“I don’t know of many communities to actually celebrate Women’s Day of Diving, so I was pretty honored you guys reached out to me and asked me to present,” said Evelyn Unti – a badass woman technical and cave diver who used to work at SeaBase.
A crowd of locals, visitors and drop-ins from Zoom squirmed and lifted their collective jaws off the floor at Islamorada’s Amara Cay Resort as Unti played video of skilled female divers moving miles underground, through openings in rocks seemingly smaller than a human should be able to go. These are places that few will ever be able to witness with their own two eyes because doing so takes such high skill, buoyancy and confidence.
Unti and the other four female divers – myself included – were featured in Key Dives’ PADI Women’s Dive Day presentation. We shared the how and why behind careers in diving. Several, including co-founder of I.CARE Kylie Smith, I.CARE education and outreach coordinator Reanna Jeanes and marine debris specialist Kea Payton learned to dive early in their lives. Now, they use diving to conduct valuable and critical research and restoration efforts on corals and marine debris throughout the Keys. “Diving means the world to me,” Smith said. “It opened up so many amazing opportunities to learn about a new environment and discover an amazing community of people who share my passion.”
Unti really grew her interest in diving after she discovered how to practice the sport in underwater caves. She said, “When I first started out (cave diving in North Florida),” about three years ago, I didn’t know if I was strong enough or smart enough or ‘man’ enough to participate in technical diving.” Luckily, she found a community of women cave divers nearby who ushered her into her newfound passion and helped her challenge herself safely to get better. “Community is one of the most important aspects to making a well-rounded diver,” Unti added.
Unti shared the results from a survey of 1,100 women in her talk. Of those, 16.6% identified as open water divers, 32.3% were advanced open water divers, 7.2% were open water instructors, 4% were specialty instructors and a tiny 3.2% were technical divers – like Unti. Women’s role in the sport is growing and changing, but there is still much to be done, she emphasized.
My path into diving is less traditional, and I was eager to share when it was my turn. I recalled crying into bowls of shredded cheese while watching “Say Yes to the Dress” during my “sad lawyer days in Los Angeles.” Almost a decade later, I laugh about it, but I remember being thoroughly uninspired about how my life was turning out. I was “successful,” but also overworked, burned out and unhappy.
Luckily, a spontaneous dive trip to the Galapagos changed all that. “I felt so alive there, I went back to L.A., quit my job without a plan, sold my house and embarked on a grand adventure,” I said, grinning as I recounted one of my favorite stories. “My only goal was to create a life I didn’t need a vacation from.”
Eventually, trying every type of “oceany” job I could get, I ended up in the Florida Keys for a coral restoration internship. “It was supposed to be four months long, but that was five years ago, and I’m still here,” I laughed. Now, I dive alongside scientists like Smith, Payton and Jeanes and follow adventurers like Unti to tell their stories for outlets like the Keys Weekly, PADI, Scuba Diving Magazine and more. I’m an explorer and ocean storyteller, and I’ve landed in a life I love –thanks in large part to the ocean and diving.
All of us speakers and the event’s organizers are eager to widen the popular image of what a diver can look like. These events matter to help others realize they too can dive and create lives centered around the ocean.
“As a young woman in diving, I have always felt incredibly privileged to be able to do work I love and pursue things that interest me no matter what,” said Key Dives’ Taylor Oetinger, who planned and hosted the entire Women’s Dive Day event. “This event mattered so much for me because I want to open those avenues to other young women who feel lost but who want to pursue things they love – but just don’t know how.”
We capped off the celebrations with beautiful night dives on Islamorada’s reefs, a fitting tribute to the women in this sport and those who hope to follow in their bubbles.
