About this Event
Join us March 2 for this special Divers' Weekend after-hours panel, followed by a Social Icebreaker.
Dive deep into the world of professional SCUBA divers and freedivers as we follow the journeys of exceptional women immersing themselves in careers that log thousands of hours underwater in BC and beyond.
From scientific diving and instructing instructors, starring in National Geographic documentaries, starting international conservation projects and shooting underwater filmsets, these local divers are leading our industry across the kaleidoscope of ocean careers.
Register for this interactive in-person panel to join these four presenters as they share their pathways and "Howe" Vancouver's local waters have shaped their blue pursuits.
As Divers' Weekend returns after a three-year hiatus, this exclusive free ticketed after-hours event is part of a wider schedule of dive-themed programs across Vancouver Aquarium.
Date: November 28, 2023
Time:16:45-18:00pm (Panel starts promptly at 5pm, please arrive 15 minutes early to be admitted)
Social Icebreaker follows immediately afterwards at 18:00.
Location & Entrance:
Vancouver Aquarium 4D Theatre, 845 Avison Way, Vancouver, BC V6G 3E2
Enter via the AquaQuest reception (at the north-end side of the building, down the ramp near the parking lot)
Register: Admission is free, but registration is required for entrance to both the Panel and the Social Icebreaker sponsored by Ocean Equipment and Shearwater.
You can submit questions for the panel here:
https://forms.office.com/r/yURjViwf6e
Speakers:
Braden Haggerty is a Vancouver-based filmmaker specializing in underwater cinematography work. After obtaining a University Degree focusing on film production, it was a love of being in the water that steered her towards a career underwater. Now with years of experience working in water environments specializing in underwater camera operating, she offers up viable solutions for filming underwater sequences. Braden has also worked as a stunt performer and safety diver and her IMDB credits include Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Batwoman, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Lake Placid, The One Hundred amongst many more.
Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Krystal Janicki started out as a competitive figure skater, snowboarder and rock climber. But with a deep-seated wonder and craving for the ocean, in 2017 she did her open water scuba diving course. Because of uncomfortableness and a little fear, she didn’t tell anyone, but that didn’t last long because passion soon took over. Now with well over 1000 scuba dives, she’s currently exploring tech and free diving. Working with filmmakers, photographers, cinematographers and other passionate divers, she dives as often as possible while working as a full-time business owner for an interior/exterior painting company and skydive instructor.
Krystal is an ambassador for Huish, the company overseeing Atomic, Zeagle, Hollis, Suunto, Stahlsac and BARE and is sponsored by Shearwater. She's worked on dive projects with Canadian Geographic, and her next collaboration with National Geographic and Disney+ premiers on Earth Day April 21 2024!
Nicole Helgason is a content creator giving a voice to the ocean. Over the past 15 years, she's worked in the diving industry as a dive instructor, tourism manager, and coral conservation leader as well as a professional writer and photographer, producing more than one thousand combined articles for both digital and print format. She is Marketing Director of World Wide Corals and developed a coral education course for divers for Ocean Gardener.
Fabiola Ruiz-Aguilar is UBC's Diving Safety Officer overseeing their scientific diving program, as well as a PADI Course Director, Technical Instructor and CCR Rebreather diver and Professional Development Training Manager at Ocean Quest Dive Centre.
Panel host:
As Dive Operations Supervisor for Vancouver Aquarium, with over a thousand logged dives from across The Great Barrier Reef, Tasman Sea, Coral Coast, South China & Andaman Seas, Samantha Xia Symonds helps oversee and develop the in-house scientific diving program, covering training, equipment servicing, husbandry and diving and boating safety.
Outside of Stanley Park, she writes about travel and diving as a freelance writer-editor and communications consultant who has collaborated with the likes of The Wildlife Trust, Canadian Geographic, Linnean Society, GetYourGuide, The RNLI and Culture Trip.
The event will be followed by a Social Icebreaker giving attendees an opportunity to meet and mingle with Divers' Weekend exhibitors, speakers and other prominent members of the local dive community.
For the full schedule of Divers' Weekend events, visit www.vanaqua.org/diversweekend
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Vancouver Aquarium, Avison Way, Vancouver, BC, Canada
CAD 0.00