has enhanced our own awareness of the species. Sure enough, getting up close to these creatures, which can grow to nearly 10ft in length and weigh 150lbs, has taken time, trust (on both sides), and no small amount of bravery.


“In a way I see it as a duty of mine,” she says, “and one that required me to build so much faith in the sharks. We are now at a point where they know me and, I am sure, enjoy the time we spend together.”


So interwoven is Cristina in life below the waves, that she likens her interactions to those she would have with her dog – she strokes the sharks, and kisses them. Yet while she will point to the fact no-one has ever been killed by a Caribbean reef shark, there is an element of danger as she works so closely with them and their teeth.


She wears a chainmail swimsuit as a precautionary measure, but no matter how close the interactions, she never feels threatened. “Of course, so much of it comes down to respect. You have to build your boundaries slowly and steadily.


“Providing you don’t stray over that boundary, there is mutual understanding and, I think, real interest and affection. It becomes a wonderful experience to sample these incredible lives they have.”


Cristina, who speaks six languages – Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and “shark”! – is a PADI Course Director, advanced cave diving instructor, and technical instructor, but for all her other skills in the water, she says nothing comes close to shark diving and the study of their behaviour.


Furthermore, the intense and mesmerising interactions Cristina has with these creatures is what allows significant scientific research to take place in order for her to protect the sharks’ health and detect signs of threat.


“The ability to which we can study marine life is now greater than at any time in the past, as you would expect. From very simple actions such as removing hooks from the sharks’ mouths, to cleaning them of parasites, to more complex tasks such as DNA testing, right through to water chemical examination and in-depth shark behavioural studies, we’ve never been in a better position to study them.


“Yet despite that, we still require significant awareness and support if we are to properly look after their futures.”


The reef shark is a truly and incredible creature. It possesses the rare ability to rest on the ocean floor or inside caves, and because of that the species became the subject of a large study in the Seventies and were nicknamed the sleeping sharks. It’s a name that has stuck.


Although commercial fishing has been prohibited in most areas, it is difficult to completely limit illegal hunting of these predators; therefore it falls on the shoulders of volunteers such as Cristina to preserve what is an incredibly smart and magnificent creature.


The diver is also founder of People of the Water, a 501c3 non-profit organisation designed to widen the conduction and distribution of training, education, research, and studies in the water, as well


©Kewin Lorenzen


44 | SUMMER 2022 | ONBOARD


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