Beneath The Sea has recognized Cristina Zenato as a Diver of the Year, (#8) and she is thrilled to accept this honour at a special weekend with the Women Divers Hall of Fame in March 2025.
Cristina Zenato is a conservationist and shark diver who was born in Italy. Her work with Caribbean reef sharks in The Bahamas has earned her recognition.
While visiting the Bahamas at the age of 22, Zenato started scuba diving. In 1995, she began working with sharks and preparing to become a dive instructor. She started working with the Underwater Explorer’s Society (UNEXSO) that same year. She later joined UNEXSO as an NSS-CDS Cave Diving Instructor and PADI Course Director. Remapping the underwater caverns at Lucayan National Park is one of Zenato’s cave diving undertakings. In 2011, Zenato received her induction into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. She is well-known for advocating for the preservation of Caribbean reef sharks, diving alongside them, and removing their fishhooks from the waters near Grand Bahama Island. She has earned the nicknames “mother of sharks” and “shark whisperer” for her efforts.
Zenato has appeared in movies and TV shows such as Save This Shark, Against the Current, and Shark Week’s Sharktacular. She established the nonprofit organization People of the Water in the late 2010s. In 2016, she finished her training as a PADI Course Director.
When Zenato visited the Bahamas for the first time in 1994, she made the decision to settle there permanently.