Saudi Diver Launches Group To Encourage Other Women

Story ByLee Bullen, Sub EditorJoseph Golder, AgencyNewsflash

A female student from Saudi Arabia studying in Manchester who decided to fly to Egypt to get some sunshine and booked up a diving holiday has now become her country’s first qualified female diving instructor.

Nouf Alosaimi, 29, is the founder of the organisation Pink Bubbles to encourage other women to take up the sport and says it’s a lot easier now that women are allowed to sailing boats without a man accompanying them, giving them the freedom to choose where they want to dive.

She said if she had not decided to make the trip to escape the grey weather in the UK and get some vitamin D, she would never have done the diving course and discovered her passion for diving which has now become her full-time career.

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Nouf who has been scuba diving for 11 years made sure that she finished her undergraduate degree in Tourism Management in Manchester in the UK before returning to Saudi Arabia because she missed her home country’s natural wonders.

Alosaimi, who regularly dives the clear waters of the Red Sea, is now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer.

The young instructor, who holds a regional record for the deepest dive by a woman at 105 metres (345 feet), lives in the city of Jeddah and travels to the King Abdullah Economic City every day to work at a newly set up dive centre.

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The Saudi tourist authority recently announced that new rules for visitor visas have been agreed and new sections of coastline will be made available to tourism.

She said the country’s new tourist proposals will open up miles of virgin coastline full of underwater wonders for divers.

Alosaimi added that border guards no longer prevent women from sailing on boats without a man on board meaning they can now freely explore the waters without a problem.

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As part of the project to get women to join with or without previous experience, she also teaches classes about marine life and commonly found sharks in the region.

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