Girls That Scuba Guinness World Record Attempt

What happens when 48 girls dive together? They attempt a Guinness World Record of course! 

The world’s largest female scuba diving community “Girls That Scuba”, arranged a girls’ only day at Manta Dive Gili Trawangan, Indonesia and I was excited to be a part of it. I was affiliated with Manta Dive Gili Air, so hopped on a boat for the short journey to our neighbour island. The boat was buzzing for a day of girlie fun.

But what was the dive plan for 48 women? How were we going to attempt to set a World Record?

Amongst the laughter and joviality, pink and purple leggings, was a Guinness World Record set?
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Warning: This post contains evidence of some serious fun!

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Girls That Scuba Day

The Girls That Scuba Day was held on the island of Gili Trawangan, one of the three Gili Islands off the west coast of Lombok, a two hour fast boat journey from Bali. I was living on Gili Air so was lucky to be a part of the buzz surrounding this girls only event on 30 May 2018.

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​From the moment we arrived at Manta Dive Gili Trawangan there were smiles and bright colours everywhere, I knew it was going to be a good day.

I had recently written the Girls That Scuba blog post Where To Scuba Dive with Manta Rays and had been communicating with Sarah, so when we had a chance to meet, it was great to put a face to the name.

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Girls That Scuba meets Feet Do Travel

Nicole Helgeson of Reef Divers was also at this event, she was scheduled to give a talk on coral reefs later in the day, but I had attended her full presentation on Gili Air the day before. Nicole had contributed to my 2017 World Oceans Day post, so this was another great opportunity to meet someone I had been chatting with online. 

Girl power! The meeting of great minds - 3 awesome female bloggers

​The day wasn’t just about meeting new people, Girls That Scuba had a surprise in store for us! We all just thought we were going along for a girls’ day of diving. No one actually knew we were going to be part of an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the most female divers underwater at one time.

The Girls That Scuba Day was held at Manta Dive, Gili Trawangan

​Before we suited up with bright colours (which included the three male photographers!), a plan needed to be relayed. A Guinness World Record attempt needs to be co-ordinated, 48 girls can’t just jump into the water without a plan, can you imagine the chaos? Imagine the chaos anyway with this number of girls diving together!

Dita's pyramid plan for the Guinness World Record attempt - what could possibly go wrong?!

For a Guinness World Record attempt, proof needs to be submitted, and this would be in the form of a photograph. Manta Dive Gili T videographer Dita, had drawn a plan for an underwater human pyramid.

Dita briefing the divers on how we will construct the pyramid underwater

This was the plan: There would be eight layers of ladies all assigned a number which would enable us to dive easily into formation at 12 metres. Originally the plan was written for 36 women, but the girls from Manta Dive Gili Air were able to have some time off to join in the fun which boosted the numbers. Who doesn’t love a challenge within a challenge? Dita quickly updated his action plan. What could possibly go wrong?
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Enough talk, time to load up the two Manta Dive boats and head to Manta Point! 

Photo credit: Alex Kydd

Guinness World Record Attempt
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There were 18 ladies on Samui, the Manta Dive Gili Air boat, and everyone was in high spirits for the short journey to Manta Point, the chosen dive site.

All aboard Samui for a morning of girlie fun!

Point a camera at girl, and she will pose for you!

We donned our colourful rashies, shorts and wet suits, then posed for a few photos ..after all, we are ladies, and you know how we love to take photos!

Dayana and me gearing up for the dive

OK, we are all ready ... just one more photograph ...

​With photo shoot number one over, we geared up, did pre-dive safety checks, then backward rolled James Bond style into the crystal clear waters.

Photo credit: Alex Kydd

It was a perfect day for diving. The sun was shining, sky was blue, we couldn’t have asked for better conditions for Scuba Diving the Gili Islands. Visibility was around 25 metres and there was no current, however the slight surge made things a little more interesting, especially for the pyramid!

​We all descended quickly, then started linking arms and legs to begin the human pyramid formation. The slight surge was fun, but definitely a challenge for the photograph. When we were underwater, we all thought we did great! The official photographers Alfred Mannaar and Alex Kydd, may possibly disagree, but they sure had fun capturing the chaos.

Photo credit: Alfred Minnaar

Photo credit: Alfred Minnaar

The aim was for the photographers to countdown from three, we would all then slowly breathe in together to ensure a divers’ bubbles didn’t obstruct someone’s face (remember, the first rule of scuba diving is never hold your breath!). 

This is what 48 women in a lopsided pyramid looks like ... but did we make a Guinness World Record? Photo credit: Alex Kydd

Do you think we did it? It may be a bit wonky, but as long as we are all in the photo, that’s considered a success right?
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Watch this space for confirmation of the attempt!

Fun underwater

It took around 20 minutes to form and photograph the human pyramid. With our mission for the Guinness World Record attempt complete, it was now dive time! It became apparent very quickly that this dive was about female community spirt, laughs and good times rather than spotting marine life. I tried to point out a turtle, but no one cared. The Gili Islands are the unofficial turtle capital of the world, you will see a turtle on almost every dive, we were setting a world record here and it was time to start celebrating.

There was dancing, back rolls, hugs, kisses, riding one another’s tanks and generally having a whole heap of fun. I laughed so many times, I was constantly clearing my mask.

A hug from my friend Lamara

The only fish we really saw was Fin fish – fin fish wherever I looked. Just 48 ladies having a blast. Soooo many photos, it was like a Vogue underwater photo shoot as girls’ posed and did silly tricks whenever a camera was pointed at them. I have never seen so many masks and regulators pulled off for a photo at the same time. A contender for the next Girls That Scuba record maybe? 
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(Note: All these ladies are dive professionals, do not attempt to remove your mask and regulator unless you are confident. Remember, safety first! All ladies adhered to scuba diving rules while maintaining good buoyancy … never hold your breath!)

Fin Fish wherever I looked - but what a blast we had!

​Our 45 minute dive was soon over, but all good things must come to an end. The dive was specifically set to 45 minutes so we could all ascend at the same time, returning to land together. At the 5 metre/3 minute safety stop, it was time for more photos. The fun just did not stop.

The beautiful oh-so-photogenic Silke Müller

We ended the dive after 45 minutes so we could all ascend together

I have to admit, it was a perfectly made plan which was well executed. I cannot believe that all 48 of us did as we were told!

The fun wasn’t completely over …

Back at the dive centre, everyone chatted and laughed about the days’ events. Girls That Scuba had set an Instagram competition, so we uploaded photos, sharing hashtags to be used for maximum exposure. My friend Jenni Collier won the prize of a DPV Course at Manta Dive with this winning photo.

​There was a cool photo shoot happening in the pool which we had a chance to witness. Love this idea!

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The event carried on into the evening with side-mount demonstrations, a coral presentation by Nicole, BBQ and of course, party games.

Thank you to Girls That Scuba, Manta Dive Gili Trawangan and Manta Dive Gili Air for allowing us all to be a part of such a memorable day!

Would you like to have been a part of this day? Have you ever done something similair? Tell us in the comment section below, we want to know!

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