A 12-year-old became the youngest PADI MSD in the world

The day after his twelfth birthday, Toby Monteiro-Hourigan from London, completed his PADI junior Master Scuba Diver training and thus became the world’s youngest holder of this qualification. At least for a while…

For the teenager, the underwater adventure began at the age of 8, when he was introduced to the world of diving during the PADI Bubblemaker training. Then, at the age of 10 years and 5 days he completed the Junior Open Water Diver course, but it did not allow him to become the youngest holder of these qualifications. That’s why he didn’t want to leave anything to chance when he set his plan for the next two years.

-- Advertisement --

The boy cannot be denied determination and a flair for diving, which combined with learning under the guidance of the right people, will certainly bring positive results. As you can see, once again the folk wisdom is reflected in reality and “what a shell soaks in its youth…”.

Toby did his first PADI specialist course at Dubai Mall Aquarium, where he was able to identify the different species of sharks that live there. ‘It was a great experience for him and he is very happy to have had the opportunity to dive with manta rays, tiger sharks, hammerhead sharks in the Maldives and also swim with whale sharks,’ said Mark Murphy of Octopus Diving, where Toby trained

Alongside this, the boy also passed specialist courses such as Peak Performance Buoyancy, Navigation, Digital Photography and Boat Diver, for which he prepared at the Oyser Diver centre in London. As a result, in December, with Toby turning 12, he was ready to become an MSD, which happened while on holiday at Fuvahmulah Atoll in the Maldives.