Global Dive Team - Sylvie Dias
Sylvie Dias
Location: Lisbon,Portugal
Occupation: Voice over and Underwater videographer
Scuba Diving Since: 2013
Favorite Local Dive: Arrábida Marine Park
Favorite Dive Location: Santa Maria Island in Azores
An Interview with Sylvie Dias
Why did you decide to take the giant stride into the oceans?
Since I was a little girl I was fascinated by ocean documentaries and dreamed of one day being face to face with a whale or a shark, and swimming in the middle of those colorful gardens. My plan was to make a career in marine biology but life took me to other areas. In 2013 I decided that I couldn't put off this dream any longer and I took the diving course.
How has diving changed your life?
It has changed completely, because once you enter the ocean it is no longer out of your mind and heart. It's the place where you want to be as long time as possible. You really want to protect and care for it. Since i took the diving course i have started to consider quitting my acting profession and doing more training in diving to one day film the wonderful blue world, and make documentaries. I am making the way for that to happen.
What kind of diving do you like to do?
It is very difficult to choose a favorite type of diving, I love to be in the open ocean and feel the adrenaline of being able to have an encounter with a wonderful whale shark or a manta ray, but I also love to be able to photograph that macro life that the naked eye cannot see the enormous beauty of a nudibranch or a shrimp.
Tell us about one of the most amazing experiences you have had underwater?
Each dive is a unique experience because you never know what you will find. But last year on Santa Maria Island in the middle of a ball of fish, a huge whale shark appeared and I tried to do the best possible apnea to swim side by side, eye to eye! My heart almost exploded with emotion and I will never forget this moment. The same thing when I saw a robust shark for the first time in the red sea, or the fragile and delicate first seahorse in the river.
Where are some of your favorite places underwater?
I have dived in the Red Sea, in the Philippines, in São Tomé and without a doubt it is wonderful to dive in warm waters full of corals and exotic fish, but I have to highlight one place where the open ocean blue is unique. The Blue of the Azores!
When the sun rays enter the sea with no end in sight, it is absolutely mesmerizing. And when in the middle of this blue appears a blue shark, a whale shark, or a sperm whale, it's fantastic!
What is your advice to someone considering diving?
Don't waste any more time, go ahead! At first it will be strange to have to deal with so much equipment, but when accompanied by good professionals, you will find that it is very simple after all. And then you will quickly want to choose your own equipment and spend as much time in the sea as possible.
And the more divers with a conscious and careful diving practice there are, the more guardians of the ocean will be born.
What would you tell people about the oceans?
That this wonderful blue world is fundamental to our human existence, and is being massacred with the excessive attitudes of human greed. It is being clogged with garbage, marine species are disappearing, and current fisheries are not sustainable.
The ocean quickly needs humans to make decisions that change this course of degradation.
I decided to focus my underwater videos not on the images of garbage that we all know is going to end up there, but on what is happening to reverse this situation.
I accepted to be an ambassador for marine protected areas in Portugal, and I have been following some projects closely that give me the opportunity to learn a lot about marine biology with the scientists of these project.Creating more marine protected areas is urgent so that the ocean can breathe and marine life can exercise its normal reproduction cycle.
What does diving mean to you?
It's in the sea that I can take a deep breath, and it's in the sea that I feel happiest and I get the biggest smile.
And it is definitely in the sea that I want spent the rest of my life and make my career as an underwater videographer, and I hope to be able to film many positive steps towards the protection and conservation of the oceans. I will fight for a blue generation!
What's your favorite thing in your dive bag?
The Hydros Pro is currently my favorite diving material, I no longer have to wear the weight belt that was horrible for my spine. Good material, dries quickly, and is compact and light, great for traveling.