The 11th annual PADI Women’s Dive Day took place on July 19, 2025, with members from around the world hosting local events for their communities.
PADI® Women’s Dive Day has grown into the most celebrated day of diving on the planet, transforming lives and opening the door to the underwater world. For eleven consecutive years, the dive community has rallied together to encourage divers of all genders, ages, races, backgrounds, and abilities to seek adventure and save the ocean together.
Since the inception of PADI Women’s Dive Day, events around the globe have highlighted the important ties between diversity, inclusion, and environmentalism – with this year’s event focused on discovery, education, adventure, and conservation, seeing thousands of divers and Ocean TorchbearersTM join in on celebrating the true ethos of scuba diving and PADI.
Destinations like the Maldives have seen tremendous growth with female representation and appeal in scuba diving, with TGI Helengeli teaming up with OBLU to host PADI Women’s Dive Month and Aquaholics working with Nova Maldives to create an entire Ocean Adventure Week around this year’s annual celebration.
“PADI Women’s Dive Day is a celebration of empowerment, adventure, and connection with the ocean,” says Matt Wegner, PADI Regional Manager for Maldives. “It’s a chance to break barriers, amplify female voices in diving, and explore the pristine underwater world —while inspiring future generations to dive into their passions, regardless of gender. It’s a celebration of both personal milestones and a collective movement to inspire more women to dive into their passions and protect the places that mean the most to us.”
Highlights from this year’s event include:
Celebrating Discovery: PADI Dive Centers and Resorts like AquaMarine Diving (Bali), Smokey Mountain Divers Inc. (USA), Dive Kauai Scuba Center (USA), and Ocean Wonder Dive Center (Tanzania) organized opportunities for local women to connect with themselves and the community through scuba diving.
“It’s not just about taking that first breath underwater,” says Nadine Ostermann, PADI Course Director and owner of “It’s about building confidence, breaking stereotypes, and inspiring the next generation. More women in the water means more protection for our ocean!”
Celebrating Education: Placing a focus on the opportunities that exist for females in the industry, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts like Panorama Diver (Malaysia), Austral Divers (Chile) and DSDives Madrid (Spain) put the spotlight on their PADI Professionals who are inspiring the next generation to follow in their footsteps.
“PADI Women’s Dive Day aims to reduce the gender gap in diving by promoting equality and empowering women in this exciting activity,” says PADI Divemaster Marta Alvaro of DSD Divers Madrid. “This was the first time I celebrated this event as a PADI Professional and marks an important step for me to actively contribute to raising awareness and strengthening the role of women in diving.”
Celebrating Adventure: Creating ways to inspire the next generation of divers, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts like Sunreef Mooloolaba (Australia), Aquaholics Nova (Maldives), Scuba Blue Ltd (UK) and Monkey Divers Diving College (Egypt) introduced people to the underwater world for the first time, with many taking their first ever breaths underwater.
“PADI Women’s Dive Day made me realise how important it is to create space for more women in diving, to feel confident, capable, and just enjoy being underwater,” says Jemma Smith of Sunref Mooloolaba.
“It’s been wonderful to see the number of women joining us each year grow and to witness how diving has become accessible to all,” says Vicks Hayes of Scuba Blue Ltd.
Celebrating Conservation: Showing scuba divers that they can be superheroes for our shared blue planet, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts also organized various conservation activities that brought communities together.
Atlantida Centro de Buceo (Brazil) brought certified female divers out with them to help assess the current condition of the coral reefs in Tayrona National Natural Park in Colombia and help their team of marine biologists conduct coral reef surveys.
SEAsters in Action (Qatar) brought together women from the community to clean up over 40 kilograms of general waste from the ocean and shoreline.
“People showed up not just to clean, but to care,” says Michelle Anne del Carmen of SEAsters. “Every dive is a clean-up dive, and every diver has the power to pass on joy, purpose, and impact.”
The 12th Annual PADI Women’s Dive Day is set to take place next 20 July 2026, which will call on the 6,600 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts located around the world to rally their local communities together once again to join PADI in creating positive ocean change.
“PADI Women’s Dive Day is more than just a diving event; it’s about creating space for women to connect, inspire one another, and take part in a global movement that promotes inclusivity and access to scuba diving,” says Micah Tillman, Operational Manager at Dive Kauai Scuba Center.
To learn more about how to take part in the annual event visit padi.com/women.
