Long-established Indian Ocean dive-centre TGI Maldives and the OBLU Nature Helengeli resort where it is based, part of the Atmosphere Core hospitality group, have been presented with the inaugural PADI Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Diving award.
The occasion was an event to mark the 10th PADI Women’s Dive Day, the flagship of the training agency’s Women In Diving Initiative.
Ten female journalists from around the world were invited to stay at the resort from 14-17 July, to dive with the many female instructors working at TGI Maldives and spread the word about the progress of women’s diving in mainstream press.
The 4* OBLU Nature resort is located at the tip of North Malé Atoll, a 50-minute speedboat ride from the main international airport. It reopened after a full refurbishment last December, with 153 beach and water villas and suites covering eight categories.
TGI Maldives opened its doors in 1983, with progressive owner Giuseppe D’Amato said to have been conscious from the start of the need to correct the imbalance of men to women divers in the region.

“He has worked relentlessly in the Maldives to increase female membership of PADI, and over several islands successfully increased the number of women into the sport and also into PADI membership,” explained Atmosphere Core’s assistant communications VP Euan Blake, when Divernet asked why PADI had chosen the operation to receive the first Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Diving award.
“As the decades passed in the Maldives, Giuseppe was a pioneer in introducing women dive-centre managers, instructors and team support,” said Blake. TGI Maldives has a total of five dive-centres. “Giuseppe’s vision was in line with our own MD at Atmosphere Core, who subsequently launched the first resort island [OBLU Select Lobigili] with almost 100% women-only staff.”
The ultimate aim of the new PADI award was “to get global media attention on the sport of scuba to encourage more and more women to understand that this is not just a man’s sport,” said Blake. “Particularly around the Indian Ocean region, many women still feel obstructed by culture and tradition. We intend to break this down globally, not just locally.
“There are hundreds of dive-centres who do equally amazing jobs and deserve the accolade, but in starting to recognise these particularly special centres it's necessary to start somewhere.”

At the award ceremony on Helengeli’s shore, Maldives tourism minister Dr Abdulla Niyaz and PADI regional manager Matt Wenger commended the TGI / OBLU operation for breaking down barriers and empowering more women to explore the underwater world.
“Today, the demographic profile of inbound tourists is a lot different to the early days,” observed Dr Niyaz. “From exploring couples in the 1980s, we now see a mix of all segments including couples, families and group parties – all wishing to experience first-hand the magic of the Maldives.
“As global society evolves, so does the Maldives. It is testimony that in the past decade we have seen the introduction of friends, not just couples, travelling along with increased single travellers.
“A large portion of these travellers are female, who wish to escape and enjoy the castaway feeling of freedom and independence only the Maldives can offer.”
“The Ministry of Tourism congratulates the team at Helengeli island and importantly the highly skilled team at TGI Maldives for creating a centre of excellence for female diving.”
Also on Divernet: WOMEN IN DIVING: ‘WE’VE SEEN THE TIDE TURN’, CHAIN OF WOMEN, 52 PRO DIVERS’ FAVOURITE LOCAL DIVE-SITES, 4-STAR MALDIVES RESORT OFFERS TOP DIVING