An Interview With The Scuba Girls

Your next summer bucket list item? Make it scuba diving, hands down. There’s nothing like exploring the enchantment of the ocean with a front row seat. Southern California is a diving delight, with thriving reefs, vast kelp forests, and plenty of sea life to discover. We sat down with Margo Sanchez, a founding member of the local San Diego dive group, The Scuba Diver Girls, to chat about what makes diving so exciting. From Finland to Fiji, Papua New Guinea to the Virgin Islands, Curacao to the Florida Keys, there’s a world of wonder to experience beneath the surface.  

Who are the Scuba Diver Girls? Please list the full names of the founders of the group. 

Founded in 2008 by Margo Sanchez and Stephanie Adamson, Scuba Diver Girls is a team of trusted, expert women divers. Our goal is to inspire, educate and entertain the global diving community through adventurous, fun, compelling content.

What is this group all about? What do you do? How did the group get started?

We first started Scuba Diver Girls when we realized that there was a lack of focus on women in the dive market. We began to use social media to connect with other women divers around the world. As we continued to dive and post our adventures we would also write about new and innovative products. This was quite successful and we began to grow rapidly across social media channels. This soon led to our traveling. We would travel around the world posting and reporting on dive locations.

Is it girls only?

Our social media pages welcome all divers. We find that both women and men follow our adventures. And all divers love learning about new products and fun locations.

What sort of adventures do you go on?

We are fortunate to be among the lucky people who are out living their dreams. We dive every day and this is something most people could never even imagine. We would be happy to just dive the beautiful Pacific in California every day, but our job also benefits us with world travel. On our many adventures to remote corners of the earth, we explore amazing dives sites, as well as experience new cultures, and meet interesting and extraordinary people. The best part is sharing our experiences with others through our fan base. We love that many people are seeing a dive location for the first time through our pictures and videos. [The] reactions are awesome!

What’s the appeal of diving in southern California?

We live in San Diego and dive every day. The diving in California is amazing. We have rocky reef and many types of kelp. But perhaps the biggest attraction is the giant kelp. It is like diving through a forest while the sunlight streams through the branches of the trees. There are so many species of ocean critters that live in the kelp and along the coast. We are never bored diving here. We get migrations of many species of sharks throughout the year––sharks such as leopard, horn, tope, seven gills, and even an occasional great white. There are sea lions, green sea turtles and harbor seals all year round. Pods of dolphins travel up and down the coastline. [In] certain seasons we have a grey and blue whale migration. Tons of rays live near the shoreline. Bat rays, butterfly rays, sting rays, southern rays, guitarfish, to name a few. There are myriads of fish and even some large white and giant black sea bass. Tons of lobsters and crabs hang around in the reefs along with the octopus. And of course the ever famous bright orange garibaldi are all over the place. There is always something amazing to see on every dive of the San Diego coastline.

Tell us about your guided tours in La Jolla.

We do offer daily 2-tank dive tours in La Jolla. Guided scuba tours are available for both new and experienced divers. This is one of the most popular dive destinations in Southern California. Divers come to experience diving in the beautiful giant forest and to see the sea lions!

What’s been your favorite adventure so far?

One of the coolest places we have been is St. Eustatius [or Statia, as it is affectionately called by the locals] in the Dutch Caribbean. The island is small and the locals, including the dive center staff at Scubaqua, are quite nice. The whole area surrounding the island is a protected ecological reserve. As a result, their reefs are in amazing condition. Along with healthy reefs comes tons of sea life. The population of sea turtles that live in Statia is enormous and you will always be diving with turtles. Diving the island’s reefs is like being in an aquarium. But even though this is a small island, it has a interesting history. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the island was the largest trade port in the world. There are canons under the water on some dives, along with old ship wrecks. There are old forts on land as well. The architecture of the buildings and ruins left over from the past is a part of today's St. Eustatius.

Where would you like to go next that you haven’t been yet?

The Galapagos is definitely on the top of our wish list. This is possibly the most amazing place on the planet to dive. Almost every sea animal is present in this area of the world. It would be fantastic to experience not only the sea life but the land-roaming animals as well.

What should people keep in mind when they adventure with you?

Scuba diving adventures are all about fun. We are always feeling so lucky and blessed that we can share the underwater world with others. Fellow divers will get to see things that most people don’t even know exist! So always feel fortunate and appreciate the adventure and most of all have a blast!

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