Cristina Zenato

Class of:  2011

Cristina started diving in 1994, making the Bahamas her home and diving her life. She manages a team of eighteen divers, teaches houndred of students at all levels from Open Water to Full cave divers and specializes in a Shark Handling course. She is known for inducing a status of tonic immobility in sharks through a gentle touch. She is a TDI and NSS-CDS Technical and full cave instructor and cave explorer. She explores and maps cave systems, providing vital information for their protection. She is the first woman to have connected a land cave with an ocean blue hole. She consults with organizations for the creation of marine parks with an emphasis on protecting sharks. Cristina believes there is great power in education and volunteers her time to host foreign students and teach local Bahamian school children to dive as part of sharing her vision.