Christine Grosart: An Aspiring Explorer, Who Made Cave Diving Her Life

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

5 years ago

Christine Grosart is qualified as a full and sidemount cave diver through the Cave Diving Group (CDG) and IANTD and holds Cave 1 and Trimix certs with GUE. In 2009, Chris broke the British cave diving depth record from a solo dive in Wookey Hole (UK). She also owns and is cave leader of WetWellies Caving in the UK. In her free time she volunteers as Secretary, Trustee, Underwater Photographer and diver for Ghost Fishing UK.

She joins Namita Nayyar, President, Women Fitness in her first ever interview on the website. Read on…

Namita Nayyar

Share your journey in Cave Diving. How did it become a part of your physical being?

Christine Grosart

My family had always been involved in caving as my uncle chose it as his favourite pastime at university. I was a relative latecomer as I prioritized my horse racing career at a very young age, so only really took up caving and diving in my mid twenties.

I hung around my local caving club and met some cave divers and wanted to do what they did. I was spotted by an experienced cave diver in the Cave Diving Group of Great Britain and he took me under his wing and trained me up.

I would say cave diving is more of a lifestyle than a hobby. It is dangerous so it needs your full attention, all of the time. I changed my career twice to be able to afford all of the equipment which is eye wateringly expensive.

I’m fortunate now to be an ambassador for Ursuit Oy Drysuits, which helps a lot.

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Namita Nayyar

Describe your first cave dive. Also, share the preparation that went into the happening of it?

Christine Grosart

I remember it well! It was quite a long way into an energetic, cold and wet cave and we had to self-carry our own scuba bottles through the cave, which is hard enough anyway without them.

I can remember the water was cold, murky and I couldn’t see much. I kept a good hold of the guideline and I can remember feeling that this was a privilege to do something that not many people did, never mind women. I knew then that I would do this for the rest of my life.

Namita Nayyar

What is your fitness regime, share your daily/weekly schedule?

Christine Grosart

It varies depending on where I am working. If I am at home working on the ambulances then it is a long shift so I don’t generally work out after work, but in between I like to run.

When I’m working on the oil rigs, I go to the gym and use the treadmill, weights and cross trainer.

I just started doing a circuits programme (‘BodyBoss’) and I’m totally addicted to that.

When I stopped riding racehorses after being a jockey for a few years, I really struggled with my weight. I was finally able to enjoy my food but was struggling to burn it off the way I had working with horses. I need to be strong to carry heavy diving bottles through caves so I work on my strength mainly and try not to worry so much about what the scales say.

Namita Nayyar

Nutrition is an important aspect of fitness. What are your meal choices while prepping for your excursions?

Christine Grosart

Eating underground is always a faff. We have to find things that survive caves well, offer plenty of slow release energy and taste good. It’s not often you can find all three. Flapjacks (oat bars) work well but I hate them. Now I just take food I like such as bean salads in tins or pasta. The best thing I’ve been offered underground is Bombay mix! No food survives underwater so when I’m diving, I go hungry until I surface again.

Namita Nayyar

What has been your best cave diving experience till date?

Christine Grosart

I’ve been to so many different caves and they are all special in their own ways, some because they are aesthetically so beautiful and some because they have an important, historical meaning.

I broke the British female cave diving depth record in Wookey Hole Caves, which is a well-known tourist attraction in the south west of England. It is also the birthplace of British cave diving and many records have been broken there. The underwater cave scenery can be lovely on a good day and likewise the dry caving between flooded sections is impressive.

There are worse places to make such an achievement.

I’m particularly proud of my ongoing exploration project in Croatia. I’ve led a team of divers in exploring a deep, cold, underwater cave, which means literally going where no human has ever been before. We have been mapping it and filming it as we go and it is a super exciting project.

Discovering new parts of the planet that you can call your own is a really amazing feeling and something that once you have done it, nobody can ever take away from you.

Namita Nayyar

You are a source of inspiration for many, who inspires you the most?

Christine Grosart

I’m particularly inspired by unsung women who are achieving great things but never get the recognition they deserve. There are two women in particular who inspire me to be a generally better person and better diver. They are both diminutive in stature, tough in personality and have worked very hard to achieve to be at the top of their game.

They are high level instructors in cave diving and technical (deep, mixed gas) diving. If I could be even half as good in the water and life as Dorota Czerny and Meredith Tanguay I’d be very happy.

Then there is Su Eun Kim, a Korean technical and cave diver who produces the most incredible underwater images way back into caves that are hard enough to dive, never mind photograph. She is also tiny – you can barely see anything but a pair of small legs beneath all her kit – but she loves it and just gets on with it.

Namita Nayyar

Share the challenges that female divers face. How do you suggest women should deal with them?

Christine Grosart

I have never really faced any challenges that were directly related to being a female diver. I think there is an assumption out there that there will be challenges. If you go looking for them, you will find them for sure. Just don’t go looking. Get on with what you are doing and if you do come across difficult people, find different ones to hang out with. Don’t waste time on people who try to get in your way.

Namita Nayyar

Share with us the best piece of advice that you absorbed to overcome physical obstacles?

Christine Grosart

Buy a She-P!

Divers need to be well hydrated and peeing whilst diving in a drysuit has often been a problem for women. The She-P is a great device, designed by a woman and now my dive times are much less limited.

Dive kit is heavy and it is especially heavy when you are carrying it through caves, which means needing to climb, haul and crawl. I’m quite bulky and strong which is definitely preferable to being slight – I’m definitely built for endurance and not speed!

Namita Nayyar

Share your fitness goals or resolutions for 2019?

Christine Grosart

I just started an online circuits programme with HIIT sessions. These are great for me as I don’t need much equipment or time, as I’m super busy and travel a lot. I’m really sticking at it and my aim is to make it through the 12-week programme as it’s really tough!

When I’m at home I run quite a bit and when I’m working offshore I have a 24 hour gym which I make use of, so to get back up to 10k runs would be nice.

Namita Nayyar

Message for your fans at WomenFitness.net?

Christine Grosart

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t!

See it as the green light to prove them wrong but always make sure what you are doing is what you want to do. We’re only on this planet once, so make every day count and don’t waste a single second of opportunity to do something adventurous, amazing or that will leave this planet in a better way than you found it.