LI shipwreck dive a tradition among women

Thirty years ago, scuba diver Edith Hoffman asked the owner of a Captree diveboat if he'd be willing to run a trip to a shipwreck just for women.

The owner doubted there were enough women capable of handling the depth, cold water and poor visibility of an Atlantic Ocean dive.

Hoffman proved him wrong, filling the boat with 21 women and starting a tradition: the annual Aquawoman Dive.

The Long Island event brings together women from around the metropolitan area for a day of diving and story-swapping aimed at encouraging more women to get involved in a traditionally male-dominated sport.

Hoffman was one of a record number of more than 30 female divers who filled the Freeport charter boats Sea Hawk and Lockness Saturday for a trip eight miles off Jones Inlet and down 80 feet to the Prohibition-era rumrunner Lizzie D.

Hoffman, a Manhattan resident, had been diving less than two years but was already vice president of the Long Island Divers Association when she arranged the first Aquawoman Dive.

Women from six states, including a Radio City Rockette, participated at a time when wreckdiving was considered "quite dangerous and intimidating," said Hoffman, a charter member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame. "Now we have women diving everywhere and doing very well."

The organizer of this year's event, Linda Gotti of Brentwood, has done about a half-dozen Aquawoman dives. She said there's much less pressure to push the envelope when only women are diving.

"We're out to have a good time," she said. "It's more of a kick back and relax day."

This year, 10 women dived with the group for the first time, benefiting from the support of two dive shop owners and several instructors.

Gotti said the group was unfazed by two recent deep-diving deaths off the east end of Long Island.

"It's a whole totally different thing," she said of the other divers, who were visiting much deeper wrecks and using much more technically complicated equipment.

After Saturday's dive, celebrated at the dock with the traditional Champagne and strawberries, Hoffman offered her verdict: "Absolutely magnificent."

Ruth Dodge, 43, a police dispatcher from East Hampton who began diving two years ago, called it "a phenomenal experience . . . The camaraderie was unbelievable."