything except that you will be surprised, that’s part of the fun of diving.” You are lost in a world where God’s presence is real, manifested in the creatures around you, over you, under you, in groups or alone. “The creatures really help you keep your mind focused on them and nothing else,” she said.
The women who want to dive are very curious to learn the sport. In fact, some brides encourage their husbands-to-be to take the beginners’ course with them so that they can dive together on their honeymoon. The first course, known as open water, is a lure that some diving instructors say has turned many amateur divers into diving addicts.
Nada Al-Marhoon, a manager at Unilever was brought up in Al-Qatif, a city in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province by the sea. She said that since childhood she had been fascinated by the sea, its life and that she loved watching fishermen at the markets. “When I moved to Jeddah in 2006 and learned about women divers, I did not hesitate to sign up and soon became addicted to diving and everything related to the sea,” she explained. “Diving is a kind of meditation in which you lose yourself in and puts everything else behind you.”
Said Hala Al-Khereiji, 22, a trainee at Credit Agricole (Suisse) SA in Switzerland, who took up diving in 2004 with her brother and sister, “Diving is so peaceful that we forget time, we forget sound and we forget everything. We start from the beginning, learning about our new surroundings and enjoying every second we are in the water.”
A Moroccan stewardess, Karimah Al-Marwani, said she had been encouraged to dive because she gets to visit so many different countries. “I had always wanted to dive and see what is under the sea. Now after taking the open water course, I am more delighted than ever — though I confess that I was a little afraid at the beginning. I love diving and have no regrets about the time I spend in the water.”
Many women who have seen the beauty of the Red Sea have been disappointed by the pollution and resulting damage to the reefs and the marine environment. One of them, Dalia Kaki, 26, a postgraduate student in the UK, has decided to do a research project concerning the environmental threats. She hopes it will be a step toward conservation and sustainability of the Red Sea coral reefs in Saudi Arabia. She believes that though the damage is in its early stages, it is alarming and something has to be done to reverse the trend.
