ARE WOMEN BETTER SCUBA DIVERS THAN MEN?
The Future is Female
For many years, women have been the minority in the diving society. One of the main reasons is that scuba diving equipment has been traditionally designed to fit a man’s body. Although it doesn’t sound too much of an obstacle, it does actually create unequal chance for potential women divers. Even in the navy, most divers are men. Recent discoveries, however, suggest that men are not necessarily better divers than women.
Girls and Scuba Diving
Mandy Shackelton, a marine scientist at Hull University says that women have better orientation and awareness of their surroundings than men. They also have what it takes to be good divers including calmness, safety conscious, and non-aggressiveness. Women are less likely seeking for sensation of danger and adventures compared to their male counterparts. On the other hand, men are prone to experience a chain reaction of hormones which leads them to lose buoyancy control. In underwater environment, the release of three different types of hormones including cortisol, testosterone, and adrenaline leads to erratic scuba diving.
Women have better spatial navigational skills underwater, whereas men are superior on air and land. Nigel Forman, a professor of psychology at Middlesex University, suggests that women have greater tendency to use local cues in their surrounding areas for navigation. Such method is more effective while scuba diving in Padangbai, Bali because even in the crystal clear water, visibility is not as good as it is on above-water situation. The ability to analyze their surrounding environment allows them to navigate more easily.
Another psychological characteristic that makes women better divers is the ability to resists temptations to touch underwater wildlife. Best example for this is when women are window-shopping; they simply enjoy sight-seeing without the desire to purchase or touch everything. This makes them less dangerous to underwater ecology. Scuba diving in Padangbai offers amazing corals and beautiful sea critters, responsible divers however (whether male or female) should be perfectly aware that touching marine life is a big no-no/
Physical characteristic of women divers is also suitable for scuba diving activities. Women have higher percentage of fat than men, and for once they should be content about it because it allows them to be more buoyant. Aha! They learn to control buoyancy during swimming lessons, and apply their skills during scuba diving more easily. Moreover, women have smaller lungs and therefore it takes less air to fill them up. From our experience, when scuba diving in village of Padangbai, many diving couples claim that the male diver runs out of air quicker than the female diver does.
However competitive this article may sound, we at OK Divers diving resort only differentiate between responsible and irresponsible divers. We will be happy show you the beauties of underwater world while scuba diving in Padangbai, regardless of your sex.
